With the ongoing development in the Mena region, demand for power generation will result in a 45-50 per cent increase in capacity over the period of 2015-2020, requiring nearly $200 billion investments, a report said.

Major changes envisaged in the Mena region include an increase in population from 354.6 million (2013) to 389 million (2018) and over $490 billion of industrial projects planned between 2014 and 2020 and by 2025, added the White Paper for Power-Gen Middle East by Frost & Sullivan, a growth partnership company.

Growing interest in the regional power and water sectors was reflected with the recently held Power-Gen Middle East, co-located WaterWorld Middle East in Abu Dhabi.  The Conferences and Exhibition featured over 215 speakers and exhibitors with 66 per cent coming from the region and the remaining 34 per cent coming from Australasia, Europe, North and Latin America.

The 12th edition of the conference and exhibition, held at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, generated intense debate among a worldwide audience spanning across nearly 80 countries about meeting regional power growth demand.

“Power-Gen Middle East (PGME) Conference and Exhibition returned to Abu Dhabi after an acknowledgement of the local commitment towards working to enhance the stability and sustainability of the region’s power supply,” said Nigel Blackaby, event director of PGME.

Dr Corrado Sommariva, managing director, Generation Middle East, ILF Consulting and former President of the International Desalination Association (IDA), who participated in the Joint Plenary Session and chaired other sessions, was one of several industry leaders with prominent roles at the conferences.

Marina Selivertova, head of Russian Water Resources and Yuri Sharov, director general, InterRAO Engineering, were part of a high-level delegation from the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation that involved several major Russian companies and business leaders.

The delegation participated in the two-part “Russia Day” which included a plenary session focused on the stable development of global energy, a presentation dedicated to the implementation of Russian nuclear power technologies, and a session entitled, “Energy Generation, Transmission and Distribution; Smart Grids and Information Technologies”.

From the exhibition floor, Wärtsilä, a global leader in complete lifecycle power solutions for the marine and energy markets, hosted the launch of the much-anticipated book on power system challenges by award winning author, Dr Jacob Klimstra.

“The Conference and Exhibition will return again to Abu Dhabi next year from October4 to 6, 2015 to encourage further discussion around best managing the region’s power resources, and to build on the success of this year’s event,” said Blackaby.  “We look forward to welcoming back this year’s participants, and other industry leaders looking to be part of the regional dialogue.”

Both Power-Gen Middle East and WaterWorld Middle East are owned and managed by PennWell Corporation, a privately held and highly diversified business-to-business media and information company. – TradeArabia News Service