IDE Strengthens Position in Central Asia
Will provide a Multi-Effect Distillation (MED) seawater desalination plant to a national power plant in Kazakhstan, at a total worth of US $14 million.
IDE has recently signed a contract for the provision of two desalination units for a national power plant in Kazakhstan at a total worth of US$14 million. The desalination plant will supply boiler feed water to the power plant as well as drinking water to the nearby city of Aktau.
The MED desalination units of a total production capacity of 12,000 cubic meters per day (cum/day) will be supplied to a MAEK Kazatomprom Power Plant along the Caspian Sea in western Kazakhstan. The units will be shipped to Kazakhstan and begin operating on site in late 2007. In winning the tender IDE managed to overcome strong competition from well known French and Russian companies. The desalination units were designed to accommodate the unique characteristics of the Caspian Seawater while adhering to the strictest European Standards and Kazakh regulations.
This contract further strengthens IDE’s position in Central Asia, having previously supplied two thermal 500 cum/day plants in Kazakhstan and two 3,000 cum/day thermal plants to an oil refinery in Turkmenistan which are operating to the full satisfaction of the Client. The selection of IDE’s MED technology proves its superiority over alternative thermal desalination applications. Over the past forty years, IDE has furnished over 360 plants of various types and capacities around the world, with an overall production capacity of over a million cum/day.
Commenting on the news, Mr. Avshalom Felber, President and CEO of IDE Technologies, stated that winning the contract in Kazakhstan, marks a noteworthy step for IDE in strengthening its hold in the arid regions of Central Asia while continuing to consolidate its position as one of the world’s leading companies for high-quality desalinated water supply applications.
Felber added that there appears to be a clear trend of an increase in the number of water desalination projects around the world, in all desalination technologies, which provides IDE with an opportunity to expand its activities as well as strengthen its hold in the traditional markets, while penetrating new developing markets over the recent period.