Abengoa Starts Operations at Desalination Plant in China

Abengoa SA (ABG), the Spanish company that’s developed desalination plants from Algeria to India, said it’s started commercial operations making salt water potable at the Qingdao facility in China.

The plant at the second-largest port in northern China in Shandong province will produce 100,000 cubic meters of drinking water a day from seawater, enough to supply the needs of a half- million people, Abengoa said today in a statement.

Abengoa began building the plant in 2010 and will operate and maintain it for 25 years. During this time, the company is forecasting revenue of at least 750 million euros ($1 billion) from the sale of water and a further 25 million euros from technical support operations, according to the statement.

The project, the first desalination one of its type carried out using a project-finance structure entirely financed by local Chinese banks, required a total investment of 135 million euros, according to the statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Randall Hackley in London at rhackley@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net