ABB has secured key contracts valued at over $5 million to supply motors and drives to the Gold Coast desalination plant.
The plant, which is owned by the Queensland State Government and Gold Coast City Council is the largest desalination plant on the eastern seaboard and is located at Tugun on the Gold Coast. It is being built by the GCD Alliance (a consortium of companies) and will provide 125 megalitres of potable water each day to South East Queensland.
The ABB motors and drives will be used on both the first, and second-pass reverse osmosis pumps, as well as on the ERD booster pumps. Delivery of the first motor is scheduled for September 2007.
“The major benefit of desalination is that it can continue to deliver high quality drinking water for consumption even if there is no rain. However, there are also some key challenges associated with desalination, which include the need to minimise energy consumption and ongoing operating costs as well as environmental impacts,” said Cliff Marshall, ABB’s Queensland-based motors and drives sales manager