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Deluxe Desal Plants; Robotics Not So Robust in 2009; Carbon-Neutral Widex and more

Thirsty areas of the world are putting up major desalination plants. Pinpointing which one is the world’s largest is difficult because the plants keep getting larger. The current facility claiming to be world’s largest reverse-osmosis desalination plant was officially opened in Hadera, Israel, in May. H2ID, a joint venture of Israel’s IDE Technologies and Housing & Construction Group, will operate the US$425-million plant (pictured above), which will have the ability to produce 127 million cubic meters (nearly 4.5 billion cu. ft., or 33.6 billion gallons) of water per year, which equals about 20 percent of the annual household consumption in Israel.

“The success of the mega-desalination plant concept has ushered in a whole new era of plentiful, affordable water for a world facing severe water challenges,” said Avshalom Felber, CEO of IDE Technologies.

IDE Technologies is a global Israeli company which is a pioneer and leader in the field of water technology. IDE has constructed 400 desalination plants of various sizes and technologies in 40 countries — some of them the largest of their type in the world. IDE is known for technological breakthroughs in the fields of thermal and membrane desalination, and is also active in other fields, including industrial cooling, the production of artificial snow, industrial evaporators and solutions for the re-use of sewage water.

IDE also has the contract for the Sorek desalination plant, which will be much larger than Hadera. The $525-million project will be built south of Tel Aviv and will eventually expand to produce 300 cubic meters (10.6 billion cu. ft. or 79.3 billion gallons) of water per year.

Australia’s largest desalination facility, the $3.1-billion Victoria Desalination Plant, will be in the Wonthaggi region, and supply up to 150 billion liters (39.6 billion gallons) of water a year to Melbourne and surrounding areas. The project includes an 84-km. (52-mile) underground pipeline. Construction of the plant began in September 2009, and it is on schedule to deliver water by the end of 2011.

India opened its largest desalination plant in Chennai in July. The facility will produce 100 million liters of water per day, which equates to 9.6 billion gallons a year.