Utilities ME - Dec 2009

Middle East

An ITP Business Publication

ESSENTIAL INSIGHTS FOR MIDDLE EAST WATER, GAS AND ELECTRICITY PROFESSIONALS December 2009 • Vol 3. Issue 12

An ITP Business Publication

INTERNATIONAL DESALINATION ASSOCIATION WORLD CONGRESSExperts discuss the hottest trends in the world’s biggest desalination market

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BILLING ME SOFTLY Hi-tech metering rolls out in the Middle East

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CONTENTS

www.utilities-me.com December 2009 ● Utilities Middle East 1

2 COMMENTCelebrating the new GCC inter-connection grid.

4 REGIONAL UPDATEA round-up of some of the biggest headlines in the region.

10 NEWS ANALYSISLocal companies are still hiring as infrastructure budgets rocket.

13 TECH FOCUSMegger’s new automatic relay test and the IEC 61850 standard.

14 COVER STORYBillionaire David H Koch has forged a strong link with the water industry.

18 NORTH AFRICA FOCUSAn ERP giant’s experience with GECOL, the state electricity pro-vider in Libya.

21 IDA FOCUSUtilities Middle East speaks to the world’s most important de-salination executives.

30 NEW TECHNOLOGIES Smart meter roll-outs are taking place across the UAE.

35 DISTRICT COOLINGDSI’s Tawfiq Abu Soud discusses the need for tighter regulation.

36 PROJECT TRACKERA select list of current regional utilities projects.

38 TENDERSOpportunities available in the Middle East.

40 PEOPLE METERABB’s Mohammed Samkari reviews his firm’s project activities in Saudi Arabia.

December 2009 Issue 12

18

10

14

Metito group human capital director Hisham Fadda Delegates at the IFS/GECOL event in Tripoli

Landis+Gyr’s E450 meter

ABB’s Moham-med Samkari

30 40

Koch Membrane Systems president David H Koch

COMMENT

2 Utilities Middle East ● December 2009 www.utilities-me.com

To subscribe please visit www.itp.com/subscriptions

D ecember sees the offi cial launch of the most important development to hit the GCC’s electricity markets in recent

years – the region-wide interconnection grid. The premise behind the grid – which is already opera-tional in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar and Bah-rain – is simple; by utilising spare capacity from other countries, the GCC states will aim to avoid the blackouts that have become endemic.

The GCC Interconnection Authority (GCCIA) says that power demand is likely to rise from 32GW in 2003 to around 94GW in 2028, and believes that the cost-benefi t ratio of the scheme for all six countries weighs in at around 1.8. GCC countries will be able to trade around half the capacity of their biggest power plant – so around 1,200MW for Saudi Arabia, and so on.

However, one of the grid’s major problems is that the peak load for each GCC country falls simultaneously, meaning that spare capacity is at a premium. According to a state news agency, Kuwait’s load this summer was such that it asked gas-rich Qatar to cover a potential shortfall. In what is hopefully not a sign of things to come, Qatar refused, saying it had no power to spare.

But these are early days. Massive recent and ongoing investment in new power plants mean

that countries such as Saudi Arabia are sched-uled to have excess capacity in the beginning of next year, according to a recent report from BMI.

While peak load periods are the same for all GCC nations, connection to other regional power pools, such as EJLIST and the Arab Maghreb, will provide access to other key electricity markets. The grid will also provide an opportunity to cap-italise on any fi bre-optic excess capacity going spare. In addition, the GCCIA says that spinning reserves will be shared to cover emergency oper-ating conditions, and costs will be even further lowered by using the most economic generation unit in the connected systems. Another bonus is that there should, in theory, be a reduced need for new power plants.

No-one is expecting that the grid will solve everyone’s problems immediately. But with more power plants coming online and the slow introduction of nuclear power into the grid at some point towards the end of the next decade in the UAE, the optimists will believe that the ‘Shar-jah scenario’ will soon be an unpleasant footnote in the annals of GCC electricity history.

Ed Attwood, Editor E-mail: [email protected]

On the starting grid... Why the new interconnection should be celebrated

Middle East

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REGIONAL UPDATE


Sembcorp: Salalah IWPP nears fi nancial close

IDA team examines Gulf pollutionTask force to consider fall-out from desalination; Bahrain offers to hold first meeting in 2010A task force will be set up to con-sider the effects of pollution in the Arabian Gulf caused by the desali-nation industry, according to speak-ers at the launch ceremony of the International Desalination Associa-tion (IDA)’s World Congress.

The issue of pollution in the Gulf has been raised before, particu-larly in light of the fact that water exchange in the inland sea is only full exchanged every eight or nine years, according to some experts.

Discussions were held over the make-up of the committee during the desalination industry’s mar-quee annual event, which took place at Dubai’s Atlantis Resort on the Palm Jumeirah.

The move was backed by GCC ministers present at the launch, who agreed that further action was needed in order to safeguard the industry in the region.

“Concentrated brines from these plants are discharged into the oceans without full treatment, which is of growing concern,” Bah-rain’s Minister of Electricity and Water, Fahmi Bin Ali Al Jowder told delegates. “There is a necessity to provide strict legislation on the dis-charge of effl uent from desalina-

tion facilities. In this context, we at the Electricity and Water Author-ity would be happy to hold the fi rst meeting of the task force in Bah-rain, and propose that this meet-ing should be held in the fi rst part of 2010,” Al Jowder added.

The long-running saga of the US$1 billion Salalah IWPP appears to be coming to a close, after Singapore’s Sembcorp, the initial preferred bidder on the project, claimed it had lined up the fi nancing.

“The financing is now in place, with all the banks lined up”, a source told local media.

The firm regained preferred bidder status in June after Oman Power & Water Procure-ment Company went back to the

second- and third-ranked consor-tiums as a result of Sembcorp’s decision to ask the GCC utility to provide more money for the deal.

The Salalah IWPP, which is now behind schedule, will produce 400MW of power and as well as 15 million gallons per day of desali-nated water.

“The thaw in the project finance market now is becoming evident - it has also reached the periph-ery of the Gulf-region market,

where Salalah is located both physically and business-wise (as financial risk after all is higher in Oman than in Abu Dhabi or Qatar, which hitherto have seen more of the project finance thaw),” said IHS Global Insight Middle East energy analyst Samuel Ciszuk.

“It is increasingly apparent that Middle Eastern actors are gain-ing market shares in the proj-ect finance market, thanks to improved oil prices.”

Fluids fi rm in Gulf expansionFluid systems technology designer Swagelok has expanded its sales and service teams by announcing fi ve new regional partnerships.

The representatives include Abu Dhabi Oilfi eld Services (UAE); Petroleum Technology Co. (Qatar); Purshottam Kanji Trad-ing Co. (Oman); and Supply & Proj-ect Services, a division of Dar Al Riyadh Holding Company (KSA).

Dr Rashid Ahmad Bin Fahad, the UAE Minister of Environment and Water, criticised what he described as “irresponsible practices in some sectors”, and added that water demand would increase from 5-7 billion cubic metres by 2020.

“A steering committee has been formed, primarily composed of individuals from the region rep-resenting utilities and IDA board members with global expertise,” IDA president Lisa Henthorne told Utilities Middle East.

IDA President Lisa Henthorne and local offi cials open the IDA World Congress in Dubai in November.

REGIONAL UPDATE


Gas producers hurtingBut electricity production is still driving regional demandMiddle East gas producers are press-ing ahead with expansion plans despite fears that the market could suffer an oversupply of up to 15 per-cent, a new report has said.

The Booz & Company study said that there was no doubt that the region’s gas producers were feeling the effect of the economic crisis.

Demand destruction in Asian mar-kets, which are the traditional recip-ients of GCC gas, were challenging export schemes, it added.

But the report said many regional national oil companies (NOCs) including those in Iran, Qatar and the UAE, were still confi dent and were pressing ahead with their ambitious plans to increase gas output.

“Unlike developed countries, Middle Eastern markets are still hungry for gas, with demand expected to increase by at least 6 per cent per annum in the medium-term, the report added.

“The major driver for this growth is electricity production, which is con-tinuing to grow at a high rate, in part due to relatively low and subsidised electricity tariffs,” Booz & Company

partner George Sarraf said. “While NOCs might be struggling to fi nd new export markets for their gas or face challenges over pricing - domes-tic gas needs are signifi cant. This sit-uation is likely to keep projects on track for domestic supply, and also serve the region’s needs,” he added.

The report said the economic downturn had the potential to “pro-foundly change” global gas markets.

Deeply negative forecasts for industrial output in developed coun-tries will reduce worldwide demand for natural gas in 2009 and 2010 - the

fi rst time in history - while potentially setting back the market for up to 10 years, according to Booz & Com-pany’s report called ‘An Unprece-dented Market: How the recession is changing global gas markets’.

The report found that the market would be in a position of oversupply of between fi ve and 15 percent this year and the next. “This unprecedented worldwide drop in demand for natu-ral gas may well set back global nat-ural gas markets in terms of growth and profi tability, by as much as 10 years,” added Sarraf.

ABB INKS UAE PIPE DEALPower and automation gi-ant ABB has won a US$21 million contract with EPC contractor China Petroleum Engineering & Construc-tion Corporation to design and supply the integrated electrical system on the $1 billion Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline (ADCOP). As part of the agreement, ABB will supply a range of electrical equipment, including 33kV gas-insulated switchgear, ring main units, capacitor banks and resistors.

AQUATECH SEALS EGYPT DESAL CONTRACTAquatech has won a con-tract to design and supply a Multiple Effect Distillation (MED) desalination system for Abu Qir Thermal Power Plant, on Egypt’s Mediter-ranean coast. The deal was awarded by West Delta Electricity Production Com-pany. The Abu Qir facility comprises two MED with Thermal Vapor Compression (MED-TVC) units, which will supply fresh water to boil-ers and other users.

SQH BUILDS SYRIAN STPSSyrian-Qatari Holding (SQH) has signed an MoU with the Ministry of Housing and Construction for a BOT con-tract to build two sewage treatment plants in a Dama-scene suburb and in the city of Swuedah. The news was announced during the Pub-lic Private Partnership Con-ference being held in the Syrian capital, shortly after the ministry had indicated that the country needed around 183 new STPs to keep up with demand.

HIGHLIGHTS

17The number of sta-tions being built on Saudi Arabia’s Prin-cess Nura University’s new railway network

Tabreed sees strong improvement in Q3 fi guresAbu Dhabi’s National Central Cooling Company (Tabreed) posted gross profi ts of 9% in the third quarter, although non-cash fi nance costs associated with the 2011 convertible sukuk menat that net profi ts overall slid by around 4% year-on-year.

Total revenue rose by a strong 15% to US$155.4 million, while chilled water revenue rose by 27% year-on-year.

“We have also been making progress on improving our oper-ational effi ciencies for existing operations,” said Sujit S. Parhar,

Tabreed CEO. “Our priority con-tinues to be reducing our costs and corporate overheads and improv-ing our operational effi ciencies so that we can continue to meet the region’s infrastructure needs.”

The results are a welcome improvement on Tabreed’s sec-ond-quarter fi gures, which saw revenue dip by 2.7% in comparison to the fi rst quarter, according to UME’s calculations.

Reported net income dropped by around 4% in the fi rst half in comparison to the same period a year earlier.

See interview on page 40

Booz & Company’s George Sarraf says electricity production continues to grow.

REGIONAL UPDATE


Giant regional solar project takes another stepThe Desertec Industrial Initiative, a plan to ship electricity to Europe via a vast solar array network in the deserts of the MENA region, has taken its latest step through the signing of articles of assocation to create a limited company.

Twelve companies signed the documents that have established DII GmbH, and Paul Van Son has been elected as CEO. Van Son has previously held roles as manag-ing director of companies such as Deutsche Essent and Econcern.

“We recognise and strongly sup-port the Desertec vision as a pivotal part of the transition to a sustainable energy supply in the MENA coun-tries and Europe,” said Van Son.

“Now the time has come to turn this vision into reality. That implies intensive cooperation with many parties and cultures to create a sound basis for feasible investments into renewable energy technologies and interconnected grids.

“Since an announcement in July that launched Desertec, the proj-

Areva EPR in safety row Concerns raised as UAE $40bn nuclear plant contract nears

Areva chief executive offi cer Anne Lauvergeon.

A number of issues raised by safety agencies in the UK, France and Fin-land about Areva’s latest nuclear reactor are coming at the worst pos-sible time for a French consortium hoping to win a US$40bn contract to build power plants in Abu Dhabi.

European regulators have argued that there is insuffi cient indepen-dence between day-to-day safety sys-tems and emergency systems on the brand new European Pressurised Reactors (EPR).

