MW & H2O Magazine May 2012

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may2012

Zero Odour Are biological odour treatment systems a 'green' and ‘economical’ alternative to chemicalbased systems? HEAD LINES • Alstom to rehabilitate Iraqi power plant • DEWA defers Hassyan 1 IPP

SHORT TAKE

Dietmar Siersdorfer, CEO, Siemens Energy Sector Middle East

ON THE RECORD Dr David Cartmell, Executive Chairman & CEO, BWA Water Additives

FLIPSIDE

TIM ARMSBY, PArtner, Eversheds



contents may2012 4/ Editor's Letter

NEWS 6/ The Metre 14/ In the region 18/ At large

17/

20/ Industry notes

The story so far IDA's energy task force Recycling is cool Transformative technologies

8/ Short Take

Dietmar Siersdorfer, CEO, Siemens Energy Sector Middle East

ON THE RECORD 34/ More than once

Dr David Cartmell, Executive Chairman & CEO, BWA Water Additives

36/

17/

IRRIGATION 36/ Turf Wars

Synthetic material is not the only answer for reducing hydration requirements.

CABLEs 38/ Test Basics

Graham O’Geran, operations manager at BASEC explains the most common cable types and tests

40/ Aiming for world class

Ducab-HV is determined to set the highest standards in its mission to supply HV cable systems to regional and international markets.

41/COVER STORY

Filtering out the dirt Marketing renewable energy UN emission market needs urgent reform

Electrical review 47/ On the moisture trail

Interview with Matz Öhlén, Director -Transformer Test Systems, Megger

FLIPSIDE 49/In the centre of things

Interview with Tim Armsby, Partner, Eversheds

CONTENTS

10/ Round up

45/ Insight

COUNTRY REPORT 51/ Qatar

Having secured comfortable levels of water and power reserves, Qatar is now focusing on strengthening its electricity grid and exploiting renewable energy potential.

ENERGY WORLD 52/ PV's beacon of hope

Drastic cuts in subsidies in many European countries are forcing the region’s solar industryto focus on multi-crystalline silicon cells

ADVERTORIALS

24/ GRP INDUSTRIES 30/ LOTO SAFETY PRODUCTS

PLUS 56/ Marketplace 58 Tenders & Contracts 62/ Events Watch

Zero Odour

Are biological odour treatment systems a 'green' and ‘economical’ alternative to chemical-based systems?

May2012

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CONTENTS editorsnote

editorsnote Editor

Anoop K Menon

Publisher

Dominic De Sousa

Associate Publisher

Liam Williams • liam@cpidubai.com

Chief Operations Officer Nadeem Hood

Cities of the future

T

oday, 52% of the global population, or about 3.6 billion, live in cities. By the middle of the century, this is expected to grow to 70% or 6.3 billion. This equates to a new city every week with a population of around one to 1.5 million - similar to Auckland, Harare, Kuala Lumpur, Beirut, Copenhagen, Brisbane or Prague. The challenge of planning for a rapidly urbanising world may be rather daunting. Take water, for instance. As the International Water Association’s (IWA) executive director, Paul Reiter put it: on the one hand, there is the existing challenge of getting water to people who aren’t even served today and on top of that, serving the million people a week who are coming into cities. In fact, issues associated with water management are becoming important in the Middle East too thanks to rapidly increasing population and urban growth. With urbanisation challenges becoming more complex, one theory making the rounds is that investing in separate solutions on water, environment or waste doesn’t make sense. Instead, a more holistic and integrated approach

can yield sustainable growth and also a better quality of life. Rob Skinner, Professorial Fellow at the Centre for Water Sensitive Cities at Monash University pointed out in a recent interview that rather than regarding cities as just a ‘collection of infrastructure,’ it is important that we focus on developing liveable cities that provides all these assets in an integrated way. For example, when building roads or setting up factories or supplying power, we should strive to do them in a way that minimises energy consumption and gets the best outcome for people. But this requires urban planners to work with economists, social planners and water planners to get liveable integrated outcomes. The challenge is to break up the traditional silos of planning and put them together again in an integrated manner so that our efforts are not wasted in producing sub-optimal outcomes. The linkage between technology, energy efficiency and integrated water management in the development of future cities is a theme we intend to tackle in one of the forthcoming issues.

