Vélez-Málaga draws up plans for desalination plant with a capacity to generate 80 cubic hectometres of water per year

Eugenio Cabezas

Monday, 21 March 2022, 17:00 | Updated 17:22h.

Despite the relief the recent rainfall has brought to the province in the last week, the threat of drought is still very much present in Malaga. If the rain doesn’t continue over the coming weeks, human consumption and the irrigation, especially that of the subtropical farms of the Axarquia, could face severe consequences this summer. Last week the Junta de Andalucía cut back the irrigation allocation for La Viñuela reservoir from 2,000 to 1,500 cubic metres per hectare and the allocation will be reviewed again before the summer.

Noticia Relacionada

Axarquía water company appeals for responsible consumption despite recent rainfall

To this end, Vélez-Málaga town hall is looking into the viability of a desalination plant in the Axarquía and has drawn up a plan to build the plant in the Vega de Almayate area, which would have an initial capacity to produce 80 cubic hectometres of water per year; more than enough to guarantee supply for human consumption and for agriculture and livestock farming in the Axarquía area.

According to an extensive report drawn up by the mayor's office, the investment estimated by the town hall amounts to 323 million euros for the treatment plant and a further 224.6 million to build a pumping hydroelectric plant and 97.5 million for a wind farm, both located around the Viñuela reservoir. The latter would be used to produce the electricity needed to desalinate seawater. The total investment would therefore reach 645.1 million euros.

The mayor, Antonio Moreno Ferrer, announced in January that there were investors interested in building a plant in the Axarquia and that the main difficulty was finding the land.

The study proposes that the investment will be jointly financed by European funds, the Andalusian Regional Government, the central government and fruit growers, with a total construction period of three years to complete according to the project.

The wind farm would have a maximum production capacity of 121.28 megawatts per year. Thirty-five wind turbines would be installed in the vicinity of the Viñuela dam and would take one year to install. As the study highlights, one of the main challenges in desalination is energy consumption, which accounts for more than 52 per cent of the cost of generating drinking water.

In addition to guaranteeing supply, the aim is to cushion the costs by accompanying this infrastructure with the generation of renewable energies through the installation of a hydroelectric pumping station at the outlet of the reservoir and a wind farm in the vicinity of the reservoir.

The technical and financial investment study has already been sent to the Axarquía’s Mancomunidad; the association that oversees the town halls in the area, as well as to the central government’s ministry for ecological transition. The Junta de Andalucía has been calling on the central government for several months to build desalination plants in Marbella and the Axarquía to alleviate the drought in Malaga.

In a message posted on social media last week, the mayor of Vélez-Málaga said that he had held a meeting with the minister for territorial policy, Isabel Rodríguez. "I have conveyed my concern, as mayor of Vélez-Málaga, about the lack of resources and water infrastructure in the Axarquia and the necessary involvement of the Government of Spain to try to propose effective short-term solutions. The employment of many people and the development of our region is at stake. We are committed to the implementation of a desalination plant, supplied by renewable energy.”

Researchers from the University of Malaga (UMA) also presented last week the design of a desalination plant that would work with solar energy to combat drought in Andalucía. It proposes an installation that would cost around 60 million euros, be built within a year and could produce 20 cubic hectometres per year, more than the annual consumption of irrigated land in the Axarquia region.