San Diego Area Desalination Project Recognized

Poseidon Water’s Carlsbad, Calif. desalination project was named Desalination Deal of the Year 2012 by Global Water Intelligence, an international water industry analyst.

The award recognized the public-private partnership between Poseidon Resources and the San Diego County Water Authority as a “pioneering collaborative approach” that will “serve as a blueprint for the financing of other large-scale desalination projects across the southern U.S.,” according to an SDCWA release.

The $922 million project financing, which closed in late December, includes $755 million in tax-exempt bonds issued by the California Pollution Control Financing Authority on behalf of Poseidon and the San Diego County Water Authority and $167 million of project equity from an affiliate of Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners.

The water authority will purchase the entire approximately 50 million gallons per day of drinking water produced by the plant under a 30-year agreement that enables the water agency to transfer key risks to Poseidon while supporting project financing at the investment-grade level.

“We’re gratified by the recognition for our unique public-private partnership with the San Diego County Water Authority,” said Carlos Riva, Poseidon’s chief executive officer in a statement. “This project clearly represents a significant step toward addressing Southern California’s water-supply challenges in a financially and environmentally responsible manner, and Poseidon is proud to have helped clear the path for similarly worthy projects.”

The Carlsbad project, under construction now and slated to be completed in early 2016, was also been recognized recently by Project Finance magazine as the “North American Water Deal of the Year 2012.”

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