Editorial Director

Melanie Mingas • melanie@cpidubai.com

Editor

Anoop K Menon • anoop@cpi-industry.com

Business Development Director

Vedran Dedic • vedran@cpi-industry.com +971 55 8644831

Marketing and PR Executive

Carole McCarthy • carolem@cpidubai.com

Design

Rebecca Teece • rebecca@cpidubai.com

Digital Services Manager IT Department

Troy Maagma • troy@cpidubai.com

Web Developer

Joel Azcuna • joel@cpidubai.com

USA and Canada

Kanika Saxena Director - North America 25 Kingsbridge Garden Cir. Suite 919 Mississauga, ON. Canada L5R 4B1 kanika@cpi-industry.com tel/fax: + 1 905 890 5031 Published by

Head Office

PO Box 13700 Dubai, UAE Tel: +971 4 440 9100 Fax: +971 4 447 2409 Web: www.megawhatme.com www.h2ome.net

Printed by:

Printwell Printing Press LLC © Copyright 2012 CPI. All rights reserved. While the publishers have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of all information in this magazine, they will not be held responsible for any errors therein.

MW-H2O combines the bi-monthly legacies of two power and water industry thought-leadership brands into a monthly edition that provides an unbeatable, 360 degree perspective of the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region's utility and energy sectors. You can read the digital version of the print edition at: www.megawhatme.com I www.h2ome.net

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May2012


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NEWS innumbers

themetre

Potential jobs forecasted in the green economy of 12 countries in the Americas, Asia, Africa and Europe through an investment of at least two per cent of their respective GDPs in the ‘green economy.’ The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the Millennium Institute, which carried out the study, have jointly established the first ‘green job creation benchmark’ providing a guide to the jobs creation potential of selected industries, with the number of jobs per million dollars invested. The Green and Decent Jobs summary and Millennium Institute methodology is available at www.ituc-csi.org Expansion of Tihama power sites in Saudi Arabia, which will take up their total capacity to 1,595 MW and 8,112G J/h of steam. The contract for the expansion, which will be implemented at three of the four existing cogeneration sites, was recently awarded to International Power-GDF SUEZ by Saudi Aramco. The total project cost is estimated to be approximately $430 million, which is being funded by a mix of debt and equity in an 80:20 ratio. The expansion programme is expected to be completed by 2015.

Million tonnes of CO2 per year, emitted by China’s groundwater irrigation system, which currently handles 100 billion cubic metres compared to 10 billion cubic metres in 1950. Research by the University of East Anglia shows that the pumping systems which support this immense irrigation network annually produces 33.1 MtCO2e (33.1 mega tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent). The huge amount of energy needed to pump water from underground - in some areas from an average depth of 70 meters - is responsible for the pollution. For comparison purposes, the total CO2 emitted by this irrigation system is what the whole of New Zealand emits in one year.

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The size of the Grid Storage Market in 2017, despite regulatory uncertainty, a highly-fragmented market, and a risk-averse client base, reaching 185.4 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of capacity. According to the Lux Research report, in 2012, the grid storage market stood at $2.8 billion and 3.2 GWh, respectively. The largest application for grid storage will be renewable energy shifting, snatching up to $61 billion, or 54% of the demand, in 2017. Over the last three years the grid storage market has shifted from one dominated by molten salt batteries to one more diversified, including Li-ion batteries, flywheels, and advanced lead batteries.

