The International Desalination and Reuse Association (IDRA) ranking for the 2024-2025 period confirms our ninth position among the world's largest companies and second in Spain in terms of desalinated water capacity.

In the global ranking for total desalinated water capacity over the past ten years (2015-2024), we are ranked 20th, with 2.2 million m³/day of installed water capacity, supplying the equivalent of 14.6 million people.

This significant improvement in our market position is due to major contracts awarded last year, including the expansion, operation, and maintenance of the Torrevieja (Alicante) and Águilas (Murcia) desalination plants; the operation, maintenance, and conservation of the Alicante and Carboneras (Almería) desalination plants; and the improvement, adaptation, and commissioning of the Cuevas de Almanzora Drinking Water Treatment Plant (ETAP) in Almería.

Additionally, Sacyr Water is the largest operator of desalinated water in Spain.

Sacyr has launched the 7th edition of its open innovation program, Sacyr iChallenges. Sacyr iChallenges is an initiative for innovation, technology, and cooperation to converge to address two business challenges issued by Sacyr in partnership with the global innovation community.

The program calls on innovation agents worldwide to provide disruptive and value-generating solutions. As customary, Sacyr welcomes proposals from startups, scaleups, tech hubs, universities, innovation centers, and large corporations worldwide.

Interested participants must submit their proposals by August 1 on https://www.sacyrichallenges.com.

"This program is one of our most effective means to combine external talent with the company's internal skillset, enabling us to advance our sustainable performance”, said Marta Gil, Chief Innovation, Strategy and Sustainability Officer.

“The adoption of new solutions and technologies allows us to tackle project-specific technical challenges and continue to make a positive impact. In this new edition, we aim to keep exploring new horizons, driving new solutions, and proposing new ways to design, build, and manage our large infrastructures, as well as providing our services in collaboration with the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Sustainability and innovation remain at the heart of everything we do”, Gil added.

Sustainability, at the core of Sacyr iChallenges

As previous editions, the focus of Sacyr iChallenges 7 is to promote sustainability. The two challenges in this edition call for solutions addressing the following business needs:

• Technology innovations driving circular management in water treatment: How can we minimize, reuse, or recover substances and waste present in our treatment and water distribution systems?
• Climate-resilient infrastructure: How can we prepare our infrastructure to face adverse climate conditions and our capability to anticipate, resist and respond to damages?

Key dates and selection criteria

Sacyr presented Sacyr iChallenges 7 today at South Summit Madrid, the leading innovation event in Spain, starting today through Friday.

The call for proposals for the 7th edition of Sacyr iChallenges is open on the program’s website https://www.sacyrichallenges.com until August 1.

After the deadline is up, a committee of Sacyr professionals and experts and the Innovation team will review and assess all submitted proposals.

Next stop is Focus Week, where the pre-selected innovation agents and business experts will gather to discuss viable solutions.

Sacyr will then announce the selected proposals that will participate in working groups comprising Sacyr experts and external agents to continue developing their solutions.

The process culminates in late 2024 at Sacyr Innovation Summit. An event where the selected proposals will participate in in-person sessions with Sacyr experts to define pilot projects and will present their projects to the company’s top management.

Sacyr iChallenges, a benchmark in the innovation ecosystem

Over the course of its previous six editions, Sacyr iChallenges has received a total of 1,500 proposals to address several challenges. Solutions from over 30 countries have helped position Sacyr iChallenges as an international benchmark innovation program.

Since the program launched in 2018, Sacyr has brought over 20 pilot projects to fruition.

En el Plan Sacyr Sostenible 2021-2025, guía sostenible y carta al futuro de la compañía, se considera la gestión energética como pilar clave para el desarrollo sostenible de las actividades.

Por ello, Sacyr lleva a cabo medidas que permiten emplear la menor cantidad posible de recursos energéticos, disminuyendo el impacto ambiental y mejorando el rendimiento de su actividad.

Uno de estos proyectos se ha llevado a cabo en la desaladora de Carboneras (Almería) que, Desde 2022, cuenta con una instalación fotovoltaica de 25 Kw., enfocada al autoconsumo instantáneo con excedentes, y cargador de vehículos eléctricos.

Esto contribuye a la ampliación y mejora de la eficiencia energética en las desaladoras de la provincia andaluza. Gracias a este proyecto, en la que se ha instalado una cubierta en la nave principal, más de 20.000 regantes de la provincia se podrán beneficiar del agua procedente de esta planta. 

El 35% de las necesidades eléctricas de la planta se verán cubiertas gracias a la instalación de estos parques fotovoltaicos. 

Sacyr ha recibido una ayuda de la Unión Europea con cargo al Fondo NextGenerationEU, en el marco del Plan de Recuperación, Trasformación y Resiliencia, para INSTALACIÓN FOTOVOLTAICA DE AUTOCONSUMO CON EXCEDENTES dentro del programa de incentivos ligados al autoconsumo y almacenamiento, con fuentes de energía renovable, así como la implantación de sistemas térmicos renovables en el sector residencial del Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica y el Reto Demográfico, gestionado por la Junta de Andalucía, a través de la Agencia Andaluza de la Energía.