“Independence is important because, if a safety system provides protection against the failure of a con-trol system, then they should not fail together,” the British, French and Finnish agencies said in a joint state-ment, according to AFP.

Areva is already facing serious problems at the Olkiluoto nuclear plant in Finland, which was initially planned to open this year. Instead, the facility will now open at 2012, at the earliest, with extra costs adding another 50% to the initial price tag.

“The EPR technology has not been called into question,” said French prime minister Francois Fillon in a local paper, according to Reuters.

ect has been working to win support from Middle Eastern and European countries,” Van Son said.

Shareholders of the DII include ABB, ABENGOA Solar, Cevital, the DESERTEC Foundation, Deutsche Bank, E.ON, HSH Nordbank, MAN Solar Millennium, Munich Re, M+W Zander, RWE, SCHOTT Solar and Siemens.

Questions have been raised as to whether the project is viable, espe-cially given the estimated US $550 billion price tag.

“There needs to be extreme rigour in terms of safety. I have no doubt that the problems raised by the Authority will be resolved and that French reac-tors will be among the world’s best and safest,” Fillon added

Earlier this year, the French con-sortium consisting of Areva, GDF Suez and Total was considered to be in pole position for the Abu Dhabi contract, which is expected to be awarded before end-2009. But other consortiums are also heavily backed.

The United Arab Emirates is currently in the advanced stage of evaluating the bids, according to Hamad Al Kaabi, the country’s rep-resentative to the IAEA, who spoke to Reuters back in October.

Other consortiums vying for the contract are the Japanese-US alliance between Hitachi and GE and a South Korea-led partner-ship consisting of Korea Electric Power, Samsung, Hyundai and US company Westinghouse.

SIEMENS EYES SAUDI EXPANSIONSiemens sees the Saudi mar-ket as a key area in which to expand its operations, particularly in light of the government’s decision to invest US $400 billion in a fi ve-year programme to increase energy production.“The Saudi gas programme is attractive. They have a lot of gas and want to make energy out of it,”Ali Hamdani, the vice-president of the energy, oil and gas division of Siemens in Saudi Arabia told Bloomberg.

QATAR DEMAND RISESQatar has spent $1.9bn on upgrading and expanding electricity and water net-works in the nine months to September 30 this year as demand for power in-creased by 14%. Kahramaa (Qatar Electricity and Water Corporation) said despite the sharp rise in consump-tion in 2009, compared to the previous year, it was capable of coping with it.

DOW’S NEW ELEMENTSDow Water & Process Solutions (DW&PS) has announced the launch of four new DOW FILMTEC elements for seawater treatment. Dow says the new 440i seawater ele-ments offer high rejection, low energy requirements and exceptional fl ow rates. The SW30XHR-440 AND SW30XHR-440i elements have the highest seawater rejection in the company’s FILMTEC range, enabling quality requirements to be met with single-pass seawater systems in most normal situations.

HIGHLIGHTS

REGIONAL UPDATE


SWCC clarifi es project detailsExclusive: Governor outlines plans for Yanbu and Ras Al Zour megaprojects

Yanbu will produce 1,700MW and 550,000 cubic metres of desalinated water.

Saudi Arabia’s Saline Water Con-version Corporation (SWCC) has released details about its Ras Al Zour and Yanbu megaprojects. The state desalination agency was handed responsibility for the two sites in September after the Saudi government stepped in to pull the former IWPPs earlier this year.

“The capacity for Ras Al Zour is 2,400MW and 1,025,000 cubic metres of desalinated water, which covers the needs of SWCC (1,000,000 cubic metres) and Maaden (25,000 cubic metres,” SWCC governor Fehied Al-Sha-reef told Utilities Middle East. “On the power side, 1,350MW is for

Maaden, with a total of 1,050MW for SEC.”

Ras Al Zour is expected to cost around 20-25% less than initial US $6 billion estimates.

Al-Shareef confi rmed that docu-ments were expected to be submit-ted by mid-November, with offers earmarked for submission by the end of the fi rst half of 2010.

The SWCC governor says that the former Yanbu IWPP will now have a 1,700MW capacity (650MW for Marafi q Yanbu and 1,050 for SEC) and 550,000 cubic metres of desalinated water (400,000 cubic metres for SWCC and 150,000 for Marafi q Yanbu).

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WEB HIGHLIGHTS


39.4%

ONLINE ANALYSIS

GE puts emphasis on wastewaterGE’s chief executive has outlined plans to bolster research and technology development in wastewater reuse by 50% in the next two to three years as it tries to gain a larger foothold in what is estimated to be a US$5 bil-lion sector globally.

ONLINE ANALYSIS

Most popular headlines1. Will safety row affect UAE nuclear decision?2. Exclusive: SWCC clarifi es project details3. Bapco signs turbine deal with Technip4. World’s biggest PV project secures land deal5. Giant MENA project secures land deal6. Questions remain over new 1,500MW ADWEA plant7. Ice thermal storage becoming ‘hot ticket’8. Technology focus: GE Energy’s Frame 7FA gas turbine9. Taqa CEO to leave company after reshuffl e10. King of Jordan inaugurates power plant

BREAKING NEWS AND VIEWS FIRST

WorleyParsons signs nuclear deal in Jordan

SPOT POLL

Will the GCC interconnection grid solve the Gulf’s outage problems?

NO

YES

Eventually

Empower launches sub-metering facility

ABB signs US$120mn contract at Saudi university– see story on page 10

Country hopes to sign fi nal strategic partner by end-2012 and will establish three uranium mines to provide feedstock for the nuclear power plant.

Power specialist to provide three substations at the Riyadh site of the US$5 bil-lion Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University.

District cooling major pioneers product in Business Bay, which will allow end-users to control consumption at the Dubai development.

EDITOR’S PICK

SWCC report details future projectsSaudi Arabia’s Saline Water Conversion Cor-poration (SWCC) has provided a review of its current and future projects in its latest annual report, which includes details of three expan-sions to existing desalination plants in various locations around the country.

15.2%

45.5%

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NEWS ANALYSIS


Recruitment market to stabilise, say expertsLocal companies still hiring staff as regional infrastructure budgets rocket

Regional infrastructure compa-nies believe that the recruitment market has matured as a result of the economic crisis, and that there is still a strong pool of profes-sionals available for hire. Earlier this year, a Dubai-based recruit-ment website claimed that while the number of vacancies being posted in most verticals had shrunk considerably, the demand for infrastructure-related functions had rocketed by nearly 150% on the back of ongoing government investment in this crucial segment.

Although this was a review by one particular agency – and not indicative of recruitment patterns across all sectors and all countries of the GCC – to the casual observer, the premise seems obvious. While certain sectors, particularly the real estate sector in Dubai, for example, have been fl ayed by the economic crisis, governments and local authorities across the region have been putting money where their collective mouths are.

Saudi Arabia, for example, has set aside a whopping 16% of its total capital spending (around US$9.35 billion) on the water, agriculture and infrastructure sector in its budget for this, an increase of 25% on last year. Abu Dhabi is set to apportion 17.5% of its $11.9 billion budget for 2010 on the segment. All of this is surely means safe jobs and strong prospects for infrastruc-ture professionals, including those working and recruiting in the utili-ties industries.

evaluate their options and main-tain job security. Firms have now ceased fi ghting over potential staff and raising salaries to unsus-tainable levels, leading to a more responsible approach. “The out-come points towards a more ratio-

nal market, like in the UK, where the difference in salary for certain clerical staff only varies by a few hundred pounds per annum from different agencies,” Fadda said.

Companies based in Saudi Arabia have long envied Dubai’s

But behind the headlines, what is the reality on the ground? “There is some truth in the statement that this sector has remained strong from the recruitment side,” said Hisham Fadda, group human cap-ital director at water company Metito. “But one of the major changes has been the fact that the whole recruitment business had descended into a price war before the economic crisis hit. This has now stabilised and the market has become more realistic.”

Fadda’s belief is that the switch in psychology has led to decisions on the part of some staff to stay put,

“We are actually undergoing a recruit-ment drive for approximately 150 new engineering and technical personnel”

Government backing for the infrastructure segment is leading to normalisation in the recruitment fi eld, according to local HR directors.

NEWS ANALYSIS


attractions for the expatriate work-force. “The key recruitment issue we face at present is convincing pro-spective new staff to leave current employment often to a new region, with many new SETE Energy staff coming from Europe and the US,” indicated George Antonopoulous, CEO of SETE Energy. “As a result of the business environment, the major challenge we have is fi nding staff who are willing to relocate full-time to the Kingdom and to retain them in-Kingdom.”

SETE Energy is creatively combating this problem mainly by recruiting through word-of-mouth within the Latsis Group (the owning group), a diverse company that has the necessary technical personnel contacts in oil, energy and infrastructure within the EU to refer new staff. “But generally speaking, infrastructure projects

and recruiting for them within the region and specifi cally KSA will always remain strong due to sev-eral factors, the most signifi cant of which is that state expenditure on infrastructure remains a promi-nent part of national budgets year-on-year,” Antonopoulos added.

The key question is whether local companies are still hiring. Metito, which says its staffi ng levels were not affected as a result of the crisis, thinks that the out-look is positive. “I believe we’ll be in a position to hire more staff soon,” said Fadda. “There are a lot of proj-ects for us in the pipeline, but we’re being very selective.”

The Metito executive believes that a measured approach to com-pany growth in the boom years has helped it through the last 12 months or so, and that the issue of motivation has come to the fore. “We haven’t stopped our bonus schemes and rewards to our staff, and we have been able to afford to continue to do this precisely because we didn’t go wild in the fi rst place,” he added.

For SETE Energy, an expanded team is defi nitely on the horizon.

SETE Energy's George Antonopoulos.

Metito's Hisham Fadda.

“Specifi cally for 2008-2009, this has been a very positive period for us in terms of signing off new proj-ects and we are actually undergo-ing a recruitment drive for approx-imately 150 new engineering and technical personnel in the medium term,” Antonopoulos stated.

TECH FOCUS


Testing to a new protocolMegger product manager Stan Thompson reviews the IEC 61850 standard

INTRODUCTION TO IEC 61850The latest developments in the fi eld of protection testing encompass the testing of relays and protection schemes which use the IEC 61850 protocol, but what is IEC 61850? The International IEC 61850 standard is relatively new. It was developed to control and protect power systems by standardising the exchange of information between all intelligent electronic devices (IED) within an automated substation and a remote control link. Some of the benefi ts of the IEC 61850 standard are:

• Reduce dependence on multiple protocols• Reduce construction cost by eliminating most copper wiring• Automate substations• Real Time Distributed Computing• Advanced Management Capability

TESTING RELAYS USING THE IEC 61850 “GOOSE “The substation high speed per-to-peer messaging is accomplished using what is called the “GOOSE” Generic Object Oriented Substation Event message. When we speak of peer-to-peer messaging we are talk-ing about the exchange of informa-

of testing IEC 61850 applications. Enhancements to the software and hardware provide an extremely user-friendly package for testing the protection and control applications in an IEC61850 substation environ-ment. This is achieved by basically changing the analogue outputs of the test set in response to GOOSE messages at high speed. The user associates a specifi c GOOSE from a specifi c device to a specifi c Binary Input (as if physically monitoring a relay trip contact or logic output).

The MPRT fi rmware provides for the simultaneous capture of multiple GOOSE messages. While physically the MPRT has a limited number of Binary Inputs (10) and Outputs (6), the user can assign up as many as to 16 Soft Binary Inputs and 16 Soft Binary Outputs. This allows the user to monitor up to 16 GOOSE messages simultaneously. Similarly, the user can also assign and publish multiple GOOSE mes-sages using the multiple Soft Binary Outputs, which provides more test-ing fl exibility and faster response times. One of the applications is the use for interoperability tests of mul-tiple relays.

Stan Thompson’s full article is avail-able on www.utilities-me.com

Megger's automatic relay test offers the option of testing IEC 61850 applications.

