Fresh water is scarce — almost 40 % of the world’s population suffers from a shortage of it. As 97 % of the water available in the world is salty, desalination is regarded as an important process for safeguarding water supplies for the future. VACON AC drives help convert seawater into fresh water at the Barka 2 plant in the Sultanate of Oman.

1. Reference Story
fresh water at barka 2 in oman
Vacon expands footprint in water desalination in Middle East
Fresh water is scarce — almost 40 % of the world’s population Environnement and has specialized in water treatment since
suffers from a shortage of it. As 97 % of the water available 1939. Degrémont is a pioneer in desalination: the company de-
in the world is salty, desalination is regarded as an important signed and built the first facility in the world using reverse os-
process for safeguarding water supplies for the future. Vacon mosis desalination technology on the Ile de Houat, France, as
AC drives help convert seawater into fresh water at the Barka early as 1969. To date, Degrémont’s desalination technology is
2 plant in the Sultanate of Oman. in use in some 250 desalination plants around the world.
Desalination, the removal of salt (sodium chloride) and other The principle involves passing seawater or brackish water
minerals from the sea or brackish water, is being increas- after purification through a membrane that is impermeable
ingly used to make otherwise unusable water fit for human to dissolved salts. After appropriate post-treatment (remin-
consumption, irrigation, industrial applications and other eralisation and final disinfection), water treated in this way
purposes. can be used for human consumption and for agricultural or
industrial purposes. At Barka 2, collaboration between the
Several thousand desalination plants are in operation around two branches of GDF SUEZ made it possible to optimize the
the world, the largest being in the Arabian Peninsula. On the design so that the brine from the desalination plant can be
coast of the Sultanate of Oman, 50 kilometres north-west of recycled by mixing it with the cooling water for the thermal
the capital Muscat, a new 678-MW power plant combined with power station.
a seawater desalination plant with a capacity of 120,000 m3
a day has been operational since November 2009. The Barka
Cooperation built on trust
Phase 2 plant has been designed and built by Degrémont, and
is operated by a consortium* comprising GDF SUEZ Energy Vacon, and Vacon France in particular, have been cooperat-
International, Mubadala Development and National Trading ing with Degrémont in many projects since the parties first
Company. came into contact in 2002. “Vacon’s involvement in the Barka
2 project originates from our long-term relationship with
Degrémont — pioneer in reverse osmosis desalina- Degrémont, and the mutual trust which has grown over the
tion years in other successful projects,” says Jaume Font, Corpo-
rate Segment Director, Water & Waste Water, stationed in Va-
The Barka 2 seawater desalination plant uses reverse osmo-
con Drives Ibérica S.A., in Spain. “As Degrémont operates in
sis technology provided by Degrémont, which is part of Suez
more than 70 countries, Vacon’s global presence is important

2. for them. We also have the right kind of products for Degré-
mont’s needs,” comments Mr Font.
For the Barka 2 desalination plant project, Vacon supplied
Degrémont with Vacon NXC (690 V) cabinet drives and Vacon
NXL and NXS AC drives (415 V). In the power range 1.5 to 800
kW (with a total power of more than 13 MW), most of the Vacon
AC drives control sea water pumps, permeate pumps, dosing
pumps, agitators and mixers. The drives are connected to the
Modbus fieldbus.
Vacon AC drives play an important role in the production of
high-quality drinkable water at Barka 2. As desalination tech-
nology is a more energy-intensive process than conventional
water treatment, variable speed AC drives are being used to
an increasing extent in modern desalination plants. The use
of Vacon AC drives brings great benefits such as energy sav-
ings, optimized control, operational reliability and extended
life time for the machinery. In short, they optimize the plant’s
profitability.
Special precautions to reduce impact on environment
Special precautions were taken to reduce the impact of the
Barka seawater desalination plant on the marine environ-
ment. Brine resulting from seawater desalination is recycled
within the cooling system of the power plant to achieve a qual-
ity of seawater output that does not have a harmful impact on
the environment. Cooperation between the professionals of
GDF SUEZ Energy International and Degrémont and their col-
lective innovation capacity were decisive factors in winning
the contract. • Barka 2, a 678-MW electric power plant combined with a
seawater desalination plant with a capacity of 120,000 m3
a day, started operations in the Sultanate of Oman in No-
* GDF SUEZ Energy International is the business line of GDF vember 2009. Owned by Oman Power and Water Procure-
SUEZ responsible for the Group’s electricity and gas activities
outside Europe. Mubadala Development is a leading business de- ment Company (PWP), Barka 2 increases PWP’s electric-
velopment and investment company based in Abu Dhabi. National ity generation capacity in the Middle East to 5,500 MW and
Trading Company is a local industrial player in Oman.
its potable water production capacity to over one million
cubic metres a day. The new plant is located next to the
existing Barka 1 power and desalination plant.
• The Barka 2 desalination plant uses Degrémont’s re-
verse osmosis technology — a desalination process that
uses membrane technology. Unlike “natural” osmosis,
which facilitates solvent migration so that concentrations
are even on both sides of the membrane, reverse osmosis
involves forcing water at high pressure through a mem-
brane that is almost impervious to suspended minerals.
In the end pure water is left on one side and highly con-
centrated brine on the other.
Photos courtesy of Degrémont
Vacon Group
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RS000133A
Tel. +358 (0)201 2121
Fax +358 (0)201 212 205
www.vacon.com
info@vacon.com