The POWER-GEN Middle East conference and exhibition moves to Doha, Qatar for the first time in its nine year history from 4th – 6th October 2010 at the Qatar International Exhibition Centre, Doha and is being held under the patronage of His Excellency Mr. Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy & Industry.
Considered the region’s premier conference and exhibition for the power generation, transmission & distribution and water industries, POWER-GEN Middle East aims to discuss and tackle the strategic and technical issues facing the region.
New Solutions for the Region’s Power & Water Challenges
Qatar’s power generation is expected to increase by a demanding 193.5 per cent before the year 2018. With the Qatar General Electricity & Water Corporation (Kahramaa) considering alternative options to oil and gas-fired power plants, a 3,500 MW solar power project and the building of a nuclear power plant are among some of the options.
The region’s anticipated growth in demand for power is between 7% and 8% per annum. The GCC grid interconnection that was completed last July has been a success, but with the proposed expansion of this project to the UAE, Oman and North Africa, this will provide challenge to the industry’s authorities.
With the over exploitation of underground water reserves, all governments around the Middle East are having to tackle the issue of how to guarantee access to shrinking supplies of fresh water, with forecasts anticipating demand to double over the next 10 years.
There are several power plant and water desalination projects currently under construction and in the planning stages throughout the region, in order to meet this future demand, but more needs to be done in order to maintain long term sustainable energy and water supplies. It is anticipated the GCC needs to invest over $130bn in order to meet future power and water demands.
The regions premier power and water conference will look at covering many issues from market structure and regulation, strategic planning and market trends, to the latest technologies and operational challenges, across three conference tracks.
Advisory Board meet in Qatar
The POWER-GEN Middle East Advisory Board held their committee meeting in Doha on 7th and 8th April, to review a record number of abstracts submitted by the industry, for the conference.
Through a process of discussion and deliberation from a board of industry experts, the conference aims to deliver a high quality programme discussing strategic and technical issues from the power and water industries of the Middle East.
The POWER-GEN Middle East Conference Director, Nigel Blackaby, said, “The POWER-GEN Middle East conference is the regions premier platform for exchanging ideas and information with leading organisations and strategists. Each year we receive a very high level of potential presentations for the conference, which has made this event so well renowned for its quality content and knowledge and information sharing opportunities.”
POWER-GEN Middle East 2010 will be co-hosted by Qatar Power, majority owned by Qatar Electricity & Water Company and owners of the Ras Laffan B IWPP.
