Cox

Coxabengoa awarded the largest desalination plant in Taiwan

  • Thanks to its proven experience in the management of water resources, the multinational company has won its first contract in the country, thus strengthening its portfolio and leadership position in Asia and the Middle East. 
  • The completed plant will produce up to 200,000 cubic meters per day of water that can meet the drinking water needs of one million people and will employ 200 people at the peak of its construction. 
  • Coxabengoa has worked to reorganize the business and assets and transform the company into a global water and energy utility (since the award of Abengoa’s assets to Cox Group last year).
  • Coxabengoa, is one of the most important companies in the desalination sector worldwide, with more than 10 % of installed capacity and four million cubic meters per day of water supply.

Madrid, June 2024 – Coxabengoa, a vertically integrated global water and energy utility, strengthens its global leadership position in the water desalination sector by winning the contract for the phase 1 of what will be the largest desalination plant in Taiwan, with a capacity of 200,000 cubic meters per day, located in Tainan, a city in southern Taiwan. The plant will have the capacity to supply drinking water to one million people, in a country with a great need for water for human consumption, as well as meet the water needs of the semiconductor industry on the island.

The entire project includes the construction and operation for 15 years of a seawater reverse osmosis desalination plant for the Southern Region Water Resources Branch, Water Resources Agency, Ministry of economic Affairs (Taiwan), as the final customer.

The construction and start-up of the plant, which will employ 200 people at the peak of the process, will be carried out in two phases. Phase 1 will have the capacity to supply 100,000 cubic meters of drinking water per day, and phase 2 will reach 200,000 cubic meters.

Leaders in water resource management

Since the award of Abengoa’s assets by Cox Group in April 2023, the Coxabengoa team has worked to reorganize the business and assets and transform the company into a global water and energy utility. Thus, the infrastructure/transmission lines areas have been integrated, together with the Operation and Maintenance area, to support the Group’s core businesses.

In addition to the award of the desalination plant in Taiwan, Coxabengoa has put into operation one of the major milestones in the sector. This is Taweelah, the largest reverse osmosis desalination plant in the world, located in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates). With a production of almost one million m3/day, Taweelah guarantees supply to approximately four and a half million people throughout the year. Taweelah is the first large-scale plant in the emirate to combine the production of drinking water with the generation of clean energy, thanks to the installation of a 70 MWp photovoltaic system, enabling the desalination plant to be self-sufficient in renewable energy.

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Luis Arizaga Zárate

Independent Director

Member of the Audit Committee

Date of appointment: September 17, 2024

Shareholding in Cox Abg Group, S.A.: 11,514 shares

Partner of Exus Management Partners (Exus) and GenuX Power, a global renewable energy platform with offices in nine countries, managing 11GW of installed capacity, including 2.6GW in Mexico between wind and solar energy projects. Holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at NYU in New York, and a bachelors degree in Accounting and Finance from ITESM in Mexico.

Prior to joining EXUS in 2019, he founded EIRA Capital, an investment platform focused on Energy and Infrastructure transactions in Mexico, and Latin America. He was also part of Australia’s Macquarie Group in Latin America, where he spent more than 7 years in the Macquarie Capital and Macquarie Funds divisions, working on fund capital raising, equity investments, asset management activities, as well as third party advisory roles on energy and infrastructure transactions in Mexico and Latin America. During his years at Macquarie, he also held board positions in the several investments made by Macquarie which covered energy, public private partnerships, roads, and telecom companies. In addition, his previous involvement at financial institutions include positions in the investment banking teams of Deutsche Bank’s M&A group in New York, and Citibank’s M&A group in Mexico.

Other former relevant positions include his role as independent member of the investment committee of the Instituto del Fondo Nacional de la Vivienda para los Trabajadores (Mexican mortgages and housing government agency).

Enrique Riquelme Vives

Presidente Ejecutivo

Fecha de nombramiento: 17 de septiembre de 2024

Participación en el capital social de Cox Abg Group, S.A.: 50.601.230 acciones

Presidente Ejecutivo de Cox, tras iniciar su andadura profesional en el sector inmobiliario y de la construcción, en 2010 fundó Grupo El Sol en Panamá, especializado en operaciones de minería, cemento, infraestructuras y energía. Con el tiempo, la empresa se convertiría en el mayor proveedor de arena de la UTE responsable de la ampliación del canal de Panamá. Posteriormente, pasó a liderar las fases de oferta y desarrollo de Rainbow 50: el proyecto fotovoltaico de mayor envergadura ejecutado en América Latina hasta aquel momento.

Ha recibido varios galardones por su contribución al mundo empresarial en España, entre ellos el Premio del Certamen Nacional de Jóvenes Emprendedores 2018. También ha sido distinguido como uno de los «100 latinos más influyentes comprometidos con la acción climática» y uno de los «100 españoles más creativos del mundo de los negocios» según la revista Forbes. Actualmente, es miembro del Consejo Internacional de la San Telmo Business School y preside el Consejo Asesor de la Fundación Scholas para Panamá, Centroamérica y Caribe.