Befesa Agua

What is it? The environmental services subsidiary of Spanish construction and engineering group Abengoa.

What has it done? In 2008, Befesa successfully bid on and closed the $185 million financing for the 200,000m3/d Ténès SWRO plant in Algeria, and successfully completed construction of another 100,000m3/d of SWRO capacity at Skikda. The company also completed the 95,000m3/d SWRO project at Minjur near Chennai in India. In September, Befesa entered the US market by purchasing a controlling stake in Texas-based desalination and water supply specialist NRS Consulting Engineers.

Why is it shortlisted?

• The acquisition of 51% of NRS Consulting Engineers, which recently completed the pilot study for Texas's first seawater desalination plant, gave Befesa a bridgehead from which to compete for larger desalination projects throughout the Sunbelt States.

• Chennai (Minjur) is India's first large-scale SWRO facility. It features the ground-breaking use of a variable frequency drive (VFD) which reduces energy consumption by optimising flow through the membranes - the first time VFD has been successfully used on a large desalination plant.

• Befesa continued its impressive international expansion in 2008. The company maintained its strength in Algeria and established footholds in India and the USA, while bidding on projects from ranging from the 95,000m3/d SWRO at Swakopmund, Namibia to the 100,000m3/d SWRO in Agadir, Morocco to a 66,000m3/d BWRO project for the City of Hialeah in Florida.