December 7-9

ME Wastewater Treatment & Reuse

Abu Dhabi, UAE

www.meed.com/events/wastewater

December 9

MEP Awards

Dubai, UAE

www.constructionweekonline.com

January 7-9

7th Everything About Water Expo

Chennai, India

www.eawater.com/expo

January 19-20

1st MENA Water Resource World

Dubai, UAE

www.cmtevents.com

January 18-21

World Future Energy Summit

Abu Dhabi, UAE

www.worldfutureenergysummit.com

February 9-11

Middle East Electricity 2010

Dubai, UAE

www.iirme.com

February 9-11

Industrial Automation Middle East

Dubai, UAE

www.iirme.com

February 14-16

Middle East Project Finance 2010

Manama, Bahrain

www.meedconferences.com/

projectfi nance

March 9-11

WETEX Exhibit

Dubai, UAE

www.wetex.ae

March 22-25

WSTA 9th Gulf Water Conference

Muscat, Oman

www.wstagcc.org

March 29-31

Arabian Power & Water Summit

Abu Dhabi, UAE

www.arabianpowerandwater.com

April 12-15

Project Qatar

Doha, Qatar

www.eventseye.com

EVENT HORIZON

tion between relays and other pro-tective devices in the substation. In the traditional substation, copper wires run from the trip contacts of a relay to the trip coil on a circuit breaker. In an IEC 61850 substa-tion instead of copper wires the trip GOOSE message will be sent via the Ethernet cable or similar fi ber-op-tic communication cable to trip the circuit breaker. This message will be used extensively when perform-ing tests. The fi rst step in testing a relay or a protection scheme, which operates using IEC 61850 protocol, is the ability to “read” these mes-sages and respond accordingly at high speed. There are different

types of GOOSE messages that we work with. The relay being tested will “publish” or send a trip GOOSE to tell the breaker to trip. The test set “subscribes” to the GOOSE issued by the relay under test. When the test set reads the trip GOOSE, it will “publish” a GOOSE message telling the relay that the breaker tripped. In a trip and reclose scheme, the relay may “publish” another GOOSE tell-ing the breaker to Close, the test set will read the close GOOSE, and then publish a GOOSE back to the relay saying that the circuit breaker has closed, and so on.

The Megger Model MPRT auto-matic relay test sets offer the option

It’s not often that Utilities Middle East fi nds itself jostling for space on a meeting schedule

that includes former US President George Bush and Dubai ruler HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, but then David H Koch is no ordinary interviewee.

As the joint owner and executive vice president of Koch Industries

– one of the largest privately held companies in the US - Koch has interests in a number of ver-

ticals, not least the oil and gas and petrochemicals sectors, but it is soon obvious that the water industry is where his heart lies.

Koch developed his keen inter-est in membranes at the Mas-sachusetts Institute of Tech-nology (MIT) and after joining Koch Industries in 1970, took over as president of technol-ogy outfi t Abcor, which eventu-ally changed its name to Koch Membrane Systems (KMS) in 1981. It was this breadth of experience that led the Inter-

national Desalination Asso-ciation (IDA) to invite

Koch to be the key-

INTERVIEW

www.utilities-me.com

Better known as one of the world’s most generous philanthropists,

Koch Industries joint owner David H Koch has forged a strong link with

the water industry

14 Utilities Middle East ● December 2009

Water George BusSheikh MohMaktoum, buno ordinary i

As the joinvice presid

– one ofheld comhas intere

ticals, notand petroit is soon i d

Better known as one of the world’smost generous philanthropists,

Koch Industries joint owner David H

Wisdom

INTERVIEW


note speaker at last month’s World Congress, held in Dubai. In front of a cast of luminaries, which included a number of the GCC’s electricity and water ministers, the KMS pres-ident was unrestrained in his praise for the desalination sector and its importance with regard to future global stability.

In person, David Koch cuts an imposing fi gure, but his enthusi-asm for the sector and affability are somewhat infectious. And when the interview turns to the new products being rolled out by his company in the water market, he seems clearly in his element.

On the new technologies front, Koch is keen to stress the merits of KMS’ newly re-engineered large-diameter seawater membrane, which was ably demonstrated with the presence of an 18-inch Mega-Magnum element that took pride of place at the fi rm’s stand during IDA week. “It’s a perfect example of the economies of scale, and large ele-ments and larger housing in prin-ciple should cost less on a square-foot basis,” he explains. “I think that when we start getting large orders and volumes through, we can make these large elements a lower cost on the square-foot basis than the smaller elements. We’ve built a highly automated membrane manu-facturing line, and we can push a lot of volume through it.”

Another benefi t, says Koch, is that the housing weighs a third less than an equivalent number of 8-inch sea-water housings at the same rated operating pressure. Furthermore, KMS is working on a confi guration that will allow the company to assem-ble the housings together, which

“There are still tremendous opportunities in the MBR area and all sorts of modifi cations that can reduce the cost of MBR cartridges”

that, you can reduce the operating energy and, as a result, the cost.”

KMS’ automated manufacturing line has been designed to create membranes that have a wide range of properties, from high rejection and high pressure to low rejection and low pressure. “We can then dial in the properties of the membrane that our mathematical model pre-dicts will give us the lowest operat-ing cost,” observes Koch. “Gener-ally speaking, reverse osmosis (RO) systems will operate more econom-ically of the purity of the raw water going into the system is improved, so we’re also in the fi nal stages of

KMS’S LARGE-DIAMETER MEGAMAGNUM ELEMENT• Pressure vessel that houses 18-inch diameter, 60-inch length element• The active membrane area has been increased by 12% to 3,500 square feet• The housing is made from a glass-reinforced epoxy, which is stronger than previ-ous vessels• The new MegaMagnums will be available in Q1 2010

A more holistic approach to system design will provide greater cost effi iciencies.

could reduce costs even further. “Depending on how the old 8-inch system was confi gured, you’re look-ing at savings of between 15-25%,” says Koch. “If you’re talking about a system that costs around US$30-50 million, that’s serious money.”

In addition, the use of large ele-ments has the potential to lower facility footprints by as much as half, a point that is useful not only from a cost point of view, but also where systems are largely constrained by space, such as in urban areas, marine vessels or oil platforms. “I think that in order to be really suc-cessful in the large-element busi-ness, you have to offer the whole system; you can’t just sell the ele-ments to the client and tell them to incorporate the products into their next project,” Koch explains. “Everything has to be integrated in a very systemic way.”

It’s no secret that demand for water in the Middle East is skyrock-eting and the demands for the kind of systems that KMS manufactures are also rising steadily. The chal-lenge is therefore on to look for dif-ferent ways to improve existing tech-nology, particularly as sustainability starts to play a more important role. Using less energy is clearly going to be a core requirement. So what tech-nologies has KMS been examining?

“We’ve been doing analysis on a two-pass system; if you vary the performance of the seawater mem-brane, you can substantially reduce the pressure of the feedwater going to the fi rst pass,” Koch indicates. “You then take the permeate that has a higher concentration of salt and feed it to a brackish water system. Depending on how you confi gure

INTERVIEW


David Koch and the KMS

MegaMagnum large-diameter

element..

developing an ultrafi ltration (UF) system that can more economically purify that water.”

While some observers have in the past claimed that RO technology may have reached its peak, Koch begs to differ. “I still think it’s pos-sible to make up fl at-sheet mem-branes that give you higher rejec-tion with lower trans-membrane pressure – that would be wonder-ful,” he says. “Another area that I’m interested in is making seawater RO membranes out of hollow fi bre, not fl at sheet rolled into spirals.”

With recent advances in the textile industry enabling fi bres to be spun at immense speed, with hundreds of fi bres simultaneously, Koch thinks the scope for development is sig-nifi cant. A major factor here is that the cost of hollow textile fi bres per foot is much lower than it is for UF membrane applications. “It’s just an engineering problem to make com-posite RO membrane in a hollow-fi -bre geometry; I think it ought to be possible to spin these RO hollow fi bres at high speed and with great numbers simultaneously to gain a higher consistency and therefore a higher rejection,” the KMS pres-ident states. “That, I think, is the next great challenge in the mem-brane business.”

But KMS doesn’t see the drive for new technologies ending with just changes to the mem-brane. A holistic approach to system design, fouling and pre-treatment, and all the other variables that play a role in the membrane process, is likely to provide the best options, in terms of capital cost, to the end-user.

“There are still tremendous opportunities in the membrane bio-reactor (MBR) area and all sorts of engineering modifi cations that can reduce the capital cost of MBR car-tridges,” Koch explains. “We also have lots of ideas about reducing the amount of air used

to scour the fouling off the mem-brane. We’re a long way from having optimisation of all the variables that go into the MBR fi eld, which is prob-ably the most under-developed area in RO desalination.” Koch also says that the biggest improvement on the UF side is the potential use of a fi bre reinforced with a braid enabling it to be super-strong, thus solving break-age problems.

As the industry has grown, it has come in from some strong criticism

seen in the general body of the sea,” he argues. “I think it’s an inaccurate criticism and we need to use facts and data to disprove that as a serious concern. Long term, the general public will come to realise that that’s a criticism without any merit.”

Another major issue that is affect-ing the Middle East is that of priva-tisation, and Koch remains a strong advocate of the process as providing the greatest competitive benefi ts to the end-user. “The way it ought to work is that investment groups and companies like ours should build the plants, operate them and then sell the water over the fence to the municipality or industry,” he contin-ues. “The more plants you build, the better you can operate them, and the cheaper the cost you can deliver to the municipality or client.”

Much of what Koch says high-lights his appreciation of the value of cost to the client, and his confi dence in the technologies that his company can provide. “I think the membranes have been proved to be theoretically the lowest-cost way to purify water,” he concludes. “And as the industry gets bigger and bigger and more people invest in development proj-ects, the cost of the systems will con-tinue to decrease.”

“Another area that I’m interested in is mak-ing seawater RO membranes out of hollow

fi bre, not fl at sheet rolled into spirals”

from environmentalists about its effects on marine life and the harm-ful effects caused by brine discharge into the oceans. But Koch, like other company executives at IDA, is unequivocal in his assertion that the sector is doing its best to counter these accusations. “Modelling stud-ies have shown that concentrated salt is very rapidly dissipated – if you go out a hundred metres away from the discharge pipe, salt con-centration is reduced to the levels

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE

www.utilities-me.com November 2009 ● Utilities Middle East 21

Drake & Scull International PJSC (DSI), a leading UAE-based end-to-end service provider of mechanical, electrical and

plumbing (MEP) contracting, infrastructure, water and power (IWP) and civil contracting services, is undertaking a new strategy to assist developers in the design and early stages of projects.

Through its IWP operations, DSI has become a local pioneer for the design and build of district cooling units; sewage treatment plants; water treat-ment systems and projects infrastructure.

It is now offering a consultancy service to assist developers from the outset, helping to plan and pre-pare for all the requirements of development – from conception, through to delivery. Under the new format DSI IWP is working with the client to develop the best way forward for all the project infrastructure and utilities need .

“We’re providing a proactive approach to the con-struction phase of a project, which creates a win-win situation for both our clients and ourselves,” says DSI Executive Director of IWP, Tawfi q Abu Soud.

“We are investing in value engineering and advi-sory services which aid the client from the begin-ning, providing all solutions for the infrastructure and utilities of a project.”

DSI’s IWP operations provide for detailed study of a project, so advisors work with the client to estab-lish the best way forward covering design, tech-nical, commercial and fi nancial considerations.

The company is currently working on a number of projects under this new format, including a project in Dubai, where DSI IWP is working with the client and consultants to estab-lish a central cooling plant.

In the fi rst half of 2009, the company’s MEP works constituted 56% of all business; civil engineering 25% and IWP 19%. However, as DSI moves forward, it will shift its focus from MEP to IWP operations, as these services and skills are currently in more demand in the region. IWP is not labour intensive which means we can easily move to this area. Also, because DSI works on an EPC (engi-neering, procurement and construction) basis, the operational margins are relatively high.

DSI was awarded its fi rst IWP contract in 2004, in the form of the largest District Cooling Scheme in the world at the time - the creation of the AED 300 million Jumeirah Beach Residence (JBR) Dis-trict Cooling Scheme. The Contract required the highest level of attention from DSI, the design-

and-build contractor, in order to fi nish the proj-ect on time and to meet the expectations of the client.

Again in 2004, DSI was awarded its second contract - the AED 440 million District Cooling scheme for Dubai Festival City (DFC). The DFC District Cooling plant was considered to be the

Drake & Scull International’s IWP operations create a win-win situation for both the client and the company itself by offering services to assist from conception through to delivery

second largest in the world, after the JBR district Cooling Scheme, at its time; therefore the build-up of the project needed the highest level of com-petence and experience.

Since these two initial projects, DSI has expanded its IWP works into the MENA region

and is again working on some of the largest and most important district cooling projects in the region, while continuing to expand its expertise and knowledge of the industry.

“DSI is in the process of developing new schemes to use renewable energy sources to supply district cooling units with the neces-sary power,” Abu Soud says. “As an estimate, over 60 percent of the total power consumed within the GCC is for environmental condi-

tioning. District cooling can help to change that ratio and allow for more effi cient utilization of the power network.”

“There is always room for improvement and we at DSI are well aware of the responsibility placed upon us to safeguard the environment and pro-vide commercially viable solutions.”

