SWPF 2013 Provides Insight into the Future of Sustainable Power

Jeddah, December 5, 2013: The Ninth Saudi Water and Power Forum 2013, produced by the CWC Group and held in partnership with the Saudi Ministry of Water & Electricity and Moya Bushnak concluded offering an operational insight into the governmental policies, development and implementation of the upcoming sustainable power technologies. The Forum started with the visit of Prince Mishaal bin Majid Abdulaziz  and H.E. Abdullah bin Abdul Rahman Al Hussayen, Minister of Water and Electricity who also delivered a keynote address alongside Dr. Adil Bushnak, Chairman & CEO, Moya Bushnak.

The interactive Forum sessions initiated with key speakers Dr. Maher Al Odan, Research and Development Innovation, K.A. Care (Moderator); H.E. Dr. Saleh Alawaji, Chairman Of the Board of Directors, Saudi Electricity Company and Deputy Minister For Electricity, Ministry Of Electricity ; Dr. Michael Suess, CEO Simens Energy Sector; Phillip Cochet, Alstom Thermal Power and Executive Vice-Resident, Alstom; and Thamer Al Sharhan, Managing Director, ACWA Power discussing about Renewable Energy- Developing Strategies to Create Green Utilities and Adding Value Within the KSA.

The Interactive Roundtable Discussions were fantastically well-received.  The discussions were focussed on those issues at the heart of developing sustainability within the water and power sectors. Eleven roundtables were being run concurrently for the entire afternoon, and topics included key strategic priorities including Policy, Sustainability in Water, Fuel Price Subsidies, Driving Efficiency, Educating the next Generation, Desalination and Renewable Energy. The attractiveness of these sessions was attributable to the interactive nature and the high level moderators in charge of leading the discussions. Moderators included H.E. Dr.AbdulRahman Al-Ibrahim, Governor- SWCC, Paddy Padmanathan, President & CEO- ACWA Power, Mohammed Mohaisen, CEO Power Generation Products – GE, Francois Carpentier, Vice President- GPS Middle East- Alstom, AvtarJihr, CEO- Doosan Enpure and Dr. Abdullah Al Alshaikh, Deputy Governor for Planning & Development- SWCC.

“The high level moderators coupled with the key challenges being discussed made the discussions particularly valuable for all attendees and ultimately the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia” aid, Stefanus Ferreira, Corporate Communications Director, Marafiq.

The Forum awards ceremony highlights included The SWPF Award for Innovation which was won by DOOSAN, the Marafiq Award for Sustainability was given to  IBN ZAHR and Sponsorship Awards were given to Acwa Power, Marafiq, Doosan, Alstom, Siemens and GE.

The Forum is an important ground for many companies to announce important ventures such as Alstom who announced  a partnership with Arabian Bemco Contracting Co. Ltd. to create a joint venture (JV) company — Alstom Arabia Power Factory Ltd. At the same time, GE highlighted its commitment to train the Saudi professionals by participating the SWPF 2013 professional so as to offer training opportunities for Saudi professionals to develop their skills and lead energy sector operations in the Kingdom.

In the coming two decades, the Kingdom is expected to invest over SR700 billion to upgrade power and water production facilities and infrastructure projects to meet 10 percent growth in demand for water and power, as per the evaluation of the SWPF 2013 organizers. Thus, the Forum also featured Technical Seminars which were free for all the delegates and visitors wherein Dr. Mohammad Aljohani, Dean of Nuclear Engineering, King Abdul Aziz University spoke about Integration of Thermal Desalination with New Nuclear Power Generation Projects in Saudi while Andreas Pistauer, Head of Gas Turbines, KSA, Siemens Energy middle East shed light on Advancements in Efficiency and operating flexibility of CCPPS.

The last day of the Forum saw critical contributions by the big industry players through a session focused on the topic: Overcoming the Key Challenges and Creating Opportunities for Industry Operators in KSA. Dr Abdullah Al Alshaikh, Deputy Governor for Planning & Development, SWCC played a commendable role as a moderator and leveraged the viewpoints of Abdullah Khalifa Al-Buainain, President & CEO, Marafiq; Yara Anabtawi, Director – Business Development – Renewables, ACWA Power; Dr Naïf Al-Abbadi, Director General, Saudi Energy Efficiency Center (SEEC) and Engr. Beshr J. AlNahdi, Training Center Manager, SWCC, in a result-oriented direction to reach an effective conclusion.

Following this session, sessions on EFFICIENCY OPPORTUNITIES- Outlining the Route to Successfully Overcoming the Efficiency Challenge in Water & Power and WATER REUSE: Providing the Latest in Innovation for the Sustainable Development of Water Resources were also held. Finally, the SWPF this year rounded up with Keynote Closing Panel: The Next Steps for Ensuring Successful Implementation of Targets in a Sustainable & Timely Manner headed by Dr Adil Bushnak, Chairman & CEO, Moya Bushnak  and Christopher Gasson, Publisher, Global Water Intelligence.

Dr. Robert Flaechsig, representative of Desertec Power, stated, 'The effective alignment of the technology driven supply concepts like Desertec are highly useful for the KSA's growing market which is currently experiencing high demand of the water and power utilities and an event like Saudi Water and Power Forum is a perfect platform to highlight it and make the industry aware of the upcoming demand and supply of the required services.'

Mr. Gurpreet Hayre, the SWPF Event Director, remarked, 'This year's Forum was a huge success and attracted a record number of companies, delegates and visitors. The key challenges to the water and power sectors have been both presented and discussed and we hope attendees will have some valuable take-away's and stakeholders will have reinforced policies which will in turn be implemented.'

'I would like to extend my gratitude to H.E. Abdullah bin Abdul Rahman Al Hussayen, Minister of Water and Electricity, Prince Mishaal bin Majid Abdulaziz and our key sponsors - ACWA Power, Siemens, GE, Marafiq, Doosan and Alstom,  who rendered valuable support to the Forum and actively remained a part of the Forum throughout the three days.'

The 9th SWPF, which was attended by over 500 delegates and around 2500 visitors, was exceptionally successful in achieving its aim as it brought all water and power industry segments together under one roof to discuss and promote the technologies for effective energy production within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. During various sessions and  panel discussions the delegates received a good opportunities to discuss the present and future technologies capable of promoting sustainable power in the Kingdom.