DOHA: The three-day General Conference of Arab Union of Electricity, set to open here on January 7, 2012, will discuss the region’s renewable energy potential in detail. How to connect the region’s renewable energy sources to the public grid will be one of the key focuses of the discussion.
Nuclear power for electricity generation and the potential projects; restructuring the region’s electricity sector, investment opportunities, setting up of smart grids, demand side management, and energy conservation are among the critical topics to be debated in the 4th edition of the conference.
The conference, the seminar and the exhibition coincide with the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Arab Union of Electricity. Essa ben Al Kuwari (pictured), President of Qatar General Electricity & Water Corporation (Kahramaa), and the conference president said: “The conference will see participation of high profile Arab experts from the region’s electricity and energy sector. We are looking forward to make it a collective event at all levels in which the issues of strengthening cooperation among all electricity and energy entities in the Arab world, will be discussed.”
The Doha conference comes at a time of growing interest in the Arab countries in developing and upgrading the electricity sector. There has been an increasing interests in the application of latest technologies in electric power production, transmission and distribution, he added.
The conference, the seminar and the accompanying exhibition are expected to attract wide attendance from the public and private sectors in the Arab world and other countries led by Arab electricity ministers, who have confirmed their attendance, and including leading global manufacturers of electrical solutions and smart grids; experts and researchers in the electricity sector, renewable energy and smart grids, and other parties involved and interested in the above areas.
Key speakers at the conference will include H E Dr Mohamed ben Saleh Al Sada, Minister of Energy and Industry of Qatar, Essa ben HilalAl Kuwari, Dr Mohammed bin Ibrahim At-Twaijri, Assistant Secretary General for Economic Affairs at the League of Arab States; Dr Hassan Younes, Former Minister of Electricity and Energy in the Arab republic of Egypt; Mohamed Ridha Ben Mosbah, President and CEO of STEG (Tunisian Company of Electricity and Gas) and President of Arab Union of Electricity, Sheikh Nawaf Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, CEO of the Electricity and Water Authority of Bahrain; Dr Saleh bin Hussein Al Awaji, Deputy Minister for Electricity at the Ministry of Water and Electricity of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, Managing Director and CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA); Fahad Hamad Al Mohannadi, General Manager of Qatar Electricity and Water Company (QEWC); Dr HishamKhatib, Vice-Chairman at the World Energy Council of Jordan, Global Energy award Laureate; Dr AbdelmajidMahjoub, Director General of the Arab Atomic Energy Agency (AAEA), Republic of Tunisia; Ali Al Barrak, CEO and President of Saudi Electricity Company (SEC); GaberDesouki, Chairman of the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company in the Arab Republic of Egypt, and Ahmed Ali Al Ebrahim, COO of GCCIA,Bahrain.
The Peninsula