DSI - A Proactive Approach to Utilities & Infrastructure

“WE’RE PROVIDING A PROACTIVE APPROACH TO THE CONSTRUCTION

PHASE OF A PROJECT, WHICH CREATES A WIN-WIN SITUATION FOR BOTH OUR

CLIENTS AND OURSELVES,”

JBR District Cooling Piping Culvert (under the Marina Channel)

A ny roll-out of an ERP solu-tion is a tough proposition. But when you’re imple-

menting a country’s fi rst ever ERP product, and the client is one of that country’s largest employers, the problems can start to stack up even further. The fact that the country in question is Libya might be enough to convince many players that the

task was beyond them. Not so

Unlocking project. Presentations from the IFS team were made by company CEO Alastair Sorbie, CTO Dan Mat-thews and regional managing direc-tor for Africa, the Middle East and South Asia Ian Fleming, while on the GECOL side, chairman Abul-gasem Uneas and IT project man-ager Hazem Zentani explained how the implementation had worked from their perspective.

GECOL saw the requirement for a strong ERP provider in 2000 and spent the next three years defi n-ing specifi c needs. Among the chal-lenges that the fi rm faced were an adherence to manual procedures, excessive paperwork and a host of variable legacy systems, none of which were integrated. Combined with Libya’s large size, the end-re-sult was a dissatisfi ed customer base and delays in book closing.

IFS quickly saw that this was an ideal opportunity to gain a foot-hold in what is now a fast-expanding

NORTH AFRICA FOCUS


Software giant IFS is understandably proud of its association with state infrastructure fi rm GECOL

IFS regional managing

director Ian Fleming speaks

to a packed crowd.

IFS, which celebrated in October its long-running partnership with the state-run utilities giant in the North African nation, General Electricity Company of Libya, or GECOL.

The relationship between the Libyan fi rm and IFS is undoubtedly a strong one; at a conference held in Tripoli, around 150 of Libya’s most prominent businessmen were in the audience to see fi rst-hand a number of senior executives from both com-panies discuss the success of the

Libya

market. “We carried out multiple presentations in-country, and I vis-ited Libya on an exploratory basis,” says Fleming. “Following on from that, we sent experts from our util-ities industry team in Scandinavia to meet with GECOL, and we also arranged a reciprocal visit so that GECOL representatives could take a look at our utilities reference cus-tomers in Sweden.”

A major challenge initially was to provide a consulting team that could operate in-country. IFS brought in staff from locations such as Johan-nesburg, Poland and Scandinavia, with the project being managed

“Any time you go into a new country, you have to accept that there will be some unknowns and a steep learning curve”

NORTH AFRICA FOCUS


GECOL FAST FACTS:The state of play in Libya’s growing electricity market

Arabic-language software; although IFS provides this as standard, the product supplied to GECOL needed to take into account the nuances of the local dialect.

“The fact that we were going into a country where there was no knowl-edge of ERP was also tough,” adds Fleming. “But a lot of people on the GECOL side had been involved in the evaluation process and were absolutely dedicated to the project. The push came right from the top of the company and the ethos to suc-ceed fl owed right through.”

On the GECOL side, there were other obstacles to overcome. “We had three major challenges to cope with as a result of this implantation,” says Mohamed Ali Madi, GECOL’s technical support manager on the ERP project. “There was the data trail, end-user preparation and the building out of the infrastructure network. IFS helped us with our data cleansing and qualifi cation strategy, and also with the migration to the system and our end-user training.”

IFS also recommended a phased roll-out of the system, another factor that contributed towards its success.

from Dubai. But other challenges manifested themselves as time pro-gressed. “Any time you go into a new country, you have to appreciate that there will be unknowns and that there is going to be a steep learning curve,” explains Fleming. “We spent a lot of time with the GECOL team in-country looking for peculiari-ties, localisations that were particu-larly unusual.” One of those require-ments was the need for a pricing sim-ulation and modelling capability to allow GECOL to determine the opti-mum future pricing bands or tariffs based on both historical and current data. Another requirement was for

“One of the key points was strong management on both sides, which certainly helped us a lot,” contin-ues Madi. “We really started to see the benefi ts from day one, which is when we took overall control of the decision-making process.”

A watchword for both companies was training, both on and off-site. This was set up to hammer home a detailed understanding of the system and ensure that it was used after the ‘go-live’. For IFS, it was cru-cial that even those employees at the lower reaches at the GECOL organ-isation understood the implications of every item that was entered into the system. “The go-live was man-aged well, from our perspective,” says Fleming. “It can be tricky because there can be a reluctance – on the part of any fi rm, not just GECOL – to go live as companies then have to accept they are fully responsible for what’s happening. The reality is that for any ERP imple-mentation, the partnership contin-ues for a longer time thereafter.”

In total, there are now around 3,000 named users for GECOL’s ERP, out of a total 37,000 employees.

Power Stations 20 with 62 Units(Steam-Gas-Combined)

Installed Capacity 6,196 MW Peak Load 4,420 MWEmployees 37,000Number of Customers 1,190,942

Voltage (KV)

Substations Transmission Lines (KM)

400 3 442

220 70 13,631

30\66 530 22,258

11 11,602 42,760

Substations and Transmission Lines

NORTH AFRICA FOCUS


The component-based structure of the IFS ERP means that different products are still being added to the GECOL portfolio some four years on. The fi rm has augmented the ini-tial roll-out with IFS’ Project Man-agement, Maintenance and Busi-ness Performance components.

During the Tripoli conference, GECOL listed a number of ‘lessons learnt’, which was of particular inter-est to the assembled delegates. The utility recommended full and contin-uous support from senior manage-ment, the establishing of a well-pre-pared support organisation, trans-parent information exchange and

budget and was GECOL happy with the end results? One of the great things about the conference from our perspective was that GECOL gave a positive response to each of these questions to the audience.”

Theoretically speaking, the GECOL success story should lead to other companies opting to take the ERP route. But Fleming also has a quick word of warning. “There’s still a lot of education required about ERP – some companies think they need a solution without really know-ing what the technology is all about, and this is not just in Libya,” he says. One of IFS’ next steps is to establish an education programme in-coun-try that will help people understand why ERP systems are implemented.

“So far, we’re still on same track, we understand each other and we have a lot of respect for their recom-mendations,” concludes Madi. “We are planning to implement more IFS products as well, now that we have an ERP solution. We defi nitely see our future with IFS.”

the selection of a qualifi ed and com-mitted project team as being the major tools for success.

So where does the partnership go from here? Both parties are keen to continue, particularly as IFS rolls out its new user interface, Enter-prise Explorer, which will be avail-able next year. “In terms of where we going now, we are constantly provid-ing new products that GECOL will evaluate and determine whether they are relevant to its require-ments,” Fleming observes. “What we’re focusing on right now is the key performance indicator informa-tion that is provided to the top man-

agement of the company. The tariff addition has been another impor-tant step; tariff computations and simulation models are not part of standard ERP functionality, but it made sense to work with GECOL on this as it’s tightly integrated with the rest of its system.”

For Fleming, the conference was a benchmark for the future of ERP in the country. “Some of the questions that the meeting sought to answer were critical to the success of simi-lar roll-outs in Libya,” he explains. “Among these questions were: did the go-live occur on time, was the project completed within the initial

GECOL chairman Abulgasem Uneas (centre) alongside IFS CEO Alastair Sorbie (right).

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DESALINATION FOCUS

December 2009 ● Utilities Middle East 21

GM Ian Barbour reveals which technologies his company is now exploring

Optimising performance is the phrase of the day for Dow Water & Process

Solutions (DW&PS), which sees the meteoric rise of membrane technology as a great opportunity to garner greater market share. The company is already very active in the Middle East and is particularly proud of its partici-pation in the Shoaiba Barge project, the larg-est desalination plant in the world (see box on this page).

As part of its drive to improve its research and development into the unique challenges of the local desal market, Dow recently announced an investment into the King Abdul-

lah University of Sci-ence and Technology (KAUST) in Riyadh. Part of that research will involve tweaking the properties of the membrane with differ-ent chemistries. “We’ll

also have rolling capabil-ities to look at changing the dimensions and con-

fi gurations of the element itself, to make it more suited

Dow Water & Process Solutions

Who was at IDA 2009?

technology as a great opportunity to garner greater market share. The company is already very active in the Middle East and is particularly proud of its partici-pation in the Shoaiba Barge project, the larg-est desalination plant in the world (see box on this page).

lah University ence and Te(KAUST) inPart of that will involve the propertimembrane went chemistri

also have rollinities to look at the dimensions

fi gurations of theitself, to make it mo

to the Middle East’s particular water quality,” says DW&PS general man-ager Ian Barbour. “We’re also look-ing at pre-treatment so we can see the effects of ultrafi ltration (UF) on different water qualities.”

Barbour explains that custom-ers tend to look at the various water

technologies – pre-treatment, UF and desalination – separately, but that the plan right now is to inte-grate those technologies to drive the cost of water lower. “For exam-ple, if we know the kind of water quality we’re getting from our pre-treatment, we can change the con-fi guration of the reverse osmosis (RO) membrane allowing us to use a thinner feed space, for example,” he remarks. “If the fouling potential has dropped because of the quality of the pre-treatment, using a thinner feed spacer allows you to put more membrane into the canister, which gives you more surface area and more productivity.”

DW&PS has expertise in four fun-damental water technologies – UF membranes, RO membranes, nano-fi ltration (NF) membranes and ion exchange membranes. “Our cus-tomers build the actual system, but they require multiple technologies so we’re trying to build up a portfo-lio,” Barbour states. “Each of our products are world-class in their own right, but we’re trying to work

Membranes: FILMTEC SW30HRLE-400i and FILMTEC BW30-440iTwo-pass designQuantity: 5,656 (8-inch elements)Capacity: 52,000 m³/day OEM: WETICO Saudi Berkefeld

SHOAIBA BARGE: FAST FACTS The largest sea-based desalination plant in the world

Dow Water & Process Solutions general manager Ian Barbour.

“We’re looking at pre-treatment so we can see the effects of ultrafi ltration on different

water qualities around the world”

DESALINATION FOCUS


out how they can be used together and understand their interactions.”

In terms of new technologies that would rework the way the water industry sees desalination, Bar-bour doesn’t see a ‘magic bullet’ on the horizon. “If we could disrupt our own technologies to drive the cost of water down, we’d do it,” he says. “But generally, what you’ll see in the future is added growth of large-di-ameter modules, improvements in fl ow and fl ux due to polymer chem-istry, and improvements to the membrane itself.” The Dow execu-tive says that many technologies are being discussed, such as biological cell-type fi ltration, but that a new dis-ruptive technology within the next fi ve-10 years is unlikely.

is sustainable, as the power is offset by building a wind farm.”

But solving the world’s water problems is not something seawa-ter desalination alone can achieve, and Barbour believes it would be irresponsible to say that it could. The next move is to clean wastewa-ter to the point where it is potable, as is the case in the US and Europe, for example, but the Middle East is still behind in this respect.

In wider terms, Barbour says that the issue of wastage remains a key issue and claims that there are three solutions. “One is to use less, another is to reuse water - which is a massive issue right now - and the third is to develop new water sources, because in some cases, we are removing water from our aqui-fers, using it ineffi ciently and then just fl ushing it into the ocean.”

In tandem, the industry has to answer its critics on the environ-mental side. “Perth [the Southern Seawater Desalination Plant, which uses Dow elements] is a fantastic example of doing it right,” explains Barbour. “They had a lot of environ-mental activism, and used under-water cameras and other technol-ogies to examine the issue of brine discharge and its impacts. Further-more, the energy used in that plant

Singapore International Water Week (SIWW) SIWW managing director Michael Toh assesses one of the biggest events in the industry’s calendar

How has SIWW pro-gressed in recent years? As a global platform for water solu-tions, the event fi rst started as a project undertaken by the national water agency of Singapore, Public Utilities Board, as well as the min-istry of environment and water resources. It was organised with the intention of bringing the who’s who of water industry to Singa-pore. It’s an annual event, and we’ve had two shows, which were both very successful due to the support we have had from various partners, including IDA, for which we are thankful.

What sort of attendance fi gures have you registered? For the fi rst show, we had 8,500 people from 79 countries, and in 2009 - in spite of H1N1 and the eco-nomic crisis, we had more than 10,000 people from 82 countries.

We are certainly happy with how the show is developing and it is turning out to be a must-attend event for the global water industry. Moving for-ward, we’re working hard to improve content and deliver-ies, with much more network-ing, and hopefully many more deals. A testament to our suc-cess has been the nom-inations for the Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize, which is one of the highlights of the week. In 2009, we had 39 nominations for the prize; this year, we have more than 50 nominations from a total of 32 coun-tries.