130000 KG

Carbon emissions reduction achieved during Dubai Earth Hour 2012 celebrations. According to statistics provided by the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), the emirate achieved a six per cent increase in savings this year compared to 2011, saving 216,000 KW/h of electricity and reducing 130,000 kg of carbon emissions. Dubai was the first Arab city to participate in Earth Hour in 2008, saving 100,000 kW/h of electricity and reducing 60,000 kg of carbon dioxide emissions that year.

The total value of contracts awarded in Saudi Arabia in 2011, a six per cent increase on the previous year. According to MEED’s Saudi Arabia Projects Market Report 2012, the steep slowdown in activity in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) means that Saudi Arabia is now by far the largest projects market in the region, worth almost as much as the other five GCC states combined. With more than $300 billion worth of projects planned and un-awarded, the kingdom has also by far the largest future projects market.


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FEATURE interview

shorttake

Dietmar Siersdorfer, CEO, Siemens Energy Sector Middle East What are the various steps undertaken by Siemens Energy to invest in the region’s future?

S

iemens has been in the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region for over 150 years; the company’s founder had also worked here. If you look at the region’s history, people usually came in, executed projects and left. However, 20-30 years ago, we tried to change this approach by working within the countries and having more people locally. This has benefitted us immensely because in each country, we are creating a pool of workforce, which stays in the country and helps us execute locally, and at the same time, they have the opportunity to develop into other functions within the greater Siemens organisation. We have roughly over 6,000 people working in Siemens’ local entities across the MENA region. We are also investing heavily in building our local supply chains. For example, we have leased a 220,000-square-metre plot of land in Saudi Arabia’s Dammam Industrial City to build a multi-million dollar

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centre for manufacturing gas turbines, compressors and heat recovery steam generators as well as repair shops and service facilities for the Saudi market. We hope to deliver the first turbine out of that facility by the end of 2013. That said Saudi Arabia is also a very big power generation market; in the last two years, we have sold more than 58 gas turbines, which clearly indicates the Kingdom’s present and future potential. To drive further localisation and enable knowledge transfer, we have many initiatives underway in the region. In the UAE, for example, we have an R&D cooperation pact with MASDAR, which will look at developing new technologies for solar, where we extend our capabilities and develop technologies for the region, in the region. We are also conducting top-grade training programmes for the advancement of young people. For example, we have ongoing initiative the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) for training their engineers in Germany as part of an expert development programme (EDP) to expand their know-how in the fields of energy and grid technology. Additionally, in terms of vocational training, we offer technical apprenticeship and on-the-job training programmes for the region’s youth. I think it is essential in the region that we also build an industrial base so that we are not only managing things, but also creating them; we are not only building factories but also craftsmanship. When you build a turbine, you also need to touch materials to build the product.

From a sustainable energy standpoint, how would you rate the progress achieved by the region?

I

n the long run, I expect the region will achieve a fair energy mix comprising of fossil and alternative energy sources, including renewables. However, we also need to have in place mechanisms like subsidies and feed in tariffs to promote sustainable energy. Another crucial element is attaching a price to energy. If we keep the price of energy low, it may be good for the consumer, but not for the technology as it significantly increases its initial costs. However, the region is striving for more energy efficiency and reduction of carbon footprint. That's the demand from governments and utility leaders and we have the technologies for the same. Our latest technologies are well below all the limits set by the global climate conference. In fact, our new H-Class gas turbine holds the world efficiency record at 60.75% in combined cycle duty. We have already installed these turbines in Germany and have sold units in the US and Korea. I am sure this technology will find a very solid base here too because power projects here are among the biggest in the world. We also provide technology to modernise existing gas turbines and get more power out of them.



roundup Alstom to rehabilitate Iraqi power plant

NEWS inbrief

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File photo of GT13D turbine

SCE reviews gas strategy, clean coal project

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he first stage of selecting most appropriate locations for the clean coal power project in Dubai has been completed. This was revealed by H.E. Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, Vice Chairman of the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy (SCE), following the 16th meeting of the SCE at the headquarters of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA). The SCE meeting was chaired by his H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum and attended by H.E Al Tayer, Nejib Zaafrani, CEO and Secretary General of the Council, and other members. The meeting also focused on the final submitted recommendations of the Dubai Integrated Gas Strategy 2030, a critical constituent of the Dubai Integrated Energy Strategy 2030. “It is now at the implementation stage in terms of infrastructure and supply,” said Al Tayer.

