Energy Digital March 2018

Ma rch 2018

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UNCOVERING ONE OF SOUTH AMERICA’S LARGEST UNTAPPED OIL RESERVES Suriname’s state oil company Staatsolie is set to strike black gold

TOP 10

TECHNOLOGY

SUSTAINABILITY

Sustainable cities for transport

Using blockchain to share sustainable energy

Hitachi and the future of energy storage

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The region’s leading international trade event for the power industry

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FOREWORD HELLO AND WELCOME to the March edition of Energy Digital magazine. The Guyana-Suriname Basin is home to a wealth of untapped oil. Numerous surveys have identified it as one of the largest unexplored basins in the world, and Staatsolie Maatschappij Suriname N.V looks to set to unlock this potential. Our cover story this month features an interview with the company’s Managing Director and CEO Rudolf Elias, who discusses how this could be the answer to Suriname’s long-term energy needs.

Elsewhere, we look at the race to develop the first commercial electric aircraft. How close are manufacturers to making this happen, and what technical challenges still need to be overcome?

Dan Brightmore asks numerous executives these key questions.

Carbon capture and battery storage are two other themes explored in our respective smart cities and sustainability features, while March’s top 10 looks at the most sustainable cities around the world.

We round off with an exclusive interview with T5 Data Centers Facilities Management. Mike Casey, the firm’s President, details how it provides 100% uptime to businesses in an array of sectors, including energy clients.

We sincerely hope you enjoy the issue, and as always, please tweet your feedback to @energydigital

Enjoy the issue! www.energydigital.com www.bizclikmedia.com

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USING BLOCKCHAIN TO SHARE SUSTAINABLE ENERGY ENERGY 4.0 SMART CITIES

SMART CITIES AND THE FUTURE OF CARBON CAPTURE

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S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

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Hitachi and the future of energy storage

T R A N S P O R TAT I O N

TOP 10

ELECTRIC DREAMS?

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Events

SUSTAINABLE CITIES FOR TRANSPORT

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C O M PA N Y P R O F I L ES Staatsolie Maatschappij Suriname N.V ENERGY

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T5 Data Centers Facilities Management USA

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Coopesantos LATIN AMERICA

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Aggreko AFRICA

ENERGY 4.0

USING BLOCKCHAIN TO SHARE SUSTAINABLE ENERGY Energy Digital speaks to Giel Mertens, Consultant at Bax & Company, about the firm’s partnership with Enervalis to introduce an energy-trading system in the Netherlands which could slash energy cost as well as waste

Written by SOPHIE CHAPMAN

ENERGY 4.0

“THERE ARE A number of reasons why innovative ideas or project concepts are, in the end, not succeeding or are not considered a success in terms of current volatile markets,” explains Giel Mertens, Consultant at Bax & Company. “One of our core values is to bring these projects alive and bring these projects to market.”

That’s exactly what Spanish consultancy company Bax & Company is doing in the Netherlands. As the government 12

March 2018

bylaw constrains households from selling surplus energy back to the grid, a small town is introduced to a new way of managing energy.

Eemnes, a small municipality with a strong interest in sustainability and an already high rate of personal-use solar panels, is the first place in Europe to test a peer-to-peer energy trading system. The pilot uses blockchain software as a catalyst, which has been developed by Belgian tech provider Enervalis in partnership with Bax & Company. The latter considers

“The municipality of Eemnes is really invested in innovation and sustainability, and due to its smaller size, these kinds of innovative projects are able to happen” – Giel Mertens, Consultant, Bax & Company

its role as the accumulator and accelerator of innovative projects like this one, supporting clients within science and technology industries by enabling strategies that will bring their ideas to market.

The $1.86mn (€1.5mn) project uses blockchain technology to create a connected understanding of mutual consumption and surplus energy. The system can localise energy usage through a smart grid, enabling local households and business to become ‘prosumers’. Also, due to the nature

of blockchain software, all data from the municipality is safe and secure.

Due to legislative issues, Enervalis had not yet succeeded in passing the concept stage of its peer-topeer proposal. Once connected with Bax & Company, however, the Belgian firm liaised with the appropriate housing providers and partners – the municipality of Eemnes, energy cooperation Eemnes Energie, housing provider De Alliantie, and the province of Utrecht – to finally begin the project.

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ENERGY 4.0

About Giel Mertens Mertens is an innovation consultant at Bax & Company in Barcelona. His work is focused on developing projects where renewable energy generation is combined with greater efficiency.

This includes developing new business models within the energy market towards a peer-to-peer network, rather than a typical, centralised, fossil fuel energy production model.

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“We enabled a strategy, and once we had tackled the legal issues we got project partners on board and attracted funds,” Mertens explains.

The Netherlands became the prime location for this new and experimental project, as it was one of few places in the world that would legally allow it. As far as Mertens is aware, the only other locations actively practicing this kind of energy trading are Auckland, New Zealand, and New York City, US. One of Enervalis’ greatest challenges was receiving approval from European governments, which Bax & Company was able to obtain within the Dutch legal system. It took two months in total to understand the legal framework in which the system could work and four months to apply for an exemption of the current electricity law, followed by a two-month review period for the government to make its decision of approval. Once the exemption was approved, the project then needed a more specific settlement.

“There were two reasons why we chose Eemnes,” says Mertens. “The first reason was that the housing association we found willing to support this project had dwellings

114.9

Tonnes of CO2 saved per year per 250 participants

in this particular region. The second reason was that the municipality of Eemnes is really invested in innovation and sustainability, and due to its smaller size, these kinds of innovative projects are able to happen.

Finally, the town is also practically located for this project. It’s quite geographically isolated, and dwellings are connected to the same electricity network level which is a requirement for an exemption approval.”

Mertens explains that the main challenge involved with unconventional projects like this one centres on the politics surrounding 15

“As we started with 100 or 150 participants, within the next 10 years we aim to hit approximately 4,000” – Giel Mertens, Consultant, Bax & Company

them. The larger and more urban an environment, the more politics and stages to break through, making it impossible for the operation to be successful in a larger city. Eemnes’ pastoral positioning also creates greater opportunity for internal growth.

“There are two ways for this project to expand. The first option is internal expansion within the project itself, within the municipality of Eemnes. As we started with 100 or 150 participants, within the next 10 years we aim to hit approximately 4,000. In terms of external expansion, we are looking to start a similar 16

March 2018

project in a city called Amersfoort, but that is still in early stages.”

When Bax & Company applied for the exemption on the Dutch electricity law to work on the Eemnes project, it simultaneously applied and won approval to work in Amersfoort.

The firm is now in the stages of building partnerships and attracting funding for its second project, which will be modelled after Eemnes. The first location is acting as a pilot, allowing the company to utilise the information it has acquired in a year’s time – once the results are published – to inform

ENERGY 4.0 its decision-making in the second Dutch settlement. Bax & Company will track how consumer behaviour and energy bills have changed in Eemnes, and apply its findings to Amersfoort in the first quarter of 2019.

Bax & Company hopes that the installation of its next peer-topeer project will be more efficient, following the experience acquired by both the company and the Dutch government. The energy trading scheme struggled during its initial phases as governments had never

4,000 Target number of participants in Eemnes by 2027

previously dealt with the blockchain technology on such a large scale. The firms also encountered difficulty in engaging with partners and investors due to a lack of understanding about how the technology would practically operate for households.

“Establishing and setting up the project was a huge challenge.

The whole environment, and the current energy infrastructure, is not designed for this,” Mertens remarks.

How does the blockchain-based project optimise both energy and cost efficiency? “The peer-topeer energy market uses a piece of software installed into the smart metres of a dwelling or company that will register consumer behaviour and how much energy is being produced by renewable projects, just as a regular smart metre does,” Mertens explains. “However, this one connects with all the smart metres in different dwellings, and the connectivity allows the dwellings to know how much energy each of them are producing.

Through this, they can optimise the energy supply and demand.”

This becomes an efficient way for communities to share excess energy 17

ENERGY 4.0

“Bax & Company will track how consumer behaviour and energy bills have changed in Eemnes, and apply its findings to Amersfoort in the first quarter of 2019” – Giel Mertens, Consultant, Bax & Company

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for an agreed price, which ultimately aims to further encourage the use of renewables and reduction of waste, as well as providing a solution for those who will suffer from the potential Dutch legislation. The company has also forecasted that the use of blockchain and trading will bring down the prices of energy in Eemnes by between 5% and 10%, due to how efficiently energy is used, highlighting the economic value of such innovation.

“Currently surplus energy is sold back to the energy company for a fair price, as regulated by law. It is likely that the government will enforce policy regulation that will change that rule, which might make it less beneficial to sell back energy. Why would you have solar panels on your roof if you could not sell back surplus energy for

a fair price? The peer-to-peer project, then, improves the business case to invest in renewables. In the long run, this endeavour should make the use of renewable energy more effective, and therefore increase its use.�

Whether the motivation to employ an energy trading network is environmental, economic or both, it is clear that companies are keen.

According to Mertens, it has been noted that many energy companies and network providers have featured

suitable infrastructure in their applications for 2050 that will allow for such peer-to-peer trading to be installed efficiently. With environmental and infrastructural upgrades, the turnaround time for altering how an entire community consumes its energy could significantly drop, leaving less than a year between each project. This is a foreseeable goal for Bax & Company, which believes that this innovation “will be the energy market of the future�

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OIL & GAS

INFRASTRU

UCTURE

POWER

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

SMART CITIES

SMART CITIES AND THE FUTURE OF CARBON CAPTURE

A look at the innovations around carbon capture, its environmental impact and the businesses exploring its commercial potential‌ Written by MARK SPENCE

SMART CITIES THE UK DEPARTMENT for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) offers a broad definition of a smart city. According to BIS, it considers the concept a ‘process’ rather than a static outcome, where increased citizen engagement, hard infrastructure, social capital and digital technologies make cities more liveable, resilient and better able to respond to challenges. These challenges include environmental issues and how technology and innovation will lead to a better quality of life and a reduction in energy consumption within cities.

