From left: Debbie Stanford-Kristiansen, International Events Director at PennWell Middle East, Remy Rowhani, Director General of Qatar Chamber, Essa bin Hilal Al Kuwari, President of Kahramaa, H E Dr Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada, Qatar’s Minister for Energy and Industry, Fahad Hamad Al Mohannadi, General Manager of Qatar Electricity and Water Company, and Timm Dower, Group Publisher, Water and Waste Group, PennWell USA, during the opening ceremony of Power-Gen Middle East and WaterWorld Middle East Conference and Exhibition at Qatar National Convention Center yesterday. Shaival Dalal
By MOHAMMAD SHOEB
DOHA: Qatar’s campaign to rationalise consumption of electricity and water has borne little fruit, as figures show that the use of the precious resources increased by an average of 10 percent in 2012 as compared to 2011. The rising demand for these resources poses a big challenge to Qatar.
“Water consumption in Qatar increased by nine percent in 2012 in comparison to the previous year. Electricity energy and maximum demand increased by 13 percent during the same period. Therefore, the big challenge for this region is to plan ahead and execute infrastructure energy projects to keep pace with its economic growth”, Qatar’s Minister of Energy and Industry, H E Dr Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada said here yesterday.
In view of the high per capita electricity and water consumption in the hydrocarbon-rich country, Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation, Kahramaa, has launched a five-year drive, Tarsheed, to reduce the consumption of these resources by an average of 25 percent. However, the trend of growing consumption of these two resources shows no meaningful response to the campaign.
Delivering his keynote address at the opening ceremony of Power-Gen Middle East 2013 at QNCC, the minister said: “Kahramaa has launched an ambitious Tarsheed campaign – a national campaign for the conservation and efficient use of water and electricity, aiming to reduce electricity consumption by 20 percent and water consumption by 30 percent per capita within five years.”
Keeping in view the rising demand for water and electricity and Qatar’s commitment to address environmental concerns, Dr Al Sada said: “The big challenge for this region is to plan ahead and execute infrastructure energy projects to keep pace with its economic growth”.
He added: “This challenge is compounded by the need to preciously safeguard and conserve our water resources. Water is a utility which needs our serious attention, both for making it available to meet the growing demand and for rationalising its consumption, especially in the context of the GCC region. This calls for substantial investment in improved desalination technologies, which could involve solar energy or new ways of filtering out salt.”
The three-day conference and exhibition organised by PennWell in partnership with Qatar Electricity and Water Company (QEWC) and Ashghal is intended to support the expectations of Qatar’s development of the power and water industries.
Reiterating the need to address the challenges faced by Qatar and the entire GCC region, Essa bin Hilal Al Kuwari, President Kahramaa, said: “Such high and accumulated rates of increase are real challenges for the GCC region in maintaining the sustainable energy and water supplies for their fast growing economies”.
“In order to meet these challenges and opportunities head on, we will need to embrace a range of different technologies, some of which are still in the development and demonstration phase and others that can be deployed now,” added Al Mohannadi.
“We at Qatar Chamber are incredibly proud to be supporters of the regional power generation industry at a time when it is on the cusp of significant and dynamic changes”, said Rowhani.
THE PENINSULA