UAE solar industry body elects executive board

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mirates Solar Industry Association (ESIA), a nonprofit, non-governmental association dedicated to boosting the role of the solar industry in the UAE, held its first Annual General Meeting and elected an executive board. Abdul Aziz Al Midfa’ from Emirates Environmental Group was appointed Chairman, while other appointees included Vahid Fotuhi, BP Solar as

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lstom has signed a contract worth €50 million with Iraq’s Ministry of Electricity for the rehabilitation of two units at Khor Al Zubair gas-fired power station, located in the Basrah district, south of Iraq. The units, based on Alstom’s GT13 gas turbine technology, were originally commissioned in 1977. The rehabilitation will increase output of each unit by more than 30 MW, with the first unit scheduled to come online in 2012 and the second unit before the summer peak of 2013. Alstom will upgrade the units’ compressors and gas turbines, upgrade their electrical and control systems and also install and commission the rehabilitated units. Equipment for the project will be made in Europe and in Dubai, at the Jebel Ali service unit. Alstom is currently rehabilitating unit 1 of the Najaf gas-fired power station, south of Baghdad, which will contribute an output of 60 MW to the Iraqi grid. In December 2011, the company had bagged the contract to build the 728 MW Al Mansuriya gas-fired power plant in the Diyala Governorate, northeast of Baghdad. The plant is expected to start operations by early 2013.

President; Erik Voldner, Enviromena as Vice-President: Dr Michael Kraemer, Taylor Wessing as Legal Council; Kiomars Dabbagh, SCHOTT Middle East as Treasurer; Karel de Winter, Alsa Solar Systems as Membership Director; Dr Steve Griffiths, Masdar Institute as Research Director and Adrian Wood, Siemens as Marketing and Communications Director. ESIA aims to facilitate business opportunities in the sector for its members; expand the use of all solar technologies at national and regional level; offer assistance to international solar companies seeking to set up in the UAE; and publish white-papers and research reports to assist policymakers on matters related to solar policies, standards and product certifications.

Empower uses treated wastewater at DIFC plant

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n adherence to the Dubai government's directive to reduce the use of desalinated water in cooling systems, Emirates Central Cooling Corporation (Empower), the largest district cooling service provider in the region, is using treated wastewater in its DIFC plant. Empower has deployed Reverse Osmosis (RO) technology to produce an average 3,000 m3/ day of high quality polished water for use in the district cooling plant, which also helps minimise the use of additional specialty chemicals to treat the cooling towers and chillers. Ahmad Bin Shafar, CEO of Empower said: “The new technique adopted by Empower will produce three times the current production of treated water at Dubai Healthcare City (DHCC).”


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NEWS inbrief

roundup This dual membrane plant with UF followed by reverse osmosis (RO) will be the largest UF-RO desalination plant in Saudi Arabia. With a UF production capacity of 7,400 m³/hour, the SWRO facility will produce water for the city’s industry. An eight-month pilot period with UF and other filtration technologies preceded the final selection. For Pentair, the win provides a breakthrough in the Saudi Arabian desalination market and strengthens Pentair X-Flow’s position as a leading UF technology supplier in the region. Group photo at the signing ceremony

UAE rolls out renewable energy atlas project

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asdar Institute of Science and Technology has signed agreements with the Directorate of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), Dubai Supreme Council of Energy (SCE), and Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi (EAD), through the Abu Dhabi Global Environmental Data Initiative (AGEDI), to formalise the funding contributions to the recently announced UAE National Atlas of solar and wind resources. Aimed at investors, policymakers, and researchers, the atlas will offer universal access to resource quality, grid, and land use data to help assess the feasibility of renewable energy projects for planning and investment decisions in the country. Traditional assessments can often be inaccurate by more than 25% which in turn magnifies financial risks associated with the project. The UAE Atlas is led by the Research Centre for Renewable Energy Mapping and Assessment at Masdar Institute, and is aligned with the Global Atlas project led by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