The effective management of energy production, distribution and consumption is one of the major hurdles facing cities of the future – particularly in the face of increased urbanisation. It’s thought that cities represent three quarters of energy consumption and 80% of CO2 emissions worldwide. They also house half the world’s population, a figure set to rise to 75% by 2050. Clearly that brings with it a number of potential environmental problems such as CO2 emissions.

Dealing with CO2 Many cities have industrial hubs that 24

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generate significant CO2 emissions and pollute the urban environment, and locating somewhere to house these emissions is extremely important for smart cities of the future.

But there are businesses and projects out there trying to confront the issues that cities will have to deal with and more specifically, as far as carbon capture is concerned, how we can reverse engineer the presence of CO2 from ambient air.

An example of one such project was that undertaken by a team from the University of Amsterdam and the Vrije Universiteit. As part of the iGEM 2017 initiative set up by MIT in Boston, this group looked into reimagining the way we look at C02.

The way most of us recognise CO2 is as a pollutant that harms urban environments – but what if that pollutant could be captured, stored, and then used as a resource to synthesise chemical building blocks? The team called this idea Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU).

They looked at using CO2 as a viable resource and an alternative to oil by employing cyanobacteria to take up CO2 from the atmosphere before directly turning it into the valuable chemical fumarate. Essentially a form

of photosynthesis, the team claim this process is fast and efficient because no arable land is required. Fumarate is used to produce certain plastics, food additives and medicines, but is currently made from petroleum with its estimated global market size expected to go beyond $760mn by 2020.

The pioneers of carbon capture One of the leading lights in CO2 capture is Professor Klaus S. Lackner, director of the Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy at the Earth 25

SMART CITIES

“If you think of a dehumidifier, it takes water molecules from the air; our product does the same. But instead of taking water, we’re taking CO2” – Graciela Chichilnisky, CEO and Co-founder, Global Thermostat

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Institute, Columbia University.

Lackner has long maintained, and takes his inspiration from, the idea that tree leaves have already given us a successful natural prototype for capturing CO2 emissions.

Back in 2015 Lackner told Fast Company his calculations suggested the air capture device he was developing would be 1,000 times more effective than a single tree.

“There’s no question it works,” he said.

“Whether you can do it practically remains to be seen and proved.” This concept has been taken on since.

Recently, the World Economic Forum

and Scientific American named Harvard University chemist Dan Nocera’s artificial ‘leaf’ as one of the top emerging technologies of 2017.

A number of other scientists and entrepreneurs such as Catalytic Innovations, Opus 12, Carbonclean, Dioxide Materials and Bill Gates-backed Carbon Engineering are also working on technologies to make recycling carbon dioxide a profitable industry.

Carbon capture: Where are we now?

Swiss company Climeworks claims

it is the first company in the world to commercially capture CO2 from ambient air using its own specially designed technology, and recently opened its first commercial plant at the end of May last year. Located at a Climeworks facility near Zurich, developers say the plant will capture about 900 tonnes of CO2 annually – the equivalent level released from around 200 cars.

The plant sits on top of a waste heat recovery facility that powers the process. Fans push air through a filter system that collects CO2.

When the filter is saturated, the CO2 27

SMART CITIES

‘Swiss company Climeworks claims it is the first company in the world to commercially capture CO2 from ambient air’

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is separated. The gas is then sent through an underground pipeline to a greenhouse to help grow vegetables.

However, according to co-founder Jan Wurzbacher, the collected CO2 can also be used elsewhere commercially. “Once captured, this CO2 can then be sold on the merchant market for the food and beverage industry and can be used for the production of synthetic renewable fuels and materials,” he said.

Speaking to sciencemag.org last year, Christoph Gebald, Co-founder and Managing Director of Climeworks, said: “Highly scalable negative emission technologies are crucial if we are to stay below the two-degree target [for global temperature rise] of the international community.”

Climeworks is not alone in combatting and finding new uses for CO2.

Global Thermostat Silicon Valley-based Global Thermostat has been making waves on the carbon capture front since 2010. Their power plant quite literally reverses the process of carbon production by sucking

CO2 out of the air and then turning it into useful products for use in plastics and synthetic fuels.

Speaking to Forbes, Global Thermostat CEO and Co-founder, Graciela Chichilnisky said: “If you think of a dehumidifier, it takes water molecules from the air; our product does the same.

But instead of taking water, we’re taking CO2. It’s a power plant that cleans the atmosphere. We call it (the process) ‘carbon negative’.”

While not everyone is sold on the idea of ambient air carbon capture, Chichilnisky said: “Our technology is very, very low cost. We don’t use electricity. We use low temperature heat and we can produce CO2 in any amount practically.”

Making CO2 a commercially viable product is certainly one half of the discussion, but the other is surely around the positive impact these innovations could have on the environment, and therefore, cities of the future. This is something that Global Thermostat’s Chichilnisky has considered: “We are writing the future because we are changing the use of energy.”

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Hitachi and the future of energy storage We hear from Ram Ramachander, Chief Digital Officer & Chief Commercial Officer for Social Innovation Business, at Hitachi Europe Ltd about how it is aiming to deliver future-focused battery storage solutions‌ Writ ten by DAN BRIGHTMORE

S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y MAINTAINING A STABLE supply of high-quality electricity is becoming a greater global challenge as larger amounts of renewable energy are introduced to the power grid. Highquality electricity, both stable in voltage and frequency, is essential as a power source and the demand for new energy storage systems to overcome this challenge is rising.

Ram Ramachander, Chief Digital Officer & Chief Commercial Officer for Social Innovation Business at Hitachi Europe Ltd, highlights the efforts of the Japanese tech giant to develop new battery storage solutions, the expansion of smart metering and electric mobility initiatives, and considers what the future for energy holds…

Technological advances are empowering consumers to become ‘prosumers’

“Connectivity, and access to unprecedented amounts of data, is revolutionising many industries, and energy is no exception.

Digitalisation is transforming the way we generate, distribute and manage energy. Artificial intelligence and machine learning enable predictive maintenance across entire energy networks, whilst battery storage technology is allowing renewable energy to be integrated. In our homes, smart meters are being installed and electric vehicles are being purchased.

Together, these advancements are democratising energy, empowering consumers to become ‘prosumers’ - people who both produce and consume energy. With such constant change, where will the next development happen? These issues, and many more, are explored in a recent white paper created by Hitachi in partnership with Frost and Sullivan.

The research highlighted three areas where innovation is happening at a rapid rate: the boom in battery storage, the expansion of smart metering and the age of electric mobility.”

The boom in battery storage “Battery energy storage holds the

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“Battery energy storage holds the key to the successful integration of renewable energy to the grid” –R am Ramachander, Chief Digital Officer & Chief Commercial Officer for Social Innovation Business, at Hitachi Europe Ltd

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“By 2025, we can expect residential storage to be an integrated and essential component of all renewable energy projects” –R am Ramachander, Chief Digital Officer & Chief Commercial Officer for Social Innovation Business, at Hitachi Europe Ltd

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S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y key to the successful integration of renewable energy to the grid. The ability to store energy provides smoothing, congestion management and frequency regulation, all vital for effective integration. These advancements are predicated on the development of battery technology.

New lithium-ion chemistries extend product lives, storage capacities and slim form factors, and advanced battery management systems are maximising cost savings through tariff price point tracking and arbitrage services. “In the future, once up-front cost is reduced, prosumers who install their own energy storage systems will see significant cost saving, and the ability to generate income by selling back to grid via cloud-based communities. These communities will be accessed not only from homes, but also from electric vehicles (EVs), allowing cheap and green charging from charge points along the grid. Blockchain technology is currently being used in pilot projects to provide the trust layers needed for peer-topeer energy transactions over the internet for consumers with installed and connected solar panels, energy storage and EVs. “Why is battery storage so important to the future energy roadmap? It serves a dual purpose.

Firstly, it facilitates the integration of intermittent renewable energy sources, whilst simultaneously opening the door to generating income for prosumers. The dual purpose of battery storage is driving mass-market adoption of residential 35

Video: CrystEna: Energy for the Future - Hitachi storage beyond 2020. By 2025, we can expect residential storage to be an integrated and essential component of all renewable energy projects.�

The expansion of smart metering “Smart meters are one of the building blocks of the smart grid and digital energy due to the huge amount of data they generate. As growing numbers of users connect via smart meters, the volume of data available to the system increases. The importance of smart meters lies in their simplicity.

Compared to battery storage and EVs they have a low barrier to entry (up-front cost is often covered by the energy provider), meaning they have 36

March 2018

the potential to have the fastest impact on the average consumer. In Europe, where there is strong regulation from the EU on smart meter installation, countries such as Sweden, Italy and Finland have already reached close to 100% penetration of smart electricity meters and are seeing the benefits in terms of customer engagement and active energy management initiatives. “With so many more smart meters installed, the door is opened to digital retail services such as tariff optimisation, customer engagement and IoT (Internet of Things) technology.

