Carlsbad Desalination Plant Revamped to Save Energy, Money

Energy Recovery, Inc. has been awarded a contract on a project that will overhaul equipment at the Carlsbad desalination plant, which will save more than $12 million per year for the facility. 

According to the Bloomberg.com, the project will use 144 devices that "recycle pressure used to force salt water through membranes."

The devices are expected to be shipped at the end of the year. Energy Recovery, Inc. is based out of San Leandro, Calif. They are a clean energy technology in the water industry. 

“It’s an economic slam dunk  the payback on our pressure exchangers is less than three months,” Tom Rooney, chief executive officer of Energy Recovery, said in an interview with Bloomberg. 

He added that the company has sold more than 14,000 of the units across the world. They recently retrofit a desalination plant in Chile, according to the Bloomberg, and also won a contract with a plant in Spain earlier this week.

The Carlsbad desalination plant is the largest such facility in the Western Hemisphere. Once the energy-saving devices are in place, which is estimated to be in 2016, the facility will provide more than 50 million gallons of drinking water daily.