Water Services using 33% less energy for reverse osmosis

The Water Services Corporation has reduced its consumption of energy for the running of its reverse osmosis (RO) desalination plants by 33% in the last ten years.

In 2004, the island’s electricity consumption from using RO-based desalination was 101,126MWh, making up 4.8% of total electricity consumption for the island.

In 2013 this decreased to 78,871 MWh, or 3.7% of Malta’s total electricity supply.

The positive results were published in WaterWorld, a leading online news and technology source serving engineers and consultants in the water industry.

In terms of the amount of energy used to produce one cubic metre of water, in 2004 this was 5.7 kWh and in 2013 this had dropped to 4.6 kWh.

“These are indeed positive results for the Corporation and we want to build on these fantastic figures,” WSC chairperson William Wait told MaltaToday.

“The decrease in energy for the RO plants is mainly attributed to the decrease in water production, in view of the leakage problems, and the installation of more energy efficient equipment within the plants themselves.”

Consolidating these figures is a main priority for Wait, who described the WSC’s leakage reduction as “world class”.

Engineering innovations are also central to the future of the WSC. Late in 2013, this was formally recognised when the Water Services Corporation gained the top award in the 2013 Malta Engineering Excellence Awards, organised by the Malta Chamber of Engineers. “We are an open-minded organisation, ready to learn from best practices in other countries and from local expertise.”