Of these benefits, IoT technology is potentially the most exciting: smart meters provide the gateway

S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

The value of smart energy infrastructure could reach $1.5trn annually by

2025 into services at a consumption level, such as demand response, remote building control, home energy management and energy optimisation for commercial and industrial customers. The opportunity for creating efficiencies is vast.�

The age of electric mobility “The electrification of mobility is a transformational trend in the energy industry. Growth in EV adoption is accelerating rapidly and 2017 will be the first year to see sales of more than a million vehicles globally. The automotive industry, which is inherently customer-centric and fast paced, is embracing the

change by investing in R&D and aggressively marketing EVs. This, coupled with government targets to ban combustion engines, is driving market momentum. “The merging of e-mobility and energy is clear. There will be opportunities to address charging infrastructure and grid balancing, as well as the deployment of millions of EVs creating a network of distributed energy storage points. The integration of EVs, solar PV generation and home energy storage is driving the emergence of vehicle-to-home (V2H) concepts. V2H solutions maximise 37

S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y energy efficiency and cost savings for an EV owner, as energy will be drained from grid at low price times, stored in the vehicle, and released back to the grid at peak times, creating income.

Beyond 2020, aggregation and trade of excess storage capacity from EVs for grid services will extend beyond the home and into commercial facilities and public charging infrastructure.

Once the ability to utilise your EV as a means of income generation is realised on a mass scale – mitigating the challenge of high upfront costs – demand is predicted to rise to almost 20mn new vehicles per year by 2025.”

What does the future for energy look like?

“These three areas represent just some of the hottest innovation opportunities in digital energy. It is predicted that the value of smart energy infrastructure could be an incredible $1.5trn annually by 2025 in terms of the market opportunity and benefits to businesses, customers and society. Acting to make the way we live more sustainable is no longer a choice – there is a real impetus to use developments in smart technology to maximise the 38

March 2018

opportunities of renewable energy.

The momentum and opportunities behind the digital transformation of energy is huge, and governments, businesses and consumers must join the tide (and work together) or risk being left behind.”

The research on innovations in digital energy comes from a new whitepaper from Frost & Sullivan and Hitachi on Digital Energy: The Future of Energy and the Roadmap to Business Transformation.

“The momentum and opportunities behind the digital transformation of energy is huge, and governments, businesses and consumers must join the tide (and work together) or risk being left behind� –R am Ramachander, Chief Digital Officer & Chief Commercial Officer for Social Innovation Business, at Hitachi Europe Ltd

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ELECTRIC DREAMS? Energy Digital takes a look at the race to deliver the first commercial electric aircraft. Mark Cousin, SVP Flight Demonstrators CTO at Airbus, talks about the company’s collaboration with Rolls-Royce and Siemens Writ ten by DAN BRIGHTMORE

T R A N S P O R TAT I O N THE GREAT ELECTRIC air race is underway. European aviation heavyweight Airbus is collaborating with Rolls-Royce and Siemens, while budget airline easyJet has teamed up with California’s Wright Electric, with both partnerships targeting the introduction of electric energy storage.

Analysts agree the probability of purely electric shorthaul airliners in the next decade is realistic, but these will be relatively small aircraft carrying 15-20 passengers. Energy storage capacity will be too low to fly a full journey on a 100% electric flight, so we won’t see 100-passenger aircraft flying from London to Amsterdam in 10 years’ time. The airlines involved in this endeavour are starting to ask whether their future fleet will still consist of large 100-plus seat aircraft, or if they’ll have a fleet of smaller aircraft flying shorter routes on full electric.

“We could see a proliferation of smaller aircraft flying out of the less congested airports on relatively short one-hour routes,” suggest Mark Cousin, SVP Flight Demonstrators CTO at Airbus. “This would change the dynamics of air transport and pave the way for autonomous aircraft with no pilot on board, resulting in 42

March 2018

aviation costs falling dramatically, while maintenance for an electric aircraft will be much cheaper than for one powered by gas turbines.”

Cousin is at the forefront of the Airbus Demonstrators initiative.

The programme’s goal is to set an objective not achievable with today’s technologies to force the development of innovations – in this case, the future of hybrid electric propulsion. “In the next couple of years, we’ll see three major demonstrators,” reveals Cousin.

“The first is being developed by our colleagues in Silicon Valley – Vahana is a tilt wing single person urban air mobility vehicle. By the end of 2018 we expect the first flight of the City Airbus, a proof of concept of a fourseater air taxi. And we’re also due to announce the successor to our E-Fan, the E-Fan X. The only way we can learn what the issues will be, and how we can overcome them to improve our product, is by flying and testing.”

Cousin identifies four key challenges Airbus has chosen to focus on…

Energy Storage Density “Improvement in the power-to-weight ratio, or energy storage density, of batteries is required. Even when we

Dr Frank Anton head of Siemens eaircraft, Mark Cousin Airbus CTO and Paul Stein Rolls Royce CTO

“A hybrid electric aircraft will be heavier so improvements will be needed to boost overall efficiency when compared with today’s traditional aircraft” Mark Cousin, Airbus

take into account the favourable efficiency difference of electric motors versus gas turbines, the conversion of energy from kerosene to thrust is 50 times as high as the conversion we see with energy storage systems. That is going to limit how much energy you can carry and how far you can fly.”

Weight “The weight of hardware with new electric propulsion systems will be greater than traditional aircraft with electric motors and power electronics in the system adding to 43

T R A N S P O R TAT I O N the payload. A hybrid electric aircraft will be heavier so improvements will be needed to boost overall efficiency when compared with today’s traditional aircraft.”

Power transmission “We’re running a 2MW motor directly powering a turbo fan which will generate thrust, so in order to achieve efficiency in the megawatt class, you need to transmit the power at a very

high voltage. We’ll be transmitting power around the E-Fan X at 3,000 volts DC, yet the highest voltage on aircrafts flying today is 230 volts – it’s a big step. The challenge at 3,000 volts is what we call partial discharge. You get a corona effect.

Unless you put massive amounts of insulation around the cables, there is currant leakage from the transmission line to any conducting elements. At sea level in trains and

Electric propulsion: the future

by Airbus and Siemens

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Extra electric aircraft 330LE boats it’s not a big issue because air can be a good insulator, but at altitude the air is much thinner and that effect is less powerful. We need to establish the right levels of insulation on the wiring and the separations between cables and structure to control this difficult phenomenon.”

Efficiency “Today, high-powered electric motors are around 96% efficient, which means the other 4% is coming out as heat. We need to get those losses down to less than 1% in the motor and transmission systems. All of

these elements need to be addressed or the hybrid system will be less attractive compared to a traditional gas turbine because you can’t waste the energy you store and transmit.”

Tesla CEO Elon Musk states that once batteries are capable of producing 400 Watt-hours per kilogram, the potential for energy density to beat the weight problem and deliver pure electric transcontinental flight becomes ‘compelling’. Currently, it would be impossible to fly from London to Singapore with pure electric power because an aircraft would have to 45

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ELECTRIC AIRCRAFT TIMELINE 2018

A pivotal year for urban air mobility when Airbus will fly its alpha prototype of the City Airbus demonstrator to address associated risks and prove flight dynamics challenges can be overcome.

2022

We will see small fleets of experimental vehicles flying in a city environment. Not fully certified products but vehicles that are safe and will start testing the appetite for cities for this new type of transport.

2025

Urban air taxis will be in service.

2027

Pure electric one-hour flights will be in their infancy with 19 or 10 seat vehicles transporting passengers on short missions.

2030

Expect to see the first single aisle A320sized hybrid aircraft featuring a gas turbine with integrated electric energy storage.

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carry too much weight in battery to have any room for passengers. Until that goal is reached, Cousin believes larger, longer range aircraft will follow a hybrid model. “Initially we’ll see a large generator (2MW) installed between the thrust-producing fan and the gas turbine, and that motor/ generator will be used throughout flight to either inject or extract power depending on the phase of flight you’re in,” he predicts.

When taxiing along the runaway, planes could operate purely electrically and during take-off would use the energy storage as back up.

Then, if an engine failed during ascent, power could be injected into the other good engine to boost its thrustproducing capability. Gains could also be made at the top of a climb to deliver extra thrust to reach cruise altitude.

“We’re seeing efficiencies of over 50% which is as good as the best diesel engines,” adds Cousin.

“However, they are horribly inefficient when they’re operating in off-design points. For example, in descent when you’re idling the engine so it’s ready to give power within eight seconds if the pilot pushes the throttles forward – it’s burning a lot of fuel to produce

Lightning strike 47

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“Electric vehicles, by the nature of having very few moving parts, will be cheaper to maintain” Mark Cousin, Airbus

HAPS-Zephyr satellite

almost no thrust. We would hope to see the engine operated largely electrically in these types of descent phases, putting very little fuel into the engine, but still keeping it at a speed to deliver thrust via injection if needed. Big savings could come from that, especially on short range operations where a large portion of the flight is in descent (London to Paris would be 30%). In the first iteration aircraft will become hybridised.”

The hybrid model with electric energy storage could fill the gaps 48

March 2018

to allow a gas turbine to run at continual peak efficiency. It’s the sort of combination found in big ships, and even trains. The thermal engine will run at certain points in the journey, generating power at its peak efficiency. Once the power requirement drops, or the energy storage is full, the engine is shut down and the vehicle runs electrically, then when the battery’s down, the engine will start again. “It’s what you’re seeing with hybrid cars today,” notes Cousin.

“Running the engine at peak efficiency

then shutting it down to run electrically when the thermal efficiency of the engine would be low. For aircraft, it’s not a question of if, but when.”

Indeed, when Energy Digital spoke with Honeywell’s Mike Stewart, Aerospace VP for Advanced Tech, he confirmed Cousin’s vision: “Hybrid propulsion is already being supported

by Honeywell with its 1MW generator.

