Water. desalination + reuse

BUSINESS | 14 | Desalination & Water Reuse | November-December 2014 coRpoRate chaNges AqUArIoN formS rUSSIAN Arm Switzerland-based water systems company, Aquarion Group, has established a Russian operation. The new arm, Aquarion Russia, will focus on providing water and wastewater treatment to industrial customers in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Aquarion Russia – located at Kazan in the Republic of Tatarstan – will have a particular emphasis on the oil and gas market, onshore and offshore upstream as well as downstream. Aquarion said it anticipated using its Karzan offices as a base to access the entire Russian market and neighboring Kazakhstan, Belarus, the Baltics, and the Caucasus countries Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. A sub-sovereign wealth fund of the Republic of Tatarstan is an anchor investor in one of the major shareholders of Aquarion Group, Green Gateway Fund. Major Eastern European players in upstream and downstream oil and gas are based in Tatarstan. It has been ranked by Forbes and Ernst and Young as Russia's best region for doing business. It is one of Russia's oldest oil producing regions. Its economy is dominated by the fuel, petrochemical and chemical industries. The opening of Aquarion Russia follows the firm's acquisition in July of German water treatment company Hager + Elseåsser, which has operations in Germany, the UK and Southeast Asia. INdIAN dESAlINAtIoN SEt for 19% A yEAr growth The market for desalination in India is expected to grow by 19% a year to 2019 as government and industry seek to address escalating water demand and diminishing conventional resources according to market researcher TechSci Research. TechSci has calculated that India's government and industry players "are gradually shifting their focus towards desalination technology," driven by "growing government emphasis on economic development and the rising contribution of the manufacturing sector." This, according to TechSci's report, India Desalination Plant Market Forecast and Opportunities, 2019, will boost India's desalination capacity to a compound annual growth rate of some 19%, during 2014-19. In its report the researcher projected India's demand for fresh water to hit 52 billion m³ by 2025 while water availability was to dip from 1,545 m³ a person to about 1,500 m³ over the same period. TechSci said despite significant growth in desalination in India over the past ten years, desalination was a "nascent technology with only 183 operational plants." The capacity is largely concentrated in the Western and Southern states of the country the researcher said. India's desalination plant market is dominated by the industrial sector, in terms of its number of plants installed. The power industry accounted for about 18% of the total number in 2013 followed by the municipal sector. Thermal power plants consumed nearly 88% of water intensive industrial demand. The report also highlighted key industry activity including Hyflux's agreement with Hitachi Group to install a desalination plant at Dahej in Gujarat. "The market, largely dominated by multinational companies, has witnessed considerable contribution from domestic desalination plant installers in the past few years. Multinational companies operating in the Indian desalination plant market are largely from Spain, France, Israel, Singapore, and the US," said TechSci research director with Karan Chechi. grUNdfoS chIEf to doUBlE fIrm'S ASIAN rEvENUE Pump manufacturer, Grundfos, has charged newly appointed Asia Pacific regional managing director, Okay Barutçu, with doubling the company's revenue in the region. Barutçu has taken leadership of a team of 1,100 employees to spearhead Grundfos' Asia Pacific development and expansion the company said. He will seek to double the region's revenue in the next five years said Grundfos. Barutçu succeeded Poul Due Jensen, who after seven years is returning Grundfos' global headquarters in Denmark as senior vice president for branding, marketing and guest services. Previously Barutçu was Grundfos's area managing director for the Association of South Eastern Nations region and general manager for Grundfos Singapore. He has been part of the company's Asia Pacific management team and strategy formulation and ground operations since May 2011. AUStrAlIAN rEgIoN pIckS Up US$ 10 mIllIoN grANt to SpArk rEUSE projEct The council for the Light region of South Australia has won a A$ 10.7 million (US$ 10 million) federal grant to complete funding for a "foundation" programme, the Gawler Water Reuse Project. The grant was provided from the National Urban Water and Desalination Plan which supports investments in desalination, recycling and stormwater harvesting to improve water supply security. Light Regional Council (LRC) will borrow at least half the Gawler project funding from the Local Government Finance Authority – about US$ 11 million. It will combine that with the grant and lend it on to local wine maker Seppeltsfield Wines which will be the developer of the project as well as a customer. Chief executive officer of LRC, Brian Carr, said: "This is a defining moment for the region as this scheme lays the foundation for an extensive water re-use programme. "These are the types of projects that collective government, in partnership with the private sector, need to initiate and nurture to rejuvenate our state's economy," he said. Seppeltsfield will take annually up to 2,000 Ml of purified water from the Gawler Water Reuse Project paying US$ 1.7 million for six years under a sub-licence agreement. Initially the company will take 1,200 Ml a year. Seppeltsfield may continue – with indexed payment figures – or pay out the loan and take ownership of the scheme, or hand the scheme back to the regional council and continue to buy water for 15 years. The company will be involved with the design of the project and will use the loan from LRC to construct and maintain its infrastructure. gdf SUEz BAgS lAhmEyEr GDF Suez' consultancy arm, Tractebel Engineering, has bought Germany-based water and energy consultancy, Lahmeyer International, from financial investment firm, Capiton. Lahmeyer's focus is on water, desalination and energy in Africa, Asia and the Middle East where it does some 80% of its business. The acquisition will bring Tractebel's workforce to 4,400 with annual revenues of € 660 million (US$ 850 million).

• Cover