Siemens Drive Technologies Division's Norwood (Ohio) Motor Manufacturing Plant has been selected by the Mekorot National Water Company to produce vertical frame motors to support one of the largest water infrastructure projects in Israel since the 1960s. Siemens global team of motor experts from Norwood and Siemens Israel collaborated to secure an order for 10, 2,600 kW (3,487 hp each, Above NEMA) vertical motors, totaling approximately $2.7 million. Like many places in the Middle East, demand for water in Israel is outpacing available resources.  Beginning in 2013, the Mekorot National Water Company will begin pumping desalinated water from water treatment facilities along the Mediterranean Sea to inland cities.  Siemens motors will be used as part of a series of large water reservoirs at Ma'agar Sorek (Soreq) and Hefetz Hayim.

Israel's ADL (SPC - Ashdod Desalination Ltd.), a subsidiary of state-owned Mekorot Development and Enterprises Ltd., recently announced that it will build and operate a desalination plant in the coastal city of Ashdod, supplying 100 million cubic meters of desalinated water annually.  The new plant will join four other desalination facilities, providing 85 percent of Israel's household water consumption by the end of 2013, and positioning the country as a world leader in desalination and wastewater recycling.

"While we are currently being conservative with our water resources, the infrastructure projects we are undertaking, including our seawater desalination plants at Ashdod and Soreq, will allow us to better manage the water economy, with hopes of a surplus water supply in 2014," says Shimon Ben Hamo, CEO of Mekorot National Water Company.

Mekorot National Water Company is known globally for its green initiatives.  The company's flagship facilities include the Central Filtration Plant, the Dan Region Wastewater Treatment Plant (Shafdan), the National Water Carrier and Mekorot's water supply system. Mekorot is a leader in the fields of water resources management, desalination, wastewater treatment and effluent reuse, rain enhancement, water quality, water security and water project engineering.

"Significant energy savings can be attributed to the installation of efficient motors, and Siemens is proud to be designing and manufacturing motors in the United States for projects across the globe," says Doug Keith, president of Siemens Drive Technologies Division, North America. "This was a unique project, in that there was an aggressive time-schedule for permitting and water-delivery, as well as the implementation of new technologies in a large-scale and state-owned desalination plant"

Located next to Cincinnati, the Norwood manufacturing plant specializes in the design, manufacturing, service and delivery of large induction motors to multiple industries.  The facility, built in 1898, includes product development and onsite motor testing operations.  Siemens invested approximately $30 million in the plant, which employees 400 workers.  Now a "Global Motor" research and technology center, the American Petroleum Institute (API)-certified plant manufactures and tests electric motors that are shipped globally for use by chemical, pulp & paper, power generation, cement, water/wastewater, metals, mining, oil & gas and transportation industries.