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Governors Cottage Desalination Pumping System (Retrofit)
Case Study 2018
Consultation & Planning
Redesign & Manufacture
Installation
about this project
New technology and revised designs of high-pressure pumping systems reduces Gibraltar’s carbon dioxide output by over 11 million tonnes
Hidden away throughout the Rock of Gibraltar are four desalination systems that produce 70% of the potable drinking water supply for the entire country.
The ageing systems were fitted with 240 kW motors that output a product water produced energy figure of 6kWh per cubic metre. The units did not have energy recovery systems and were often running over design parameters.
In 2016, Oil & Water Supplies (Gibraltar) Limited was contracted to reduce the massive inefficiencies in these ageing desalination systems. The project was a complete redesign of not only the high-pressure pumps but also the associated pipework, inverter drives and PLC unit.
OWS Gibraltar reviewed and redesigned the system with the assistance of Grundfos Pumps UK.
In June 2017, the first of four pump skid units, complete with the latest energy efficient ERI units, was installed to one of the desalination systems. By mid-2018, all four desalination systems had the renovation upgrades completed.
To date, the units are operating with a 40% to 50% reduction in energy.
Just how great is the reduction in energy usage and carbon dioxide emissions?
The energy saved by the installation of the upgraded systems was approximately 3kW/cubic metre. With a combined daily water production of about 4000 cubic metres from the four systems, there is a daily saving in electricity of 2,000 kW, or annually, of 4,380 MW.
One megawatt of power from an oil-fired power station releases 2,600 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The redesign and upgraded installations therefore prevented an annual release of 11,388,000 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
If a petrol-powered car is driven 10,000 km/yr, it will emit 1,500 tons of carbon dioxide. Thus, the upgrades to the four desalination systems by OWS Gibraltar have effectively taken 7,592 cars permanently off the road!