In fact, three 1MW generators are being used on Aurora’s LightningStrike demonstrator to exhibit the capabilities of hybrid-electric propulsion for

vertical take-off and landing.

“The most recent solar power plant to go online in the UAE is generating electricity at three cents per kwh, which is half of what you can achieve today by burning natural gas and a quarter of what we see from suppliers of nuclear power,” says Cousin. “If that trend of lower costs continues, you can see this form of transport becoming even cheaper.

The big advantage is that it’s very light on infrastructure. That might not make a difference in the UK, 49

T R A N S P O R TAT I O N which has substantial rail networks, but there is a belief amongst many of the players that in markets where the rail and road infrastructure do not exist, this approach could be a more efficient way of putting in place mass transport.”

With electric aircraft, the only requirement would be the building of relatively small aerodromes at either end of the journey corridor. “Electric vehicles, by the nature of having very few moving parts, will be cheaper to maintain,” argues Cousins.

Energy Digital also heard from Cyient’s Anand Parameswaran, Senior VP Aerospace & Defence, who noted “increasing pressure from the European Union to cut aviation pollution” as a factor in the likely acceleration of the adoption of new tech. “An effective hybrid solution would cut noise pollution as well as CO2, while airlines could slash one of their biggest and most unpredictable running costs in jet fuel, thus areas of focus for 2018 hybrid development are reducing the weight of batteries and the cooling equipment they require.”

The Airbus collaboration boasts the involvement of Siemens, one of the market leaders in terms of the design 50

March 2018

e-FanX 3D graphic and manufacture of large electric motors and power transmission systems. In 2016, it flew the largest lightweight electric motor to date – a 260kw motor on an aerobatic Extra 330LE plane. “We’re drawing on their expertise of lightweight high efficiency electric motors,” maintains Cousin. “We’re also leveraging the expertise of Rolls-Royce in the provision of highly efficient gas turbines for aviation, seafaring vessels and power plants where they operate in a mode of fixed power

“The most recent solar power plant to go online in the UAE is generating electricity at three cents per kwh, which is half of what you can achieve today by burning natural gas”

and peak efficiency. Airbus brings the knowledge on how to integrate these technologies into the airplane.

“Building is relatively easy. For example, in the air mobility, air taxi market we’re seeing more than 50 companies working on concepts, but I don’t believe any more than a handful of these will ever succeed in certifying vehicles as safe for flight in the urban environment.”

Mark Cousin, Airbus 51

TOP 10

TOP 10

SUSTAINABLE CITIES FOR TRANSPORT

Amidst the backdrop of rapid urbanisation, population growth and aging infrastructure, transport systems remain the beating heart of the modern metropolis. Arcadis’ 2017 Sustainable Cities Mobility Index has created a global index for the most pioneering cities for urban mobility.

Writ ten by SAM MUSGUIN -ROWE

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FRANKFURT Due to its trade route-friendly setting, Frankfurt is home to numerous major businesses in Europe, with 360,000 people heading there for work. It tops the chart for the ‘Planet’ sub-index, owing to its low air pollution, green spaces and promotion of low emission vehicles, electric cars and cycling.

Although motorised private transport still represents 80% of journeys, road traffic will fall due to a limit on parking spaces, a preference for tenants over commuters and a ‘Bike + Ride’ scheme.

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09

STOCKHOLM Renowned for its public transport – with more than 328mn riders every year – Stockholm ranked 11th for the metrics pertaining to the human impact of mobility systems. But it was within the ‘Planet’ sub-category that saw the Swedish capital prosper, placing fourth. With a plan to go fossil-fuel free by 2040, many cars and taxis regularly use biofuel made from sewage.

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08

SINGAPORE Braced for its population to swell to 6mn by 2030, the city-state’s government has pledged vast investment to improve mobility and connectivity. Among the plans are two new underground lines, a high-speed rail link between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, plus a new airport terminal and runway. A mighty 66% of journeys are already via public transport, yet the government seeks 75% by 2030.

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07

LONDON Boasting the world’s first underground railway network, underriver tunnel, international airport and orbital ring road, London has a track record for innovation. Today, 43% of journeys are completed using public transport, while developments such as HS2, Crossrail and the proposed Crossrail 2, seek to further increase capacity and connectivity for the global business hub.

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06

VIENNA Though it ranks sixth for its environmental factors, and ninth for its efficiency to grow and support businesses using its mobility system, Vienna will become the global headquarters for sustainable cities in March 2018, hosting the Urban Future conference. Thereafter, its 2020 tourism strategy seeks to make its 20 sq km of green spaces accessible within three minutes’ walk from anywhere in the city.

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05

PRAGUE With solid scores for its commuting travel time, economic opportunity, affordability of public transport and utilisation of the transport system, Prague placed second in the ‘Profit’ category. Yet the medieval-looking city is also embracing green technology.

Initiatives include mass-cycle rides, electric car hire and packaging-free ‘zero waste’ stores.

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04 SEOUL

More than half of total trips taken in Seoul are made by public transport.

Like its Asian neighbours Hong Kong, Tokyo and Beijing, it’s the sheer reliability, paired with its comprehensive coverage, that sees its citizens shun private vehicles.

Of course, the metro system’s TV screens, Wi-Fi and heated seats, likely help matters.

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03 PARIS

Among the first cities on Earth to pioneer a bike-sharing scheme, and convert a highway for walking and exercise, Paris is famed for its aggressive commitment to make its city pedestrian-friendly. While it has always encouraged public transport, its Grand Paris Express investment, tram line extensions and dedicated bus lanes will be transformative for Parisians.

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02

ZURICH In 2012, Switzerland’s largest city ensured it was future-proofed with its ‘Strategien Zurich 2025’ framework.

Additional lines are being added to its Züricher Verkehrsbetriebe network, more train and tram lines are to come, whereas a switch from diesel buses to electrified trolleybuses will help safeguard the environment. Most excitingly, an underground logistics network – Cargo Sous Terrain – will transport goods via tunnels, using automation.

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01

HONG KONG Beating a bevy of European locations, Hong Kong tops the rankings. Some 12.6mn passenger journeys take place across its transport system daily, and its Mass Transit Railway is long lauded for its efficiency. Add an international airport operating at 99% capacity – with a third runway incoming – and Hong Kong’s world class mobility, plus the socioeconomic prosperity it brings to natives and tourists alike, makes it a worthy winner.

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E V E N T S & A S S O C I AT I O N S

Events The biggest and best events and conferences from around the world‌ Writ te n by A N D R E W WOO DS

E V E N T S & A S S O C I AT I O N S

Middle East Electricity 2018 Dubai World Trade Centre, UAE 6-8 March

Middle East Electricity is the largest meeting place for energy industry professionals from over 100 countries worldwide, involved in sourcing, installing or purchasing products/services for the power, lighting, renewable or nuclear sectors. ‘Put your company at the forefront of this rapidly developing market and expose your brand to over 20,000 senior-level decision makers.’ With its carefully focused profile and highly targeted audience, Middle East Electricity allows you to direct your sales and marketing effort accurately and cost-effectively. www.middleeastelectricity.com

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Video: Middle East Electricity Promo Video 2018

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BI Q RE ZCL UO TE I C DI EIV CK 15 SC E O A 1 TO UN 5 T* %

April 9-11, 2018 | Houston, Texas

Optimizing Safety, Sustainability and Productivity to drive Business Performance Excellence Over 40 industry-leading speakers will share how to:

➥ ➥ ➥ ➥ ➥ ➥

Understand the impact of Human Factors on creating a High Reliability Organization Identify waste, reduce downtime and lower costs during STOs Improve your OMS to better identify – and eliminate - sources of risk and value loss in your operations Increase operational visibility by optimizing data and information management - to minimize unplanned events Detect whether your work environments, systems and processes are increasing the likelihood of a risk occurring Maximize yield, improve efficiency and enhance safety performance across your plants

Michiel Van Noort Global Head of Continuous Improvement Downstream Royal Dutch Shell

Nev Lockwood Global Operational Excellence Director Albemarie

John Quigley Director Operational Reliability Valero

Hugo Ashkar Global Risk Manager BP

Matt DiGeronimo Vice President Operations Veolia

Patrick Wallior Sr. Director Health & Safety Univar

Manny Ehrlich Board Member U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board

Anchal Liddar Director New Programmes and Operational Excellence American Petroleum Institute

Wendy Schram

Camille Peres Assistant Professor Environmental and Occupational Health Texas A&M University

Chad Broussard Director of Reliability Phillips 66

Jim Wetherbee Astronaut and Author Controlling Risk: 30 Techniques for Operating Excellence

Operational Excellence Improvement Specialist Global Expert Partner for Procedure Management

Dow Chemical

Download the 2018 agenda *Available to In House Industry Professionals on standard rates only.

opexinrefiningandpetrochem.iqpc.com • enquire@iqpc.co.uk • 1 705.707.1301

SEPA Utility Conference Rancho Mirage, CA, USA 23-25 April

This isn’t a trade show as such, but an event where ‘utilities go to share with other utilities on how they get things done in a confidential, intimate environment’. From issues like how to speed up your solar interconnection queues or how to best determine the locational value of your DER assets, there’s a utility expert at this conference who has the answer. www.sepapower.org

E V E N T S & A S S O C I AT I O N S

ASEAN Sustainable Energy Week (ASE) BITEC, Bangkok, Thailand 6-9 June

This massive show expects 27,000 visitors, over 1,500 brands and over 80 seminars tackling renewable energy sources and the latest technology in this area. Wind and solar power are among the many systems and programmes featured and discussed along with thermal and waste-to-energy, hydro-powered programs, biomass and other green technology. Renewable energy and energy efficiency clinics staffed by experts are also conducted at the show. www.renewableenergy-asia.com/AbouttheShow

