Desalination plant awarded Gold
The Design, Build and Operate of Stage 1 Tseung Kwan O (TKO) Desalination Plant project has been recognised for its remarkable achievement on sustainability by winning the Gold Award at the 2023 Construction Industry Council (CIC) Sustainable Construction Award (Public Sector). TKO Desalination Plant is Hong Kong’s first desalination plant using reverse osmosis to produce fresh water from seawater, which is expected to enter services in the end of 2023.
The project was highly recognised by the CIC Sustainable Construction Award Committee for its outstanding achievement in applying innovative technologies and environmental friendly construction practices for creating a positive impact to the built environment and the society.
Sustainability the key priority for the design and construction of TKO Desalination Plant
The adoption of ‘ActiDAFF’ for pre-treatment, which combines the flotation and filtration processes in an integrated structure, has considerably saved the footprint of the plant, hence minimising the scale of construction and maintenance needs. Energy recovery devices have been installed to recover up to 96% of the pressure energy from the brine during the reverse osmosis process, for reducing the required pumping energy by up to 50%.
A series of green and sustainable features are incorporated including the planning of a large scale 10 MW solar farm nearby for generating electricity to be used exclusively for the plant’s operation. Advanced construction solutions such as DfMA (Design for Manufacture and Assembly) and MiMEP (Multi-trade Integrated Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing) are widely adopted where plant elements were fabricated off-site to enhance safety and quality, and simultaneously reducing waste generation and transportation needs. Grey water reuse and rainwater harvesting are put in place to reduce fresh water consumption by over 50%.
Edmund Hambly Medal at the 2023 ICE Awards
Earlier the project also won the Edmund Hambly Medal, highly commended for building resilience, and mitigating significant effects of climate change on Hong Kong’s water supply by introducing a promising new water source.
As a key part of the ‘Total Water Management Strategy’ promulgated by the Water Supplies Department of the Hong Kong SAR Government, the first stage of the TKO Desalination Plant is built with a water production capacity of 135 million litres per day (MLD), equivalent to 5% of Hong Kong’s total daily fresh water demand, enough for over 370,000 people. A further expansion to its ultimate capacity of 270 million MLD within the 8-hectare site is planned.