What can Singapore share with regions such as the GCC?Although we are a small coun-try – an island state - I think what we can really share is our holis-tic approach to treating water. We treat every drop as precious – in fact some people say we are treat-ing the issue with a lot of para-noia. We’re just taking care of our resources, and we have an integrated way of managing our system, right from the collection of the rain, to the treatment, distribu-tion, and even the education of the end-user. At the same time, when water is discharged, we’ve put a lot of effort into recycling, because that’s the way forward. Water to us is essential. When we gained inde-pendence we had to ensure the security of our water supply. So over time we have turned a disad-vantage to a strength that we can share with the rest of the world.

ly happy with how eveloping and it to be a must-or the global. Moving for-rking hard to nt and deliver-more network-

fully many more ment to our suc-he nom-e Lee

Water one htsIn39 r

Singapore Water Week managing director

Michael Toh.

Dow launches four new FILMTEC elementsDow opens R&D centre at Saudi universitywww.utilities-me.com

DOW IN THE NEWS

“What you’ll see in the future is the growth of large-diameter modules”

services for life

DESALINATION FOCUS


The Sulaibiya reclamation facility in Kuwait.

The US giant explains why pre-treatment is so critical to the success of RO

• GE helped build the Sulaibiya facility in Kuwait, the world’s largest membrane-based wa-ter reclamation facility. This plant treats 375,000 m³/day (99 MIGD) of municipal wastewa-ter from Kuwait City and the surrounding area.• The company has provided a fl eet of mobile water treat-ment systems to Al Tamimi Group for the rapid deploy-ment of onsite treatment

systems for both sea water and brackish water

treatment, water reuse and water fi ltration with

emergency response time of as little as 72 hours.• GE has supplied the Interna-tional Medical Centre in Jeddah with an advanced membrane bioreactor wastewater treat-ment system to treat and recy-cle 250m³/day of wastewater, reducing freshwater usage.• GE supplied advanced re-verse osmosis solutions for the Hamma Seawater Desalination Plant in Algeria to purify up to 200,000 cubic metres of seawa-ter per day - providing as many as two million residents with a reliable and drought-proof sup-ply of fresh water.

GE’S MIDDLE EAST EXPERIENCE

A s an attendee at IDA con-ferences over the last 20 years, Upen Bharwada

can track better than most the shift-ing trends in the worldwide desali-nation market. As executive – busi-ness general manager, fi lters and membranes, at GE Water & Pro-cess Technologies, Bharwada is at the forefront of the sector’s evolu-tion. So what are the technologies that are driving the market today? “I sense that there has been an ‘a-ha’ moment at IDA this week,” the GE executive says. “Whereas the real estate industry has the phrase ‘location, loca-tion, location’, this sector is recognis-ing that the secret to managing sea-water reverse osmosis (RO) as a unit process that delivers what it promises relies on the phrase ‘pre-treatment, pre-treat-ment, pre-treatment’.

All of the challenges associated with making an RO membrane work are traced back or are endemic in the pre-treatment process.”

Bharwada adds that there were two particular sessions during the course of the week that particularly caught his eye. One was on seawater intakes, which covered the mechan-ical technologies that assist with the understanding of micro-organ-isms, location of intake points and analysis of marine life. Another was a session on pre-treatment for sea-water RO ultrafi ltration (UF) tech-

nology, which discussed the understanding

of total organic carbon (TOC), turbidity of bac-teria and other kinds of sub-micron organ-isms, which he believes will go a long way towards making UF the

preeminent treat-ment technology.

With regard to GE’s own technol-ogies, the emphasis appears to be on integration. “What we’ve done is take our UF technology and inte-grated it with RO, all in one uni-fi ed design,” says Ralph Exton, GE Water & Process Technologies global sales executive. “It’s a solu-tion set that’s pre-engineered, pre-designed and on one skid. In today’s market you often can’t wait 12-18 months for a seawater RO system, but we’ve got solutions that we can deliver in less than half that time

GE Water & Process Technologies

• GE helped buildfacility in Kuwait,largest membraneter reclamation faplant treats 375,0MIGD) of municipter from Kuwait Csurrounding area.• The company haa fleet of mobile wment systems to AGroup for the rapment of onsite tre

systems for band brac

treatmreusefiltra

GE’S MIDDLestate industry has the phrase ‘location, loca-tion, location’, this sector is recognis-ing that the secret to managing sea-water reverseosmosis (RO)as a unit processthat delivers what it promises relieson the phrase ‘pre-treatment, pre-treat-ment, pre-treatment’.

nology, which discussed the understanding

of total organic carbon (TOC), turbidity of bac-teria and other kinds of sub-micron organ-isms, which he believes will go a long way towards making UF the

preeminent treat-ment technology.

period. In some cases we have con-tainerised systems that are on the shelf and ready to deploy.”

“On the equipment front, a number of our pre-engineered sys-tems allow for a shorter lead time, so from start to fi nish our clients can almost have a plug-and-play option,” continues Bharwada. “A truly integrated multi-unit process allows for a single control panel, one type of software and a true integra-tion of synergies, and that’s what we’re introducing.” The expert

Upen Bharwada, executive - business general manager,

fi lters and membranes.

DESALINATION FOCUS


DegremontCEO Remi Lantier is hoping to build on his fi rm’s long relationship in the Middle East

What are your reasons for optimism with regard to the regional desalination market? Firstly, we are especially active in reverse osmosis (RO). Initially the thermal process was more active in the Gulf, but RO is relatively new in this segment. Our experi-ence at the Fujairah IWPP proved that we could operate in very diffi -cult water, and overall, I’m proud to say that plants built by Degre-mont worldwide are now providing more than a million cubic metres of desalinated water a day.

What’s your history in the region? We have three major achievements here. Firstly, there’s Fujairah 1, which was the largest seawater RO plant on the planet when it was built. In addition, the Barka II plant is under commissioning, and that facility will eliminate or mitigate

certain environmental elements in terms of discharge. Lastly there’s the Al Dur IWPP, which is the big-gest seawater RO plant in the Gulf. It’s a challenge for Degremont, but

we’re very much looking forward to meeting the needs of the Bah-raini community.

What challenges does the desalination industry face? You have to be able to match tech-nologies of a very different nature. If we start from the beginning of the treatment chain, pre-treatment is crucial and there are a number of different processes, including dual-media fi lters, membranes, dissolved air fl otation systems for all types of water. We’ve also mas-tered the RO process, so we can adapt the best products of several large suppliers of RO membranes to suit client needs, and last but not least, the energy recovery prod-ucts are hugely important. Even if here the cost of energy is not as high as other parts of the world, it’s incumbent on the client to have a minimal carbon emission foot-

print. Therefore, it’s clear that energy consumption should be as low as possible.

How important is sustain-ability to your company? It’s absolutely central to us. We want to bring to the client exactly what they want in terms of pro-cesses, guarantees and competi-tiveness, but we need to support the client on the sustainable side as well. Why? Because our cli-ents are communities – minis-ters, states, municipalities, and so – all of which have a responsibility towards their citizens. We can also provide a long-term guarantees for these processes as we are also an operator, not just a builder, of these systems. Even if the client doesn’t want us to operate the system we build, the fact that we carry out operating work all over the world is proof of our experience.

Degremont CEO Remi Lantier.

adds that for conventional older sys-tems where the water chemistry has changed since the system was put in, GE has introduced cartridge fi lters that can assist when the pre-treatment for conventional media fi ltration malfunctions. Lastly, the company is also introducing new chemicals into its analytical system portfolio. “So it’s not old wine and new bottles; we are either adding line extensions or delivering truly new products,” Bharwada says.

The GE executive believes that some of the biggest opportunities in the desalination market currently reside within Saudi Arabia, and it’s clear that the fi rm has close ties with the Saline Water Conversion Corpo-ration (SWCC). “Saudi Arabia has been somewhat special if not unique

in its use and endorsement of hol-low-fi bre RO,” Bharwada observes. “Now, as the local industry evolves, they are using spiral-wound com-posite, an area in which GE is more active.” GE has also been working closely with the Tamimi Group, sup-plying a number of containerised seawater systems.

“From a technological standpoint, I think Saudi Arabia is moving for-ward in accepting spiral-wound thin-fi lm composite polymeride RO as the preferred method of desali-nation, either as a primary method or in the second pass,” Bharwada states. “So GE looks forward to working with SWCC and other com-ponents in the decision-making pro-cess as the country carries on evolv-ing further.”

Needless to say, big challenges lie ahead if the Gulf is to sustain what the GE executive refers to as its ‘economic miracle’. With locations like Abu Dhabi laying down ambi-tious markers to recycle 100% of its water by 2015, GE believes it has a huge role to play in the region. “This really plays well with our core com-petencies, so we look forward to working closely with Abu Dhabi’s

planning department to help them reach this goal,” remarks Bhar-wada, with some confi dence.

“GE has been the globally recog-nised leader with regard to mem-brane bioreactor (MBR) technol-ogy, for example. The technology we have features in the largest and the most successful installations, and it also provides the lowest lifecy-cle costs overall.”

“The secret to seawater RO as a process unit that delivers what it promises is pre-treatment, pre-treatment, pre-treatment”

DESALINATION FOCUS


“Our partnership is a great example of the kind of arrangements an event like IDA

World Congress can produce”Jean-Michel Herrewyn says that

Veolia benefi ts from technolo-gies developed elsewhere.

Utilities Middle East caught up with both CEOs to discuss the benefi ts of a landmark new relationship between the two companies

Can you explain what NanoH2O is of fering to the desalination market? Jef f Green (CEO of NanoH2O): NanoH2O is an early-stage devel-oper of the next generation of reverse osmosis (RO) mem-branes. As a new company, it’s important for us to establish our-selves and we’re very close to our fi rst commercial product so it’s an important time for us.

How did NanoH2O fi rst come to your attention? Jean-Michel Herrewyn (CEO of Veolia Solutions & Technol-ogies): Actually, the initial contact was made through an IDA event in Barcelona two years back. At that time they presented their ideas and research and we thought that it was a clever and interesting product and wanted to learn and discover more. It evolved until the point where we formed the basis of a business relationship to meld the strengths of the two compa-nies. It’s a great example of the kind of arrangements an event like this can produce.

How important is the relationship from your per-spective as a new company?JG: It’s absolutely critical. The most important thing for any new technology is to be demonstrated at a commercial level. You can present your research, but ulti-mately for customers like the municipalities and large-scale industry to adopt technology, they need to have seen the results in the fi eld. As a smaller com-pany, the question is how quickly can you achieve those results and

Veolia seals partnership with NanoH20

once you do, what are the chan-nels that will help you accelerate your sales. Veolia has that abil-ity to move us quickly to the com-mercial testing phase. The water market is very local; different waters have different characteris-tics, so you need to have presence and testing in a number of differ-ent geographies.

Can you provide further details about your fi rst com-mercial product? JG: It’s a nano-composite seawa-ter RO membrane. RO membranes are typically made of a pure poly-mer fi lm - we add nano particles to the fi lm that makes up the surface of the membrane. The key perfor-mance metrics for membranes are productivity - so in desalination you have pressure, which equates to energy consumption and which drives water through the mem-brane. The more permeable the membrane, the greater the oppor-tunity to either drop the consump-tion by dropping pressure, or produce more water in a similar-sized plant. Ultimately, that’s what we’re trying to do – the focus of our company has been to improve the membrane chemistry to get it to that next level of economics, which is going to benefi t the end-user immeasurably.

What does the relation-ship of fer Veolia? J-MH: There is a lot of merit for us to be involved as much as we can with the innovation associ-ated with this kind of product. Even if the traditional membranes have become commodities, it doesn’t mean that there is no pos-sible breakthrough in this tech-nology that will change the eco-nomics of the whole sector. We are keen to fi nd partners and pro-mote the technologies, and then of course we can benefi t in terms of market share and our own effi -ciency in the market. It’s often diffi cult for a sizeable company to ensure that everyone is open-minded about new technologies being developed outside the fi rm. So looking at new partnerships helps fuel the general idea that we don’t rely on our role and process expertise - we can be fl exible and adaptive to co-opt with others and deliver more. Some believe that the size of the company is an asset which should not be shared with others. I tend to believe the opposite - that the main issue is how reactive and quick you are to promote new ideas. This is especially valid in the water industry, which in my humble opinion has been a little lag-

ging behind in the effi ciency with which it promotes new technolo-gies in the marketplace.