Intersolar Europe 2018 Messe München, Munich, Germany 20-22 June

Intersolar Europe is the world’s leading exhibition for the solar industry and its partners and takes place annually at the Messe München exhibition center in Munich, Germany. The event’s exhi­ bition and conference both focus on the areas of photovoltaics, solar thermal technologies, solar plants, as well as grid infrastructure and solutions for the integration of renewable energy. Since being founded 26 years ago, Intersolar has become the most important industry platform for manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, service providers and partners of the solar industry. www.intersolar.de/en/home.html

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Ees North America 2018

Moscone Center, San Francisco, CA, United States 10-12 July Celebrating its 10th anniversary, Ees will welcome hundreds of 530 exhibitors and 15,000-plus trade visitors. The conference features 40 sessions and 25 workshops with more than 200 speakers. With over 20 years of experience, Intersolar brings together members of the solar industry from across the world’s most influential markets. Intersolar exhibitions and conferences are also held in Munich, San Francisco, Mumbai, Beijing and São Paulo. www.ees-northamerica.com 74

March 2018

POWER-GEN & DistribuTECH Africa

Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa 17-19 July With 3,000 attendees, 100-plus speakers and 70-plus exhibitors, POWER-GEN is Africa’s premier electricity industry forum that brings together international business leaders and technical experts committed to powering up a continent. www.powergenafrica.com

Video: POWER-GEN & DistribuTECH Africa 2017 at the Sandton Convention Centre

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E V E N T S & A S S O C I AT I O N S

In conjunction with :

Silver Sponsor:

Strategic Partners:

City of the Future

Future Cities Partner:

Knowledge Partners:

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Smart City Report Partner:

Happiness Advisory Partner:

Supporting Partners:

Intersolar South America 2018 Expo Center Norte, José Bernardo Pinto St, 333, São Paulo, Brazi 28-30 August

With 11,500-plus visitors, 1,500-plus conference attendees and 180 exhibitors, Intersolar has become the most important platform for manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, service providers, investors and partners of the solar industry. Intersolar South America takes place at the Expo Center Norte in São Paulo, Brazil, and has a focus on the areas of photovoltaics, PV production technologies, energy storage and solar thermal technologies www.intersolar.net.br

Offshore Wind Executive Summit Norris Conference Centers, Houston, TX, USA 13-14 September

Bringing together decision makers from wind and offshore oil and gas, both from the US and Europe, the Offshore Wind Executive Summit provides the forum to establish new business relationships. Discussion points include project development, important policy issues and supply chain. www.offshorewindsummit.com

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Asia Power Week

ICE, BSD City, Jakarta, Indonesia 18-20 September 2016 saw Asia Power Week take place outside of the ASEAN region, and also for the first time in South Korea, at KINTEX, Gyeonggi-do. For the second year in succession event attendance records were broken, with over 8,300 delegates and visitors attending the three co-located events. The event attendance record was then further broken in 2017 in Thailand, for the ninth staging in Bangkok. This year, for the first time Asia Power Week will take place in Indonesia at ICE, in BSD City, Jakarta. www.asiapowerweek.com

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Video: Asia Power Week 2017 Highlights

Video: Register for the Intersolar AWARD and ees AWARD by March 23, 2018!

Intersolar India

Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai 11-15 December With events spanning four continents, Intersolar is the world’s leading exhibition for the solar industry and its partners.

‘Our objective is to increase the share of solar power in the energy supply. By providing first-rate services, our exhibitions and international conferences bring businesses, technologies and people from the most important markets around the globe together. We have 25 years of experiences in opening up markets, providing specialist knowledge and creating links’ www.intersolar.in/en/home.html 79

UNCOVERING ONE OF SOUTH AMERICA’S LARGEST UNTAPPED OIL RESERVES Written by Laura Mullan Produced by Richard Deane

S TA AT S O L I E M A AT S C H A P P I J S U R I N A M E N . V

WITH ONE OF THE LARGEST UNTAPPED OIL RESERVES IN SOUTH AMERICA, SURINAME’S STATE OIL COMPANY, STAATSOLIE MAATSCHAPPIJ SURINAME N.V IS SET TO STRIKE BIG

I

n a world that’s craving more and more energy, oil is often described as ‘liquid gold’.

But as depletion of the resource becomes an ever-closer reality, energy firms across the globe are scrambling for one thing: to strike the next big oil reserve.

It may seem like a one-in-a-million occurrence, but this bright future is in the close grasp of Staatsolie Maatschappij Suriname N.V. “It’s not a question of whether we will find oil offshore, it’s a question of when,” says Rudolf Elias, Managing Director and CEO. “Chances of success are greater than 50% and I don’t have any doubts – we are making ourselves ready for such an oil find.”

Staatsolie has seen roaring success in the past 37 years, producing over 109mn barrels of crude oil

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from the onshore Paleocene and Eocene reservoirs in Suriname.

Yet, offshore Suriname is virtually unexplored. Now, after finding a promising prospective oil reserve in the Guyana-Suriname Basin, the firm is preparing itself to hit big and, in doing so, it is set to become a major player in the oil industry.

The Guyana-Suriname Basin Located off the north-eastern coast of South America and encompassing the coastal area of French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana and the eastern part of Venezuela, the prospective sedimentary basin is an exciting chapter in the company’s 37-year history.

The United States Geological Survey has ranked it second in the world for prospectivity amongst

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The company’s leadership team

“IT’S NOT A QUESTION OF WHETHER WE WILL FIND OIL OFFSHORE, IT’S A QUESTION OF WHEN” Rudolf Elias, Managing Director & CEO

the world’s unexplored basins and 12th for oil among all the world’s basins explored and unexplored.

Offshore Guyana-Suriname might have one of the largest untapped oil reserves in South America.

The region has all the markers of a next major oil province and it seems that Staatsolie is set to play a major part in this oil-rich future.

However, Staatsolie doesn’t

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SHIP AGENCY, CARGO HANDLING AND OFFSHORE ONE-STOP SERVICE PROVIDER

VSH Shipping | VSH Logistics | VSH Agency Services ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

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VSH Shipping: sales@vshunited.com VSH Logistics: logistics@vshunited.com VSH Agency Services: ags@vshunited.com

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E: salesguy@vshunited.com

VSH Transport ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

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E: offshore@vshunited.com | transport@vshunited.com

VSH Labor Services

■ Specialized personnel & equipment

CARRIERS UNDER AGENCY AND/OR TERMINAL CONTRACT 84

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ENERGY

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underestimate the challenges that lie ahead and so it has established a thorough ‘strategy for success’ to assist it on this journey.

A thorough strategy for success “Through our ‘strategy for success’, we want to become a partner of choice for international oil companies (IOC’s) that want to invest in the offshore business,” explains Elias.

The meticulous strategy outlines how the company aims to refocus its upstream activities. For instance, as a market that has been characterised by oil price volatility, Staatsolie is aiming to become a company that is driven by cost as well as production.

To achieve this, the company is aiming to remain a first quartile oil producer, that is, a company producing within the lowest 25% of the cost curve.

But how will Staatsolie achieve such cost-saving measures?

“It’s been a complete culture change,” explains Elias. “We divided the whole organisation into assets where everyone is responsible for their own production and costs. Then,

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“CHANCES OF SUCCESS ARE GREATER THAN 50% AND I DON’T HAVE ANY DOUBTS – WE ARE MAKING OURSELVES READY FOR SUCH AN OIL FIND” Rudolf Elias, Managing Director & CEO

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Rudolf Theodoor Elias CEO/Managing Director of Staatsolie Maatschappij N.V.

EXECUTIVE BIO AFTER GRADUATING AS a Civil &

Construction Engineer from the Technological University Eindhoven in the Netherlands, Rudolf Elias started working for Ballast Nedam, an international civil engineering contracting company. He was stationed in various parts of the Caribbean, Suriname and Guyana, to carry out engineering and construction projects. He held

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several positions before he was made Project Manager/Director for the design and construction of Suriname’s largest bridges across the Coppename and the Suriname rivers.

Rudolf then joined BHP Billiton for five years as Vice President Development being responsible for the development of new mines and holding the position of Project Director Bakhuis Project. As Project Director

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Bakhuis Rudolf managed the concept study/pre-feasibility and feasibility study for the Bakhuis mine and rail and river transport, including a new import harbor and dredging of the Corantyn river. Rudolf started at the Staatsolie Maatschappij Suriname N.V. in April 2009 as the deputy director of Business Development. In 2011 he joined the Refinery Expansion Project (REP), one of Suriname’s largest projects ever, as Project Director REP. He managed this $1 bn oil refinery expansion project through construction, commissioning, and the achievement of full organizational readiness of the team to operate and manage the new refinery.

Rudolf held both the position as Project Director REP and Director Refining & Marketing since 2012 after which he was appointed Managing Director in May 2015. Rudolf is leading the Staatsolie Board of Executive Directors, responsible for strategic growth and the results of this fully integrated oil company.

Staatsolie produces about 6mn barrels of oil per year, while also

exploring the near and offshore prospects in the Guyana-Suriname Basin. The Staatsolie refinery has a capacity of 15.000 barrels per stream day, making high-end products like ultra low sulphur diesel and gasoline. Staatsolie’s subsidiary GOw2 holds a fuel market share of 25%. Staatsolie Power Company Suriname, yet another Staatsolie subsidiary, operates a powerplant covering about a third of the country’s electricity demand. A 20% investment in the Merian goldmine, operated

by Newmont, also contributes to increasing the shareholder’s value.

