Japan’s Yokogawa Electric Corporation has won a contract to replace the control systems at the Shuwaikh desalination plant in Kuwait.

The Electricity & Water Ministry is the client on the project, located on the coast near Kuwait City.

Under the contract, Yokogawa will replace the control systems for the plant’s three boilers and three distillation units. The aim of the project is to increase the efficiency and reliability of the plant’s operations. The company will start work in February 2010 and expects to complete the project in 2012.

The Shuwaikh plant, with capacity of 19.5 million gallons a day of desalinated water, has been operating since 1953. It accounts for 6 per cent of Kuwait’s desalination capacity.