How does your technol-ogy assist with sustainability?JG: When you look at water treat-ment in general, there are three driving factors that affect sustain-ability. There’s energy consump-tion, materials consumption of building plants and materials, and the chemicals use in a lot of these processes. For membrane pro-cesses, we can help with all three. If you have a more productive membrane you can build smaller plants and get the same amount of water. And in any membrane or fi ltration environment, you’re going to have potential fouling on a membrane surface. A lot of the chemical feeds in the process are to do with fouling - if you can make a more naturally fouling-resistant surface, you can reduce chemical

consumption and con-trol that into the

effl uent and disposal.

DESALINATION FOCUS


MD Luis Castilla is trying to break into the Middle Eastern market

What can you of fer the local market?We are a global solutions pro-vider – we have expertise in fi nance, and we have also capa-bilities to design in-house, to build and to operate, so we cover the whole cycle. We can partic-ipate in many projects. On the technology side, we employ around 30 people in a research facility in Spain, concentrating on membranes.

How important is the Middle East to you? We’ve had a presence here for two years, but we’re still wait-ing for our fi rst major project. We were selected several times as a preferred bidder in several developments but because of the crisis and the rethinking of plant sizes, we haven’t signed any-thing yet. But I have full confi -dence that this market will invest with us. We have a huge pres-ence in Southern Europe and the Americas, and we’re working on a giant desalination plant in the Thames Estuary in the UK.

What projects are you bidding on at the moment? The Muharraq STP develop-ment in Bahrain and we will also see what we can do in Ras Al Zour. The past year has been very calm, but the opportuni-ties are starting to come little by little. We’ve also been work-ing very hard to win the bid for the desalination plant at Emaar’s King Abdullah Economic City.

Acciona Agua

Are you looking at pro-spective partners in the Middle East region? We don’t want to establish a global agreement in the area with one company. What we would like to do is team up with specifi c partners for every occa-sion. We are new in the market and need to get a better idea of who’s who in the local sector. So it’s necessary to establish strate-gic partners.

How important are ‘green’ issues to your fi rm? Sustainability is our core mes-sage. Acciona is a family-owned company with more than 100 years of experience. Our current chairman joined six years ago and made a tremendous change to our strategy. He decided to enter the water sector in a big way and reposition the rest of the business to focus on renew-able energies and new forms of construction.

Sustainability is a core part of

Acciona Agua’s offering, says MD

Luis Castilla

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DESALINATION FOCUS


Managing director Fady Juez has just been elected to the IDA board

CEO Bruno Steis says UF technology is still at an early stage

Business development manager Vikrant Sarin wants tighter rules

Congratulations on your appointment. What does this mean for Metito? Thank you. From the date that IDA was established, we were a found-ing member - Metito has been in this business for 50 years. I’m now in a position to give back some time and effort to the desal community. On the other hand, IDA is all about promoting the benefi ts of desalina-tion to the general populace. So it’s a bit of CSR on the one side, but it also enhances the business of desalination on the other .

What do you of fer the local market? We are a UF component supplier; we sell modules and subsystems to systems integrators. UF as a pre-treatment for RO will be the key technology of the future.

What projects are you working on in the region?If you look at UF, there are several applications for us: municipal and

What are your plans for the Middle East market? We’re here to gain exposure in this important sector; despite having more than 40 installations glob-ally, we are yet to fully penetrate this market. We’ve had an offi ce in Sharjah for the last three years, and we’re interacting with end-us-ers in the other GCC countries. Recycling or effective water man-agement is vital, and it’s an area where we’ve done a lot of work.

What advice are you giving to local governments?Of course, we have to go towards zero-liquid discharge, but how do we proceed? There are a lot of technologies available, and there are also cheaper technologies coming up. The guidelines are there and these can be improved, but enforcement has to come from the government. So we are con-

Metito

inge watertechnologies AG

Aquatech

What are the biggest issues affecting the industry? The desalination world generally has been looking at various ways to reduce cost, reduce footprint, increase capacity, improve qual-ity, reduce environmental effects and reduce power consumption per cubic metre. During this week, we had more than 1,300 worldwide delegates present and it has been a great opportunity for stakehold-ers to talk together. There are some massive projects being commis-sioned in Saudi Arabia and in North Africa, for example.

What’s your assessment of the maturity of this technology? There’s still a lot of mileage left. Manufacturers are increasing the size and diameter of the membrane and increasing effi ciencies hugely. Effi cency is a core part of our strat-egy and I’m proud to say we’re one

of a very few fi rms that produces an annual sustainability report.

stantly trying to build up aware-ness, and to that end we’ve cre-ated the Aquatech Recycle Reuse Association. We will be circulating newsletters and our membership will include ministers, university experts and other people involved in this industry.

How close is the Middle East to zero-discharge?Of course the technology is in place to implement t h i s , but the region has to move fi rst, and the rules need to be tighter. There needs to be an end to s u b s i -d i s e d water.

industrial water treatment, and pre-treatment for seawater RO desalination. Our largest project for seawater RO pre-treatment is at an Abu Dhabi plant.

What’s your latest prod-uct to hit the market? We recently announced a new-generation product that offers 30% higher permeability. By opti-mising the membrane geome-

try, we have increased the capac-ity of our standard models with-out changing the size. UF technol-ogy is still only 15 years old. You also have many players in the market and it’s a race to decide which will be the market leader of the future - there are going to be two or three com-panies that really make money out of this.

rly stage

he capac-els with-technol-old.

ers ce

Bruno Steis says that the opportunities in the UF arena are still massive.

Fady Juez explains the

benefi ts of effi ciency.

region hasfi rst, and

es need toter. Thereto be

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d

Right now, the GCC is standing on the cusp of a ‘smart’ revolution. In some

respects, the region is even fur-ther ahead than other competitor markets as it rolls out a selection of pilot smart metering programmes. While the numbers being deployed here may not be in the same league as in similar deployments in Europe and the US, the UAE, in particular, has been quick to see the benefi ts that new metering technology will provide both to utilities and the ulti-mate end-client – the consumer.

While every GCC country is con-sidering implementing regulations with regard to smart metering, the UAE has stolen a lead. Abu Dhabi has already started deploying a range of devices and Dubai will see its pilot programme become opera-tional by April next year. Earlier this year, the Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) ordered around 20,000 meters – 4,500 of which are being installed in the pilot phase - and a full phased implementation is likely to occur based on the devices’ performance during the peak loads of next summer. Over the border in Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom has purchased its fi rst tranche of smart meters, although it has not yet invested in the operating system.

“At present legislation in the Middle East is in a nascent stage,”

NEW TECHNOLOGIES


Smart meter roll-outs are taking place across the UAE. But what are the benefi ts of engaging with the new ‘smart ecosystem’?

Billing

says Rajiv Sawhney, Landis+Gyr’s CEO, Middle East. “However, there are directives that point towards protecting the environment and our natural resources, and improving energy effi ciency; smart metering being a key enabler of this.”

Sawhney believes that on the regu-lation front, a lot needs to be done to bring the Middle East up to speed in comparison to Europe. “A fi rst step towards legislation would be the pri-vatisation of the energy distribution sector,” he explains. “This would increase competition in the indus-try, optimise processes and bring into focus overall energy manage-ment to enable the smart grid.”

The Landis+Gyr executive believes that lowering the current electricity subsidies in the region would make the benefi ts of smart metering more apparent, and the organisation of supply and demand more signifi cant. “Time-of-use applications, demand charges, power factor penalties and seri-ous steps towards infl uencing con-sumer behaviour would need to be employed, thereby providing a stable and reliable power supply to consumers,” Sawhney argues. “By highlighting the benefi ts of smart metering we will be one step closer to privatisation and, in effect, smart metering legislation.”

The major point that Sawhney alludes to here is the high subsi-dies dished out by local authorities for the benefi t of the consumer. This problem is one that is only likely to change if painful decision-making is undertaken at a senior level on the one hand, and better education of the consumer or client is under-taken on the other. me softly

30 Utilities Middle East ● December 2009

Landis+Gyr says the E450 meter family offers ‘best-

in-class solutions’.

NEW TECHNOLOGIES


“Our R&D teams work towards interoper-ability to bring the benefi t of choice

to regional utilities”

Of course, smart metering itself is only a small part of the puzzle. The full benefi t of the technology can only really be realised via true inte-gration with the smart grid. “A crit-ical piece of making smart energy grids successful is expanding the concept throughout the power grid, from generation to distri-bution and to metering at the consumer site,” says Mashood Ahmad, regional managing director of network specialist Ciena Cor-poration, which launched local oper-ations in November via the opening of

How to get the best out of billingista Middle East managing director Tarek El Far showcases the benefi ts of smart submetering

What are you offering the utilities industry?We are a global leader in consump-tion-based billing, which focuses on the client paying only for the energy that they consume. In the Middle East, the energy provider provides the energy in bulk to the building or the development and then the project owner has to collect back the money from the tenants. This is generally done by number of apartments or square feet, which is unfair. Our submetering solution measures the precise consump-tion of each unit and allocates costs accordingly. In addition, it also com-bines every commodity – water, chilled water, electricity and gas – into the one bill. We carry out the whole process, from designing the systems and supplying the hard-ware, to installing, testing commis-sioning and operating.

What advice do you have for the utilities sector? In the UAE, we talk a lot about priva-tisation, which is growing in some

areas. But I think there is still room for improvement. I would strongly recommend any utility or energy provider to focus on their core busi-ness, and subcontract the second-ary business – the reading and bill-ing. By privatising, you get the cut-ting-edge technology and the cost is lower, so it provides benefi ts all the way through the chain.

Can you provide an example of a recent major project? I’m happy to say we won the contract for the Burj Dubai. They needed a fully wireless system, and our solution is fully tailor-made. We have the abil-ity to combine multiple energies, and there was no problem with instal-lation and programming because it’s all remote. So there’s no need for read-ings – all the information is sent to our offi ce and we produce the bills. I’m very

proud that Emaar chose us for this, which is something that I admit has been challenging – we spent a year and a half evaluating the project.

Why did you win this deal? The reason why we were picked was because of our radio frequency data concentrator. We’re the only

company that produces bi-di-rectional tools. Your usual wireless system involves every meter looking for the nearest data concentrator to send the reading. We came up with something that would allow every meter to both send and receive information. This means that every meter acts as a repeater. So you only need one data concen-trator for every thousand metres. So if you are on the fi rst fl oor, you can put your data concentrator

on the 10th fl oor and the signal communicates via

the other meters.

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Tarek El Far is encouraging utilities to outsource reading and billing to a third party.

Ciena Corporation regional MD

Mashood Ahmad.

East and India, Electricity, at Itron International. “Itron’s open and fl ex-ible systems can accommodate any type of installation, as well as the specifi c environmental and regula-tory conditions.”

Itron’s approach is to adapt and try and use the best method that is tai-lored to the specifi c terrain of the local environment. “Moreover, in order to ensure a reliable and eco-nomical overall solution for the util-ity for electricity and water meter data collection. Itron can offer a combination of communication technologies, such as GPRS, PLC, or RF (between meter and concen-trator) and GPRS (between concen-trator and collection engine).”

ability to bringto regi

really be realised via true inteon with the smart grid. “A crit-piece of making smart energy s successful is expanding theept throughout the power from generation to distri-

on and to metering at onsumer site,” sayshood Ahmad, onal managingctor of network ialist Ciena Cor-tion, whichched local oper-s in November he opening of

Ciena Corporation regional MD

Mashood Ahmad.

an offi ce in Abu Dhabi. “Through emerging technologies such as line conditioning, energy storage and advanced metering, demand can be better matched with generation.”

“Based on the variety of local con-ditions as well as the type of end users, multiple technologies are likely required,” explains Olivier Laborie, general manager Middle

NEW TECHNOLOGIES


“It is likely that future technol-ogy will be similar to that in Europe and will use PLC, GPRS and Ether-net communication technologies,” agrees Sawhney.

One of the fears from the utilities’ perspective has been that the vary-ing types of technology, compo-nents and ‘options’ used by different manufacturers might lead to com-munications failures and a break-down in the system. It’s fair to say that the manufacturers are keen to stress that they are working hard to combat this issue, and the term ‘interoperability’ is becoming some-thing of a buzzword.

The current communications standards and protocols being used in the Middle East are based on the European IEC standard. While IEC does provide for a certain number of characteristics and functions, it’s possible to achieve those charac-teristics and functions by using dif-ferent components. The result is that while there may be a selection of meters that are technically com-pliant to the correct standard, they may not necessarily communicate with one another due to varying components or ‘options’.