Rudolf has very strong leadership skills in board governance and new business development. Being an enthusiastic team player, he is driven to gain results with, and through others. He upholds a resultsoriented attitude, with a positive outlook and a clear focus on high quality and business profit.

Rudolf also serves as an advisor to the Surinamese government, particularly regarding the gold, energy and mining industries.

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IMPROVING RELIABILITY - Rotating equipment services - Field services - Procurement & logistics - Project engineering and packaging.

- Asset management pumps | valves | mechanical seals

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A DEEP BELIEF IN SURINAME’S FUTURE.

KOSMOS ENERGY IS PLEASED TO PLAY A PART IN SURINAME’S FUTURE SUCCESS.

A proven finder of large oil and gas resources, Kosmos has a strategy built on deep expertise and a record of remarkable success. We are excited to have a significant position offshore Suriname, with the opportunity to explore in an area with a proven potential for transformative hydrocarbon discovery. Since 2011, Kosmos has shared a history in Suriname, but it is Suriname’s future in oil and gas that we look forward to sharing in the years ahead.

Visit www.kosmosenergy.com

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based on that asset management principle, we put in an incentive system in place. That incentive system is not only based on cost and production; it also rewards individuals for their health, safety and environmental performance and that has been incredibly successful so far.”

People-first company This culture shift has meant that people are more responsible for their own actions and strive to truly uphold the company’s rich core values. By becoming a more peoplefocused company, Staatsolie has

AS A NET EXPORTER OF OIL, SURINAME IS AN ENERGY INDEPENDENT COMPANY, EXTRACTING ABOUT 120-130% OF WHAT THE SOUTH AMERICAN COUNTRY NEEDS

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A RESPONSIBLE OPERATOR WORKING WITH

STAATSOLIE TO DELIVER SUCCESS Tullow Suriname B.V. VSH United Building, Van’t Hogerhuysstraat 9-11, P.O. Box 1860, Paramaribo, Suriname.

Tel: +597 402 439 www.tullowoil.com

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audits. In doing so, the oil company hopes to prepare for partial privatisation through an initial public offering (IPO).

With over 26 years’ experience working for international names such as BHP Billiton, Elias has a wealth of industry knowhow. As a result, he recognises that to be successful, you need to have a concise, purposeful long-term vision.

“I think that we’ve gained a strong reputation in the industry because even though we are a national oil company (NOC) that does a lot for the community, we are still a purely commercial firm and think long term” observes Elias.

ensured that the right people are in the right roles at all times. At the end of the day, this has ensured that its workforce comes to work with a true sense of purpose and leaves with a sense of accomplishment.

What’s more, the integrated oil company has also optimised its downstream activities and overhauled its financial system through account

Staatsolie Vision 2030 This diligent planning is clearly evidenced by Staatsolie’s Vision 2030.

Gearing up for a sustainable energy future for Suriname, the detailed plan outlines Staatsolie’s aims: to develop Suriname’s hydrocarbon potential over the full value chain, to generate electricity, and to develop renewable sustainable energy resources. It also sets out to establish a solid

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THE GUYANA-SURINAME BASIN RANKS SECOND IN THE WORLD FOR PROSPECTIVITY AMONGST THE WORLD’S UNEXPLORED BASINS

position in the regional market and to expand its reputation globally Planning and preparation is a common thread which is interwoven throughout the company’s operations and, as a result, Staatsolie is diligently battening down the hatches to prepare for its next big oil find. Elias and his team are not spending huge amounts of capital or borrowing to prepare. Instead, they are strategically developing to become the partner of choice.

Although he is almost certain that oil will be found in the GuyanaSuriname basin, Elias is keen to

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maintain a realistic perspective.

Therefore, Staastsolie is also working diligently to maintain the company’s current production rate.

“We produce over 6mn barrels of oil on an annual basis and we’d like to sustain this production level for at least 30 or 35 years,” says Elias.

“The big question is, how can we extract more oil in an economical way in order to keep the momentum until 2050? That is the base strategy that we are following with our production department, our refinery, and our retail market – how can we sustain what we already have?”

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This sense of pragmatism not only applies to Staatsolie’s production.

It is also helping to redefine what the company’s key commodity could be in the future. Elias predicts that oil demand will peak between 2030 and 2040 before the volatile price will plummet. Thanks to the company’s cost-conscious approach, he is confident that Staatsolie will continue to thrive as a lowest cost quartile oil producer.

Exploring renewable energy Yet, the future of the oil sector is a murky one and so Staatsolie is

keen to tap into a new commodity – renewable energy.

“If you are in that low-cost quartile, you will be able to survive price volatility in the long term, but no matter how you see it, oil is an ending resource,” Elias says. “We should look beyond oil and what is it we are currently looking at? It’s renewables. When we have excess cash in the coming years, we would like to take a percentage of our capital expenditure, say 5-10%, and invest that in renewables.”

However, this is more than just a case of buying the resources and

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“THIS BIG OIL FIND WILL BE A GAME CHANGER FOR THE GOVERNMENT, FOR THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT, AND FOR THE PEOPLE OF SURINAME” Rudolf Elias, Managing Director & CEO

shifting the company’s focus. This is a long-term transition and so Staatsolie will not just be investing in the resources, it will also be investing in its people to make it a reality.

“If I take an oil man, give him some solar panels and ask him to manage it, I will make a loss,” explains Elias.

“This is because he is not prepared, he is not ready to manage renewables.

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We should invest in the renewables themselves, but we should also start preparing the minds of our people, especially our young people, to learn how to manage this new resource.”

A local company with a global reputation As a net exporter of oil, Suriname is an energy independent country,

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extracting about 120-130% of what the South American country needs. Staatsolie has made a name for itself in the region and this is no small part thanks to the company’s strong cultural values.

“One thing that Staatsolie has, that the IOC’s and the big mining companies don’t, is our rich set of core values,” Elias says. “Our workers trust

in their own abilities, and they also hold the company in their heart. Over the past few years, there has been a cultural change at the company. It has become a more professional, business-like environment. Our team would do anything in order to make the company better and more profitable, but that family culture is something that you don’t want to lose along the way.

“I firmly believe that the young people at Staatsolie will continue to carry on the vision we have at this moment,” he continues. “I believe they will run Staatsolie in the same enthusiastic way that they have been running their departments at the moment. I am very proud of the young people that work for us.”

Sustaining partnerships With the exploration of the GuyanaSuriname Basin on the horizon and a meticulous strategy for success in the pipeline, Staatsolie’s work ethic is unquestionable. However, Staatsolie recognises that it cannot deliver these impressive objectives on its

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own. Highly praising the company’s strategic partnerships, Elias says that its close relationships with IOC’s have been integral to its success.

“Suriname has a long history of respecting the agreements with IOC’s and this is perhaps one of our strongest assets,” he says. “It is also one of the reasons why we have been so successful in attracting all these IOC’s. We are working with big names in the mining space such as ExxonMobil, Kosmos, Petronas, Tullow and Statoil. All of these companies are working closely with us in order to search for oil offshore and this is because of our history of being fair towards them.

“They are of great importance to us,” he continues. “They have the necessary technology and experience to do deep sea drilling. Without them, we wouldn’t be able to find oil.”

Transforming the region With a proven petroleum system in place, a series of promising plays, and a significant amount of data, it seems Staatsolie is on a

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straight path to becoming one of the important names in the oil sector.

In doing so, Elias is confident that the big oil find will transform not only the future of the company, but it will also vastly help the people of Suriname.

“I think that we are slowly but surely making steps towards the Staatsolie Vision 2030. Our strategy for success is implemented and you can already feel the changes when you walk through the company.

When people ask me, ‘Where do you see Staatsolie and the country of Suriname 20 years from today?’

I say it will be a completely different country. All the nation’s 500,000 people will be prosperous and will develop other ways of making money than oil alone. This big oil find will be a game changer for the government, for the business environment, and for the people of Suriname.”

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STAATSOLIE PRODUCES 16,000 BARRELS OF OIL ON A DAILY BASIS OR 6MN BARRELS ON AN ANNUAL BASIS

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Costa Rica’s

clean energy revolution

As operations increase, Coopesantos is driving forward its bold ambition to be carbon neutral by 2021 Written by Mateo Rafael Tablado Produced by Lucy Verde Interviewee Patricio SolĂ­s, CEO for Coopesantos

COOPESANTOS

T

he electric energy sector in Costa Rica has certainly evolved by integrating the different population sectors to the country’s distribution networks. Since the 1960s, Coopesantos has been an important player in this industry and has also evolved through a 50year operation from being a power distribution company to a vital energy generator.

The partnerships established by Coopesantos throughout the years have successfully translated into more and better services for its users, such as cable TV and internet, and fibre optic connectivity since 2017 in select areas, offering these services to 50% of its power distribution network.

Coopesantos ventures into power generation have led the company to invest in renewable energy sources, being consistent with the Coopesantos philosophy, directed to benefit the co-op’s associates and the served communities.

Operating under such principles has resulted in outstanding benefits, especially for economies in Latin America, not least because Coopesantos service fees have not been raised once during the last four years.

In a bid to bring services to the largest amount of Costa Ricans possible, Coopesantos is the only company carrying broadband data transmission to a native reservation, benefitting the Quitirrisí community in the San José province.

