Build date mooted for $5bn Pilbara desal plant

Construction on a $5 billion desalination plant could begin within two years as its project partners prepare to lodge their plans to the state’s environmental watchdog.
Construction on a $5 billion desalination plant could begin as early as 2026 as its project partners prepare to lodge their plans to the state’s environmental watchdog.
Business News on Thursday revealed French utilities giant Suez was behind a 150-gigalitre desalination plant earmarked for a greenfields industrial site at the Balla Balla River, halfway between Karratha and Port Hedland.
The project is a partnership between Suez, Perth water infrastructure developer Legacie and Ngarluma Aboriginal Corporation, whose land the plant would sit on.
Legacie has penciled in first water for early 2029 for the plant which would be able to fill up Optus Stadium every two days.
Legacie managing director Daniel Lambert said the partnership with NAC was helping to expediate early approvals.
“Getting water and getting it quickly is absolutely critical to unlocking some of these decarbonisation opportunities we are talking about, but also doing it in a way that gives confidence to the market,” he said.
“Having one of the absolutely best (original equipment manufacturer) providers in the world gives surety to all of us that we are delivering a quality outcome.
“When we talk about the Pilbara it is incredibly thirsty to supply resources, it is thirsty to supply upcoming projects around hydrogen, green steel, manufacturing, it is thirsty to supply growing communities, and it is thirsty in growing the potential agriculture industry.”
Under plans revealed to the Pilbara Summit on Thursday, the entity formed by the three partners known as Ngarluma Water would build a pipe corridor to the Maitland and Boodarie industrial estates where several green energy projects have been mooted.
Mr Lambert said Ngarluma Water was talking to “multiple offtakers”, including in agriculture.
BP Australian Renewable Energy Hub project director Sarah Carter said the company was weighing up building its own plant or “looking at other facilities” to supply water for the 1.6-million-tonne hydrogen component of its green energy hub.
Ngarluma Water will this year begin a study to better define its project cost and timeline.
GHD mine water management technical director Bob Kinnell said the Pilbara was at a “pivot point” to reconsider how water use was managed.
“The water resources in the Pilbara are significant and very good quality, but are also very old,” he said.
“They have sat there for a very long time and there is not a lot of recharge or replacement.”
Mr Kinnell said water needed to be viewed as a precious resource, not just a waste product.