“Due to signifi cant investments involved in the deployment of smart metering, utilities do not want to be locked to one technology, one vendor,” says Laborie. “They expect their systems to be open and interop-erable, providing them with a choice of multiple vendors and permitting continuous technological evolution. For example, in Dubai, the local authorities are working with three manufacturers, whose products all need to work together.”

Landis+Gyr’s Sawhney is in full agreement. “We are offering open, interoperable technology to the Middle Eastern market,” he says. “This is a major step forward in com-parison to providing proprietary systems. Our research and develop-ment teams work towards interoper-ability to bring the benefi t of choice to utilities and prepare them for the future of energy management.”

In a bit to combat this threat, Itron, Landis+Gyr and another manufac-turing giant, Iskraemeco, are devel-oping interoperability specifi ca-tions in the context of a series of ten-dered projects, where interopera-bility was a pre-requisite. The plan is that interfaces on the three com-panies’ meters will allow custom-ers to mix and match products from different suppliers. All three fi rms intend to make these interface spec-ifi cations available to all parties will-ing to develop open and interoper-able products, which will facilitate the creation of ‘a true interopera-ble environment for the future. This standard will be adopted by DEWA.

But there are other challenges as well. “In the GCC, almost all of the utilities supply both water and elec-tricity, therefore they are opting to roll out both water and electricity smart meters at the same time,” says Itron’s Laborie. “The constraints of the water meter, which has no power supply, require that the communi-cation module operates on battery power, consuming as little energy as possible. The water meter commu-nicates with the electricity meter, which sends the data of both meters to the collection system.”

Laborie adds that one of Itron’s major advantages is the ability to supply all types of smart meters, and

“Utilities have to focus on managing the billing process in order for them to

be able to save on costs”

related data collection and data man-agement systems. “This is well illus-trated by Itron’s recent contract to supply water, electricity, cooling and gas meters – all linked to one central system – in The Pearl Qatar develop-ment,” he indicates.

Moreover, further diffi culties lie ahead in the management of two-way fl ow for large data packets. As a result, local communication net-works must be approved, especially for wireless technology.

“Utilities must focus on managing the billing process in order to save costs,” explains Sawhney. “This can be achieved through connect and disconnect applications enabled by smart metering. The behaviour of those who consume large amounts of energy must also change to improve demand side management and meet energy effi ciency goals.” The Landis+Gyr executive also believes that energy consumers will need to accept and participate in time-of-use tariffs to meet demand

Itron International’s regional general manager, Olivier Laborie.

NEW TECHNOLOGIES


side management requirements at both domestic and industrial levels.

The move towards smarter infra-structure and the role that the smart meter plays in that is inevitable. A quick glance overseas reveals that after an initial pilot test, France will roll out 35 million meters over fi ve years, while Itron alone is currently deploying nearly fi ve million smart meters and the associated system at SCE (Southern California Edison).

There is a defi nite requirement for those utilities that are not yet already on board with this technol-ogy to embrace it, not only from a cost perspective, but also from the point of view of effi ciencies, and more intelligent billing meth-ods. While there is an initial outlay in terms of capex, any solution that brings such obvious benefi ts to the utilities and the consumer is a neces-sity, not an option.

Finding the right software architectureMicrosoft’s Jon Arnold explains the fi rm’s new SERA product

Although the size of power sys-tems and the number and needs of customers have grown expo-nentially, business and technology processes have remained essen-tially the same, making the util-ity industry one of the last bastions of the ana-logue era. Faced with increased consumer awareness, changing requirements and new energy sustain-ability chal-lenges, utili-ties around the world are trying

to fi gure out how to bring their net-works into the Digital Age. During the past 20 years one of the top pain points for a Utility CIO has been integration. The Microsoft Smart Energy Reference Architecture

(SERA) addresses the major business functions required for the smart energy ecosys-tem, including metering. It addresses the smart meter inte-

gration processes to Utility cus-tomer and distribution sys-

tems, meter data man-agement, device “edge” connectivity as well as the ability to unlock the benefi ts of smart

metering by linking smart meter-ing to home energy management applications that can infl uence con-sumer energy behavior patterns. By using SERA as a roadmap for metering deployments, Utilities will inject agility into their archi-tectures so that as smart metering business processes change they will be able to adjust their solu-tions much quicker and without the pain and expense they have experienced in the past. While we may never get to a true “plug and play” environment, SERA puts Util-ities on a path where they can focus on the business rather than being strangled by technology issues.

e same, making the util-stry one of the ons of the ana-a. Faced with d consumer ss, changing

ments and new sustain-

chal-tili-ndld

ng

Energy Refere(SERA) addrbusiness fufor the smatem, includaddresses th

gration procetomer and

tems, agemconnthethe

DISTRICT COOLING FOCUS


The regulation argumentDSI's Tawfiq Abu Soud says that a lack of legislation hurts the end-user

With the economic crisis playing havoc with the local district cooling industry, many companies are start-ing to become more vocal about the ways they feel that regional authori-ties can assist the sector.

One of the most strident calls for change has come from the well-known Tawfi q Abu Soud. As execu-tive director of Drake & Scull Inter-national (DSI)’s infrastructure, power and water operations, Abu Soud has masterminded the com-pany’s emergence as an integrated utilities giant.

DSI’s association with the dis-trict cooling business began in 2000, when it was awarded three projects within the space of a month in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. In 2003, the com-pany carried out its fi rst design-and-build district cooling contract at the Jumeirah Beach Residence (JBR), at the time the largest single plant in the world. “Since then, we’ve been expanding and developing to reach the stage we are at now,” explains Abu Soud. “We can provide advi-sors to assist clients on the best solu-tions, capacities and phasing, and we also conduct the construction on an open-book basis as well, so that we don’t take advantage of either the client or the end user.”

One of the hottest topics in the industry most recently has been the issue of regulation, with most senior executives expounding the ben-efi ts a mandated set of guidelines would offer the sector. What is Abu Soud’s opinion on the issue? “I’m a big advocate of regulation, and I was very pleased that Dubai Municipal-ity has said that each and every dis-trict cooling plant is required to have a thermal storage tank, and that the water being used should be treated sewage effl uent,” he explains. “As

DSI’S DISTRICT COOLING PROJECTS

Hadeed District Cooling Project:Location: Saudi Client: Al Zamil Industrial Award date: Q1 08Completion date: 2010

Wahat Al Khartoum District Cooling Project:Location: Khartoum, SudanClient: Wahat al Khartoum Urban Development CompanyStart Date: Jan 2009

Durrat Al Bahrain District Cooling Plant:Location: BahrainAward Date: 2009Completion Date: 2013

Meydan District CoolingClient: Meydan Start Date: Q1 08Completion Date: 2009

then happen is that you build a plant that you are not fully utilising. But you still need to recover your costs somehow, so you will be forced to recover the investment from the 40-50% occupants in the develop-ment, so the rates get higher.”

Unoccupied apartments, shops and facilities are ‘dead

assets’, according to Abu Soud, and it seems that there’s no easy fi x to the conundrum. “It requires

marketing and engi-neering to work hand in hand to determine the level of occupancy in

each development and in each hotel. If you have apart-

ments that are not occu-pied, that creates major

problems.”

you know, district cooling requires a lot of water, and if you’re using potable water, you’re putting a lot of strain on that network." As the DSI director points out, the availability of treated sewage effl uent can be tricky in some locations, or at the right quantity.

But it is clear that Abu Soud think that the local authorities need to do more to push regulation forwards. “This doesn’t work through talks, seminars and presentations, this works through mandates,” he argues. “They need to create a committee for this in order to

drive the issue. At the end of the day, the lack of legislation impacts the end-user.”

“For a utility provider, the main challenge is the occupancy rates in the development,” explains Abu Soud. “Because you have to cater for a 100% occu-pancy in any given p r o j -ect, and what can

Tawfi q Abu Soud believes that more regu-lation is needed.

December 2009 ● Utilities Middle East 35

PROJECTS


UTILITIES PROJECT TRACKERInformation is supplied by Ventures Middle East. Tel: +971 2 622 2455. URL: www.ventures-uk.com

9023/9001 Underground Cables Saudi Electricity Company Al Fanar Contracting 46 under construction Power Transmission

Shouaiba-2 Substation - Namera North Overhead Transmission Line

Saudi Electricity Company (SEC)

Not Appointed 106 EPC Bid Power Transmission

Tabouk Power Plant Saudi Electricity Company Nespak National Contracting Co. 114project under con-struction

Power Plant

Desalination Plant in Jeddah - Phase 3

Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC)

Kuljian Engineer-ing Corporation

Doosan Heavy Industries/ Saudi Berkefeld Filter

245project under construction

Desalination Plant

Al Laith Valley Dam Ministry of Water and Electricity

RGMEAl Nammal Trading and Contracting Company


Dam

132/13.8 kV 8122-Substation in Al Morooj


Al-Osais Group 50project under construction

Substation

10J Substation & 101 Satellite Substation in Yanbu

Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu (RCJY)

Not Appointed 150 EPC Bid Substation

Princess Noura Bin Abdulrah-man University - High Voltage Substation

Ministry of Higher Education / Ministry of Finance

ABB Contracting Co. / Al Fanar Contracting

167project underconstruction

Substation

Yanbu EPC

The Power & Water Utilities Company for Jubail & Yanbu (Marafi q)/Saline Water Con-version Corporation (SWCC)

MohammedA.Turki Mott MacDonald

Not Appointed 4000 FEEDPower and Desalina-tion Plant

132/13.8 kV 8155-Substation in Al Maather


Al Babtain Contracting 20project under construction

Substation

110/13.8-kV Substation in Al Misfalah - 3



Saudi Services for Electro Mechanic Works Company


Substation

380-kV Substation at Jubail 2 Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) Cogelex Alstom S.A 148 under construction Substation

King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) - Power Grid Package

Emaar Middle East Properties Siemens 400project under construction

Substation

New Dam in AbhaMinistry of Water and Electricity

Zuhair Fayez & Partners

Bin Jarallah Establishment for Trading & General Con-tracting (Bin Jarallah Group)


Dam

Substations 9024 and 8183/8184Saudi Electricity Company (SEC)

ABB Contracting Co., Saudi Arabia


Substation

Ras Al-Zour EPC SWCC Fichtner Not Appointed 3,000 EPC Bid Power & Desal Plant

Tabouk Power Plant ExpansionMinistry of Water and Electricity

National Contracting Company Limited (NCC)


Power Plant

Captive Power Plant in JECSaudi Binladin Group / CHALCO / MMC Corporation Berhad

CPI Power Engineer 2000project under construction

Power Plant

480 MW Expansion of Jeddah PP3 - Stage 2


Not Appointed 250 project under study Power Plant

PP11 Power Plant in Riyadh Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) Not Appointed 2133 EPC Bid Power Plant

Rabigh IPP - Jeddah North Subsa-tion OHTL

Saudi Electricity Company MEEDCO 62project under construction

Power Transmission

1200 MW Thermo-electric Power Plant in Rabigh

Saudi Electricity Company (SEC)/ACWA Power Interna-tional/Kepco

Not Appointed 2500project in its concept stage

Power Plant

UAE

Desalination Plant in Jafza Jafza/Palm Water GHD Not Appointed 250 EPC Bid Desalination Plant

Hassyan Complex - Station P - Phase 2(P2)

DEWALahmeyer Inter-national

Not Appointed 3000 EPC Bid Power and Desalina-tion Plant

MIDDLE EAST

Project Title Client Consultant Main Contractor

Value / Value Range (US$. Mn) Project Status Project Type

SAUDI ARABIA

PROJECTS


Fujairah 2 (F2) IWPPADWEA/ Marubeni Corpora-tion/ International Power

Fichtner Alstom Power / Sidem 3,000project under construction

Power and Desalina-tion Plant

Water Treatment Plant - Das Island

Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Company (Adma-Opco)

Metito Abu Dhabi LLC 21project under construction

Water Treatment

Desalination Plant near Hamriyah Free Zone

Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority (SEWA)

Aqua Engineering, Techton Engineering & Construc-tion


Desalination Plant

General Utility Plant Expansion at Ruwais

Abu Dhabi Oil Refi nery Com-pany (Takreer)

Not Appointed 500 EPC Bid Power Plant

Power and Desalination Complex-M Station

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA)

Fichtner Doosan / Fisia Italimplanti 2,693project under construction


Nuclear Power Plant in Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority / Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation

Not Appointed 41000 EPC Bid Power and Desalina-tion Plant

Installation of 11kV Cables DEWA Not Appointed 25 EPC Bid Power Transmission

Five 132/11 kV & One 132/33 kV Substations in Dubai

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA)

Emirates Trading Agency (ETA), Dubai


Substation

KUWAIT

Al Zour Power Plant Expansion Ministry of Electricity & WaterParsons Brinck-erhoff

