Israel's giant Hadera desalination plant inaugurated

Israel's president, Shimon Peres, inaugurated the 275,000 m³/d Hadera desalination plant, the largest reverse-osmosis plant in the world at present, on 16 May 2010.

The plant was built by H2ID, which is jointly owned by IDE Technologies and Shikun U' Binui (Housing & Construction), and will supply about 20% of Israel's annual domestic consumption.

Shmulik Shai, CEO of H2ID, said the plant will supply water at the cost of US$ 0.57/m³ and will demand 450 GW of electricity each year. "As we take pride in the results of the Hadera plant, we rededicate ourselves to reach for new horizons in the Soreq plant we are now constructing," he added.

The investment in the construction project, which totalled approximately NIS 1.6 billion (US$ 463 million) was funded by a consortium of international banks, including the European Investment Bank; Calyon, the French investment bank; and Esperito Santo (BES), the Portuguese investment bank.