“We strive to reach more communities. We are

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L AT I N A M E R I C A

“WE STRIVE TO REACH MORE COMMUNITIES. WE ARE FOCUSED ON SOCIAL ASPECTS AND OUR PEOPLE’S DEVELOPMENT AS WE SUSTAIN FINANCIAL STABILITY” – Mario Patricio Solís Solís,CEO for Coopesantos

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COOPESANTOS

COOPESANTOS R.L. ilumina la región con tecnología LED

focused on social aspects and our people’s development as we sustain financial stability,” states Mario Patricio Solís, CEO for Coopesantos.

Solís has taken on different positions in Coopesantos during the 12 years he’s been involved with the company: assistant to the CEO, CFO and VP, until becoming CEO in 2017. He majored in Economics at the University of Costa Rica; he also earned an MBA from the

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INCAE Business School (Central American Institute of Business Administration, in Costa Rica).

Energy generation powerhouse The larger part of electric power distributed via Coopesantos’ grid comes from three sources. The San Lorenzo and Sigifredo Solís hydroelectric centrals is a joint venture with three other cooperatives operating power grids, bringing

L AT I N A M E R I C A

electricity to rural communities. Both facilities generate a 41MW output combined. Coopesantos owns 18.06% (7.5MW) of total output.

Second is Los Santos Wind Farm.

This facility opened in 2011 and counts with 15 turbines, for a nameplate capacity of 12.75MW. Los Santos was certified as a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) by the United Nations Organization (UNO).

The final source is a new solar plant

in the company headquarters at San Marcos de Tarrazú, working since 2016 and a nameplate capacity of 100KW. Eighty new panels are to be deployed at San Marcos during 2018, and there are plans to install solar plants in the cooperative’s branches.

Only a third of the power supplying the Coopesantos grid is obtained from other sources, namely the Costa Rican Institute of Electricity (ICE).

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“EVERY EFFORT IS AIMED TO GENERATE INTERNAL EFFICIENCY TO MAKE BETTER USE OF OUR RESOURCES AND KEEP OUR FEES AS UNAFFECTED AS POSSIBLE” – Mario Patricio Solís Solís, CEO for Coopesantos

Suppliers and partnerships Besides power supplied by ICE, names such as Philips stand out in the supply chain at Coopesantos.

The Dutch multinational took part in the street light renovation project by converting every unit to LED bulbs, helping Coopesantos become the first power distribution company in Costa Rica bringing LED to its entire street light area.

“This project resulted in 60% savings from what our street light system demands,” Solís reveals.

Coopesantos performs internal evaluations on every supplier, assuring compliance with product quality and minimising impact on the environment in order for the cooperative to remain

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certified for environmental measures.

“We put outstanding efforts into working with vendors able to add value to our operations and showing a track record of productive relationships in other territories,” Solís remarks.

Distributed generation and electric vehicle pilot programme Current initiatives driven by Coopesantos include distributed generation, showing associates and users the benefits of investing in domestic power generation technology systems, mainly solar, with a focus on self-sufficiency.

“A user and associate integration into our value chain would decrease

L AT I N A M E R I C A

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COOPESANTOS

our dependence on ICE,” Solís adds.

In related projects, Coopesantos recently acquired its first electric vehicle as part of a pilot programme, which may result into migrating the entire fleet away from internal combustion engine vehicles. The test run was designed with two charging stations: one in the Interamerican Highway South, at Tejar del Guarco; and the other one at San Marcos de Tarrazú. There’s currently no fee charged for users of both stations, as negotiations are underway to

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strike a strategic partnership to deploy charging stations at several locations of a restaurant chain.

“Eventually, vehicle charging will be measured at some point; for now we consider all the electricity used in the test run as a contribution from the co-op to our country and to the world,” Solís states.

Carbon neutrality In 2012, Costa Rica chose to pursue a carbon neutral footprint and achieve it by 2021. Coopesantos

L AT I N A M E R I C A

has already earned this certification and was recently ratified by the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Telecommunications (MINAE).

Also, within the Kyoto Protocol programme (also UNO-related), the co-op is working to take part in the international carbon credit trade market, an achievement that would make Coopesantos the first privately-owned business in Costa Rica to take part in this scheme.

Water protection In 2004 Coopesantos began the development of its Water Protection Programme. Since then, invested funds have been instrumental in the acquisition of around 370 acres of land designated to water, flora and fauna protection. Besides providing care and maintenance for these reserves, Coopesantos establishes agreements with local non-profits and rural water works committees to share both water and maintenance programmes.

In 2017, the programme earned Coopesantos the Social Solidary Economy Better Practice Award in the ‘Sustainable Territories’

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Number of employees at Coopesantos category, from Banco Popular, Community Development and other Costa Rican organisations.

Accomplishments and upcoming goals The company’s new visual identity, a process that began in 2017 and will soon be displayed in its website and other outlets, is but the tip of the iceberg of its plans for the near future.

Along with three other companies, there are plans to import bandwidth from Miami to be marketed among its cable TV users in all of Costa Rica.

Another important project is a smart grid development, which will optimise the services provided and

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Felicitamos a Coopesantos por los logros obtenidos y le auguramos muchos éxitos en el 2018.

Para mayor información sobre nuestros productos y soluciones de Eaton´s Cooper Power series products: JorgeFernandez@eaton.com Tel. +506 8708- 0608

allow for remote monitoring, resulting in a faster response to damage reports and minimising energy leaks.

A possible synergy between these projected improvements along with an increase in energy generation and distribution may not only keep service fees the same as the last four years, but also reduce them.

“Every effort is aimed to generate internal efficiency to make better use of our resources and keep our fees unaffected as possible,” Solís concludes.

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Fundado en

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Mission critical Data centers you can count on Achieving an array of awards from the Uptime Institute, T5 Facilities Management has proven itself time and time again to be the top critical facility management company for data center owners who demand 100% uptime Written by Laura Mullan Produced by Tom Venturo

T 5 D ATA C E N T E R S

A

s a population, our consumption of data shows no signs of slowing down.

Over the next decade, as the Internet of Things expands ever further and connected devices and data become as important as electricity, data center uptime is set to become a top priority across the globe.

In fact, even today, ensuring the uptime of mission-critical operations is more important than ever with data center downtime costing around $8,000 per minute, according to an in-depth study by the Emerson Network Power and the Ponemon Institute.

Recognising this, T5 Data Centers has distinguished itself from its competitors and made a name for itself for being ‘forever on’, as its slogan promises.

With a record of 100% uptime, the data center company’s impressive standing can be traced back to the company’s Facilities Management and Operations division, T5 Facilities Management (T5FM), which offers on-site data center facilities management,

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USA

T5Dallas Completed Project

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MISSION

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T 5 D ATA C E N T E R S

MIKE CASEY President As President of T5FM, Mike is responsible for Facilities Management and Operations for T5 Data Center’s colocation facilities. Mike creates, communicates, and implements T5FM’s vision, mission, and product. Mike is also responsible for the growth of T5FM’s third-party Facilities Management and Operations business. Mike establishes T5FM’s goals and provides the leadership and motivation to achieve these goals.

Mike has over 20 years of experience in project management, development, operations, sales, and leasing of data center real estate, representing both wholesale data center providers and corporate end users. Mike was a member of The Staubach Company’s National Contact and Data Center Practice and later a leader in Jones Lang LaSalle’s Project and Development Services group.

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USA

remote and smart hands, and staff augmentation services to data center owners across North America.

T5FM not only operates T5 Data Center’s state-of-the-art portfolio of wholesale and colocation data centers, it also operates data centers for a spectrum of Fortune 500 companies in sectors spanning from finance and technology to aerospace and energy.

Four pillars of success “In the data center space, having no outages is key and uptime and safety are paramount,” says Mike Casey, President at T5FM. “I think our four core values are just one element that distinguishes us from our competitors as a successful data center facility management company.”

Built on the so-called ‘Four Pillars of T5FM,’ the company’s unique operating methodology has been one of the key accelerators of T5FM’s success.

These core values - safety,

training, process and procedure, and customer communication offer an operational foundation that mitigates risk, maximizes uptime and meets financial targets.

It is also an ethos which Casey has strived to uphold throughout his leadership.

Ensuring the safety of the personnel, facilities, and equipment is perhaps one of the biggest hurdles facing data center operators today. Therefore, T5FM has strived to create a proprietary electrical safety program and policy which is based on NFPA 70E guidelines.

“Safety is, of course, one of the most important values at the company and it really starts with making it a part of the culture,” Casey explains. “Whether we have a board meeting or an onsite customer meeting, the first item on the agenda is always safety. We’ve created a culture that empowers all the team members to identify any safety risks and influence or change our safety policy across the portfolio.”

Casey and his team also provide a customized, site-specific training program that includes portfolio

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“In the data center space, having no outages is key” – Mike Casey, President at T5FM

training classes and ongoing online testing. The program also includes a deep and comprehensive study of mechanical, electrical and fire protection systems. This in-depth and rigorous training ensures that T5FM uphold only the best operational practices in the data center space.

“There’s a sense of pride and a sense of ownership for those who complete the training program,” says Casey. “However, it doesn’t stop there.

The company also has a continuous improvement training program which causes the team to continually learn about new pieces of equipment or new issues and agendas.”

The US-based company also strives to drive efficiencies across its far-reaching processes and procedures. To this end, Casey and his team uphold consistent, robust and vetted portfolio policies which set the baseline for developing site-specific procedures and documentation. This strategy begins with the company’s meticulous, in-depth playbook that collates years of experience and hands-on data center practices for the company’s employees.