Not Appointed 3,700 project under designPower and Desalina-tion Plant

New Substations in Kuwait Ministry of Electricity & Water Not Appointed 30 EPC Bid Substation

Shuaiba Power & Desalination Plant

Ministry of Electricity & WaterParsons Brinckerhoff

Mitsui Company 1,300 under constructionPower and Desal Plant

Shuwaikh Desalination Plant Ministry of Electricity & WaterDoosan Heavy Industries & Construction Kuwait


Desalination Plant

Five 132/11 kV Substations at Jaber Al-Ahmed

Ministry of Electricity & WaterAl Ahlia Switchgear Company


Substation

QATAR

Ras Laffan C Independent Water & Power Project

Kahramaa/Qatar Petroleum /Suez Energy International /Mitsui & Company

Kema Mitsui & Company 3,700project under construction


Captive Power Plant at Mesaieed Qatalum Mott MacDonaldGE / Doosan Heavy Industries

1,000project under con-struction

Power Plant

Mesaieed A - Power Project in MIC QEWC/QP/Marubeni Fichtner Iberinco 2,000 under construction Power Plant

OMAN

Desalination Plant in the Duqm Area

Rural Areas Electricity Company

VA Tech Wabag 21project under con-struction

Desalination Plant

Salalah IWPPOPWP /Sembcorp Utilities Pte Ltd /Oman Investment Corporation

Shandong No.3 Electric Power Construction Corporation,China

750project under con-struction


Power Plant in the Duqm Area - Phase 2

Rural Areas Electricity Company

Global Chemicals & Main-tenance Systems


Power Plant

BAHRAIN

Independent Water and Power Plant in Addur

Ministry of Finance / Ministry of Electricity & Water / Suez Energy International

Mott MacDonaldDegremont / Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI)



Ten 220kV SubstationsMinistry of Electricity & Water, Bahrain

Electricity Supply Board Interna-tional- Ireland (ESBI)

Electricity Supply Board International- Ireland (ESBI)


Substation

TENDERS


UME provides free access to the latest publicly available tender listings from across GCC countries. The tenders included are aggregated from a wide variety of public and private sector sources from across the region. Where possible, tenders include the issuer, name and category of the tender; opening and closing dates; narratives; fees, bonds and contacts

132-KV UNDERGROUND CABLES IN KUWAITIssuer: Central Tenders CommitteeTender no: MWE/98/2008/2009Title: 132-kV Underground Cables in Several AreasDescription: The scope of work includes the construction of 132-kV underground cables in several areas in Kuwait City.Bond: ApplicableTender fee: 2500.00 KWD Closes: Dec 6, 2009Contact: Central Tenders Committee - Ministry of Electricity and Water

SEA WATER PUMPING STATION-2 & RETURN SYSTEM IN OMAN Issuer: MAJIS INDUSTRIAL SERVICES S.A.O.CTender number: 305/2009Title: Sea Water Pumping Station-2 & Return System for Sohar Industrial Port AreaDescription: The scope of work includes construction of sea water pumping station-2 & return system for Sohar Industrial Port Area.Bond: ApplicableTender fee: 1500.00 OMR Closes: Dec 14, 2009Contact: www.tenderboard.gov.om

SUPPLY OF POWER TRANSFORMER IN OMANIssuer: Muscat Electricity Distribution Co. (SAOC)

Tender activityVisit constructionweekonline.comfor the latest tender information

To add a tender to our listing, email details to lutfi [email protected]

Tender no: 317/2009Title:Supply of 20-MVA, 33/11.5kV Power TransformerDescription:The scope of work includes supply of 20-MVA, 33/11.5-kV power transformer, RTCC panels, 11-kV indoor switchgears, 30v DC battery with charger and 110-v DC battery with charger.Bond: N/ATender fee: 150.00 OMR Closes: Dec 14, 2009Contact:www.tenderboard.gov.om

SEAWATER PUMPING STATION 2 AT SOHAR PORTIssuer: MAJIS INDUSTRIAL SERVICES S.A.O.CTender no: 305/2009Title: Sea Water Pumping Station-2 & Return System for Sohar Industrial Port AreaDescription: The scope of work includes construction of sea water pumping station-2 & return system for Sohar Industrial Port Area.Bond: ApplicableTender fee: 1500.00 OMR Closes: Dec 14, 2009Contact: www.tenderboard.gov.om

UPGRADING OF FIRE ALARM SYSTEM IN AL SHOUQAIQ SUBSTATIONIssuer: Saline Water Conversion CorporationTender no: SQ/RI/428Title: Upgrading of Fire Alarm System in Al Shouqaiq

Substation, Saudi ArabiaDescription: The scope of work includes upgrading of fire alarm system in Al Shouqaiq Substation, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.Bond: N/ATender fee: N/A Closes: Dec 15, 2009Contact: www.swcc.gov.sa

SUPPLY & REPLACEMENT OF HVAC SYSTEM IN SAUDI ARABIAIssuer: Saline Water Conversion CorporationTender number: SH/R/E/079Title: Supply & Replacement of HVAC System at Shoaiba Plant Phase-1Description: The scope of work includes rehabilitation, supply & replacement of HVAC system at Shoaiba plant phase-1.Bond: N/ATender fee: 500.00 SAR Closes: Dec 16, 2009Contact: www.swcc.gov.sa

CHLORINATION UNIT IN AL KHOUD RESERVOIR, SULTANATE OF OMANIssuer: Public Authority for Electricity and WaterTender no: 324/2009Title: Chlorination Unit in Al Khoud ReservoirDescription: The scope of work includes construction of

TENDERS

December 2009 ● Utilities Middle East 39www.utilities-me.com

chlorination unit in Al Khoud Reservoir.Bond: N/ATender fee: 200.00 OMRCloses: Dec 28, 2009Contact: |www.tenderboard.gov.om

REFURBISHMENT WORKS IN OMANIssuer: Al Ghubra Power & Desalination Company S.A.O.CTender number: 330/2009Title: Refurbishment Works on the Steel Structure at Al Ghubra Power and Desalination PlantDescription: The scope of work includes refurbishment works on the steel structure at Al Ghubra Power and Desalination Plant.Bond: N/ATender fee: 400.00 OMR Closes: Dec 28, 2009Contact: http://www.tenderboard.gov.om

REPLACING PORTIONS OF OHTL IN OMANIssuer: Oman Electricity Transmission CompanyTender no: 329/2009Title: Replacing Portions of 220-kV and 132-kV OHTL in Muscat GovernorateDescription: The scope of work includes replacing portions of 220-kV and 132-kV overhead transmission lines (OHTL) in Muscat governorate with cables phase-1, part-3.Bond: N/ATender fee: 1500.00 OMR Closes: Dec 28, 2009Contact: http://www.tenderboard.gov.om

WDC IN MINA ABDULLAH, PHASE 2 Issuer: Central Tenders CommitteeTender no: MEW/58/2009/2010Title: WDC in Mina Abdullah - Phase 2Description: The scope of work includes construction of water distribution centre (WDC) in Mina Abdullah, Kuwait.Bond: Applicable

Tender fee: 4000.00 KWD Closes: Dec 27, 2009Contact: Central Tenders Committee - Ministry of Electricity & Water

AL-ZOUR DESAL PLANT, PHASE 2KUWAIT Issuer: Ministry of Electricity and WaterTender no: MEW/39/2008/2009Title: Al-Zour Desalination Plant - Phase 2Description: The scope of work includes design, construction of Al-Zour desalination plant, phase 2.Bond: Applicable

Tender fee: 3000.00 KWD Closes: Dec 29, 2009Contact: http://www.ctc.gov.kw

BOILER REHABILITATION IN SAUDI ARABIA Issuer: Saline Water Conversion CorporationTender no: SH/R/M/037Title: Boiler Rehabilitation & Equipment Improvement in Saudi ArabiaDescription: The scope of work includes boiler rehabilitation & equipment improvement in Shoaiba Power and Desalaination Plant - Phase-1.Bond: N/ATender fee: 500.00 SAR Closes: Dec 28, 2009Contact: http://www.swcc.gov.sa

CONSTRUCTION OF PUMP STATION IN BURIYDAHIssuer: Saline Water Conversion CorporationTender no: N/ATitle: Construction of Pump Station in BuriydahDescription: The scope of work includes construction of a pump station in Buriydah, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.Bond: N/ATender fee: 1000.00 SAR Closes: Dec 28, 2009Contact: www.swcc.gov.sa

UPGRADING OF COMPLETE SCADA SYSTEM IN SAUDI ARABIAIssuer: Saline Water Conversion CorporationTender number: N/ATitle:Upgrading of Complete SCADA SystemDescription: The scope of work includes upgrading of complete SCADA system, communication system & communication Cable in RQWTS Lines A & B.Bond: N/ATender fee: 5000.00 SAR Closes: Jan 3, 2010Contact: www.swcc.gov.sa

WATER INTAKE AND OUTFALL SYSTEM PACKAGE IN DUBAIDEWA has issued a tender for a water intake and outfall system package at the Hassyan Power and Desalination Station. The scope of work includes construction of water intake channel (onshore and offshore sections), outfall System comprising and outfall chamber means of transporting the discharge offshore, boat house anf boat lifting facilities, and ancillary works, including roads and associated lighting.The tender number is CNE/0114/2008(R) and there is a tender fee of 5000 AED. This tender closes on January 25, 2010.Contact: The Chairman, Board of Directors, Dubai Electricity & Water Authority

KEY CONTRACT

QUICK Q&A


What work have you car-ried out on the GCC intercon-nection grid? We’ve built six main substations for the GCC grid – three in Saudi Arabia, and one each in Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar. We are also the electrical package supplier for the seven substations at Shuwaihat in the United Arab Emirates.

How will trading on the interconnection grid work? The peak demand period for all GCC countries occurs at around the same time. But the plan is to connect Saudi Arabia with Egypt and then eventu-ally with Europe. It’s at that stage that we will start to benefi t from the time difference and the change in peak demand. The idea here is to reduce the spinning reserve of each country and increase the stability of the grid, so each country can view the spin-ning reserve of other countries as being available to them. The trade in power will be calculated so that half of the capacity of the largest generat-ing plant in each country will become available to its neighbours.

How has ABB assisted with the construction of the Kingdom’s railway projects?Our role for the railway has two parts. The fi rst part is the main

power supply to the electrical rail-way. For the Haramain link, this will be through six 380kV substa-tions – the locations of which have already been defi ned by SEC, and which will be fi nanced by the rail-way authority. The other part is the traction system - one of our competencies - which will be 25kV. So we’re working on two projects simultaneously which requires expert coordination.

Can you provide some details about your latest con-tract win? We’ve just won the power supply contract to the prestigious Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman Univer-sity on the outskirts of Riyadh. This US$120 million deal consists of one 380kV substation, two 132kV sub-stations and expansion work at an existing substation. The delivery period is 20 months, so it’s a rush project, but we’re very excited about this prestigious deal.

How do you see the utili-ties market in KSA developing in the future? We are expecting that the boom of 2007-8 will be repeated in Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom is an emerg-ing market with a lot of demand and plenty of opportunity not only in new installations but in upgrad-ing and increasing effi ciency and availability in existing plants.

How are your relation-ships with other Saudi utilities? In Yanbu and Jubail, we have a lot of existing installations and we have excellent relationships with those utilities as well. We have also won a package from Sepco 3 for power transmission substations. For SWCC, normally we partic-ipate via large EPC contracts as a supplier or as a partner. We are already working with Ma’aden, and we’re looking forward to con-tributing to the Ras Al Zour EPC

“We’ve built six main substations for the GCC interconnection grid in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar”

project. On the distribution side, a lot our products are locally man-ufactured. Outside of KSA, in the rest of the GCC, we also enjoy excellent relations with our sup-pliers. We have the largest manu-facturing facility in the region for transformers, switchgears, and automation systems. For example all the switchgears and panels in Burj Dubai are made by ABB.

Will Saudi Arabia win the battle to keep up with demand in the long run?Absolutely. ABB is a long-term player and we’re constantly work-ing to be ahead of the market to achieve success. The power sector is vital to this country, and what-ever investment there may be in terms of infrastructure and invest-ment, if there is no power supply for those projects then it’s a waste of time. But it’s not just about win-ning the big contracts; we are active when it comes to providing services related to our solutions portfolio. We are planning to sign some large service contracts with industrial clients and we are also active with regard to system effi -ciencies and improvement. There is no project that is too big or too small and we are here to fulfi l the requirements of all our customers.

ABB’s president and local business unit manager for substations in Saudi Arabia, Mohammed Samkari, talks about his firm’s latest projects

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