ACCIONA Agua has received a contract to operate and maintain the wastewater plants owned by Canal de Isabel II, a Madrid-based water company, in the Jarama Medio and Henares watersheds.

8Mar - madrid

Image: As part of the National Water Quality Plan, ACCIONA agua has upgraded the plants. Photo: Courtesy of ACCIONA.

ACCIONA said that the contract, effective from 1 March 2019 is expected to last for approximately 5 years and has associated revenues amounting to €33m.

Under the contract, the company operates 15 wastewater plants, serving a population of approximately 1.25million people and processes 80million cubic meters per annum.

The 15 wastewater plants it is operating are Alcalá Este, Alcalá Oeste, Algete II, Campo Real, Cobeña, La Poveda, Los Santos de la Humosa, Meco, Pozuelo del Rey, Ribatejada-Fresno, San Agustín de Guadalix, Torres de la Alameda, Valdeavero, Velilla de San Antonio and Arroyo Quiñones.

Among all the plants, the Alcalá Oeste plant is the largest, serves a population of 374,090 people and processes 21.5million cubic metres per annum.

As part of the National Water Quality Plan, the company has upgraded it with a biological treatment process comprising a hybrid suspended sludge moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) to simultaneously eliminate organic matter and nutrients.

ACCIONA has developed the hybrid (IFAS) reactor at Alcalá Oeste and it has a number of references in Spain and other countries.  The plant also has a cogeneration system, fired by biogas produced by anaerobic digestion since 2017. The power generation system generates approximately 30% of the plant’s energy requirements.

The company has a number of wastewater plant references, like Arroyo Quiñones, Algete II, Velilla de San Antonio and San Agustín de Guadalix, equipped with the most modern continuous control systems for monitoring key parameters in the process of eliminating nutrients and optimising reagents.

ACCIONA is expected to acquire 18 all-electric vehicles to fulfil the contract and also monitor all the facilities’ electricity consumption with the final goal of cutting it by more than 10%.

The company currently operates Culebro Cuenca Baja and Culebro Cuenca Media Alta wastewater plants, with a rated capacity equivalent to a population of 4 million. ACCIONA Agua claims that the new O&M contract strengthens its position in the Madrid region.