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“Safety is, of course, one of the most important values at the company” – Mike Casey, President at T5FM White glove approach to customer service The company’s final operational pillar highlights T5FM’s commitment to customer service. This is an integral element of day-to-day operations which has helped the company cut through the noise to

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become a leading provider of data center facility management.

“I think some of the things that really separate us from our competition is our approach to customer service,” observes Casey. “We have a white glove approach to customer service.

That means there’s a higher level of

USA

communication and more customized reporting. It also means that the people we hire, our onsite team, are not only technically proficient, but they have the necessary communication skills to connect with our customers.”

Mission critical focus T5FM has, by all accounts, forged a unique position in the data center landscape. As one of the few remaining companies specializing in mission critical, T5FM prides itself on being 100% data center focused. It doesn’t operate non-mission critical facilities and in doing so, it has allowed the company to hire people who have a mission critical mindset and who are passionate and driven about the data center landscape.

Furthermore, thanks to its real-world experience operating T5 Data Centers’ national data center portfolio, Casey and his team also champion a unique owner perspective which allows the company to truly understand the needs and wants of its clients.

It is because of this highlyfocused and concerted approach that T5FM has been able to grow

retain a talented workforce with a broad range of expertise.

“Over 86% of our site leads have been promotions from within,” notes Casey. “This is because our team members have a mission critical mindset and are passionate about the data center space. They see a growing company. They see room for career advancement and are encouraged by our entrepreneurial culture, a culture where anybody at any level within the organization can make an impact on the overall portfolio. We are the employer of choice in the data center space and this means means have very high retention rates, a highly motivated workforce, and the best team in the industry. At the end of the day, it’s our customers who benefit from of this.”

Uptime Institute award winner Championing a positive work culture is an admirable feat, but T5FM has also provided the results to back it up. By receiving countless awards from the prestigious Uptime Institute, T5FM has consistently proven its position as a market leader.

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Mike Casey, President of T5FM, Receives Operations Pacesetter Leadership Award

“Given our proven success I think the sky is the limit” – Mike Casey, President at T5FM

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Over the past several years, T5FM has consistently achieved the Continuous Availability Award from the Uptime Institute and, in December 2017, Casey also received the Operations Pacesetter Leadership award for his team’s work in the data center space.

“Although it’s an individual award, in reality it’s a testament to the entire team,” says Casey. “The main reason that we received this award is because we achieved Management and Operations (M&O) stamp of approval from the Uptime Institute across the T5 portfolio last year. We were able to achieve this in a compressed three-month timeframe. We passed with some of the highest scores that Uptime has ever issued. This is a big differentiator for us. It shows our customers and our prospects our commitment to operational excellence that has been validated by a third-party expert.”

Expansion With an array of accolades under its belt and a reputation for operational excellence, T5FM has made a name

USA

Mike Casey, President of T5FM, Operations Pacesetter

for itself in the data center space and the road ahead continues to look bright. The company aims to grow where it already has a strong market presence, in regions such as Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago, Portland, LA and Charlotte, and it is also looking further afield for international opportunities, recently announcing a new campus in Ireland.

As consumption of data gathers momentum, data center facility management is set to grow on an

exponential scale and it seems that, thanks to its proven model for success, T5FM is well prepared to tap into this growing demand.

“Overall, I think we have great brand recognition and we have a great reputation in the market,” Casey says. “We’ve got an amazing team behind us and fantastic, loyal customers who have experienced first-hand, the T5 difference. Given our proven success I think the sky is the limit for T5 in the years to come.”

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POWERING AFRICA’S

MINING INDUSTRY WITH

PASSION WRITTEN BY DALE BENTON PRODUCED BY ARRON RAMPLING

For more than 50 years Aggreko has helped the mining sector around the world improve productivity and manage power demands through a commitment to the customer like no other

I

n the mining industry, it is often forgotten or overlooked how important power generation and the supply of long term power truly is in determining the success of an operation. Be it at the planning, exploration or even production stage of a project, power generation is crucial.

This is what Aggreko prides itself on. After all, the company’s own motto reads: “We’re with you from start to finish.”

But, as Brano Kollar, Area General Manager for South & East Africa points out, the company promises much more than that.

For Kollar, it starts with a simple belief that the true value of power generation extends well beyond the realms of profitability and efficiency.

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“As a company we believe in the positive impact of power and the ability to control temperature,” he added. “We believe it opens up opportunity, and creates potential for individuals, communities, industries and societies all over the world.

“Together and over time, we believe that our services make a massive difference.”

Through his role, Kollar oversees the company’s footprint across 20 countries in South and East Africa.

Currently, Aggreko has active projects in six of those 20 countries but the company has ambitions to expand its project portfolio further.

The African mining industry of 2018 is an industry full of hope. Over the last two years it has witnessed a significant increase in foreign investment into

MINING

“What makes us unique is that we have the expertise when it comes to design and engineering of power solutions specifically for the mines, hence we have unparalleled strength to provide additional value for our customers” – Brano Kollar, Area General Manager for South & East Africa

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the sector, with commodity prices increasing alongside this investment.

Kollar, having worked with the company since 2007, has seen first-hand this shift and feels that right now is a very exciting time for South and East African mining.

“It is true that we are seeing a positive trend in the sector from commodity prices,” he says. “South and East Africa has a huge potential for mining and we are already working on some very interesting projects in countries such as the DRC, Sudan and Zimbabwe to name a few.”

Aggreko’s portfolio has seen the company deliver an 8MW power

plant to Banro Corp in the DRC as well as designing mobilising and commissioning a 28MW power package for Bisha Mining in Eritrea.

In late 2017, Aggreko entered into a partnership with Hummingbird Resources to fully commission a 7.4MW diesel power facility on site in Mali, where Aggreko will complete turnkey solutions as part of a full operations and maintenance team on site. Kollar points to the company’s generators and indeed their flexibility and efficiencies which will provide a “seamless supply of power”.

As the company promises, Aggreko works with the partners until the very

Aggreko’s footprint spreads over 20 countries

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end and Kollar believes that to achieve and deliver on this promise is to foster and develop partner relationships with a long-term view in mind.

“Our role is to ensure that customer needs and contractual obligations are met throughout the operational period, of course,” he says. “But beyond that, we are firm believers in building a positive and long-term partnership with our customer and their satisfaction is our upmost priority.”

In the journey of delivering large scale power generation services to an industry that can sometimes be volatile and often unstable, it is not without its challenges.

Kollar concedes as much, alluding to the timeline from the initial feasibility stage to financial close right through to breaking ground providing a great deal of uncertainty.

But where Aggreko stands tall is in that customer and partner relationship.

“We are ready to work along with our customers to support them in these various phases,” Kollar says. “What makes us unique is that we have the expertise when it comes to design and engineering of power solutions

“We believe it opens up opportunity, and creates potential for individuals, communities, industries and societies all over the world” – Brano Kollar, Area General Manager for South & East Africa

specifically for the mines, hence we have unparalleled strength to provide additional value for our customers.

“They can truly rely on Aggreko during any challenge and difficulty that comes as part of a project.”

Aggreko has been the power industry leader for over 50 years, giving the company that reputation for unparalleled strength. This is a reputation that is built upon high reliability and flexibility, being made up of a team of highly skilled and experienced people that Kollar believes really makes a difference in the overall value proposition.

As with any mining operation, a

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MEDITEK commitment to safety, responsibility and ethical standards are essential, and for as much as Aggreko prides itself on delivering a service to the customer that is unrivalled in the industry, Kollar understands this importance.

“We actively engage in supporting the local communities we work with,” he says. “We recruit, train and develop local people and provide them with the skills to really enrich their lives.”

This extends beyond developing a workforce. Aggreko is an

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active participant in the local community and ensures that for as long as the company works in a particular geographical location, it does whatever it can to leave a lasting legacy of change.

“Our local workforce helps us build relationships in the local community which are very important to us as a company,” says Kollar. “Our charitable donations are largely focused on the education and wellbeing of children, such as our support of the Book Aid International programme.”

YANFOLILA

MINING

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7.4MW facility of installed diesel power at Yanfolila

Complete turnkey solution on a seven-year contract

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donations are largely focused on the education and wellbeing of children, such as our support of the Book Aid International programme.�

Aggreko has worked closely with and been a strong advocate of the Book Aid International programme for more than 10 years. It has seen Aggreko donate more than 150,000 books to 10 African countries.

The company has also partnered with Ethik Investment to supply solar panels and IT equipment to a local school and neighbouring villages.

Aggreko has been a power industry leader for 50-plus years

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AGGREKO

An Aggrekko site in Zimbabwe

Aggreko has worked closely with and been a strong advocate of the Book Aid International programme for more than 10 years. It has seen Aggreko donate more than 150,000 books to 10 African countries.

The company has also partnered with Ethik Investment to supply solar panels and IT equipment to a local school and neighbouring villages. This, Kollar feels, is further example of how Aggreko not only stays with the customer throughout a project but goes above and beyond in order to add true value to a local community.

As Aggreko continues to deliver market leading services, as it has done for more than 50 years, the company continues to invest in cutting edge technologies. With plans to expand and develop its portfolio with projects in more African countries, Kollar is keen to stress that for Aggreko the focus will always remain on one important thing.

“We remain focused to serve our customers in the best possible way whilst continuously working on our key strategic objectives,” he says. “2018 provides significant opportunities across Africa and we want to further expand our operations and continue to build sustainable and long-term relationships with our customers and our strategic partners alike.”

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MINING

“Working with Aggreko to deliver our power remains in line with our strategy of working with world class partners as we progress Yanfolila to imminent gold production” – Dan Betts, CEO of Hummingbird Resources

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2nd Annual

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