Contract awarded to supply motors and drives to desalination plant

ABB has secured key contracts 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, claims to be the largest desalination plant on the eastern seaboard and is located at Tugun on the Gold Coast.

The plant is being built by the GCD Alliance and will provide 125 ML of potable water each day to south east Queensland. ABB's scope of supply includes:

• Four 4800 kW water-cooled 3300 v motors
• Four 1060 kW water-cooled 3300 v motors
• Four 800 kW 11000 v motors
• Four 550 kW 690 v motors
• Eight MV drives

The 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," Cliff Marshall, ABBs Queensland-based motors and drives sales manager, said.

"It is these challenges that the ABB motors and drives planned for installation at the plant have helped address."

Once operational, the Gold Coast desalination plant will have a significant impact on the availability of water to the region. The average daily supply of 125 million litres of desalinated water represents more than 15% of the entire south east's current needs and is sufficient to meet the water needs of at least 400,000 people.