Seaguard ultrafiltration (UF) membranes

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UF contract awarded for Jubail SWRO project

l Fatah Water and Power has awarded Pentair X-Flow the contract to supply the latter’s Seaguard ultrafiltration (UF) membranes and skids to the Jubail Phase 2 seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) project in Saudi Arabia. Jubail SWRO Phase 2, a continuation of the Al Fatah Water and Power project in Jubail, has a design capacity of 58,500 m³/day and is expected to be completed by January 2013.

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Metito bags new projects in Iraq

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etito has announced four new projects in Iraq, worth over $185 million. The emerging markets water specialist is partnering with Snafee Group to supply the process design for three sewage treatment plants in South Basra, Um Qasser, Safwan and Shat Al Arab with combined contract total value of over $10 million. Metito will also undertake all engineering requirements for the plants, including selection and supply of the mechanical and electrical equipment. “Water shortages continue to plague Iraq, with droughts and lack of access to clean, safe drinking water affecting an estimated 7.6 million Iraqis, according to a report by UNESCO in 2010,” said Mustafa Hasan, General Manager of Metito Jordan, Iraq and Syria.

Thames Water to deploy Syrinix anti-burst system

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yrinix’s innovative TrunkMinder pipe-monitoring system will be installed onto Thames Water’s major strategic water mains over the next few years beginning this summer. “We are the only highly sensitive, automated 24/7 monitoring system on the market which can detect early stage leaks,” claimed Syrinix CEO James Dunning. TrunkMinder uses a number of sensors, placed in pairs approximately every 750 metres along a trunk main, which monitor the integrity of the pipe using a hydrophone, geophone, pressure sensor and optional flow monitor to detect vibro-acoustic patterns caused by water running through the pipes.



NEWS MENA

intheregion In 2011, DEWA’s installed capacity power production capacity went up by18.4% and desalination capacity by 21.2%

DEWA defers Hassyan 1 IPP Emphasis on enhancing existing power production and demand management boosts DEWA's power reserves; decision defers capital and operational expenditure entailed by the project

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he Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) has decided to defer the 1,600 MW Hassyan 1 Independent Power Plant (IPP) project. According to a press release issued by the utility, the Hassyan project is being deferred to a later date in view of the successes achieved with capacity enhancement in existing power plants, better demand management and reduction in line losses. The anticipated increase in installed power production capacity through the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Power Park also contributed to the decision. “DEWA has conducted a comprehensive review of its plans to deliver all future demands for power and water in a timely manner,” the release noted. DEWA has increased the production capacity of its existing power plants at the Jebel Ali Power Station by around 450 MW at a fraction of the costs of installing new generating units of the same capacity. The utility has also managed to reduce the percentage line losses in its electrical network to 3.49% in 2011, down from 6.28% in 2001. “These energy savings will partially offset existing demand,” the release stated. The decision also factored in the increase in Dubai’s total installed power production capacity from the 1,000 MW Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Power Park. On behalf of the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy, DEWA is overseeing the implementation of the Park's first phase, which will see the setting up of a 10MW solar photovoltaic (PV) project at a cost of Dh120 million. The project is scheduled for commissioning by the fourth quarter of 2013. DEWA has also taken into consideration plans to produce electricity from distributed solar power plants in partnership with the private sector. From a conservation standpoint, DEWA’s demandmanagement initiatives have helped reduce demand growth considerably. In 2011, net consumption grew by three per cent despite a simultaneous five per cent growth in registered combined electricity and water accounts. In

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fact, the expected gross consumption growth forecasted for 2011 was six per cent. This reduction in consumption growth was achieved through deployment of best practices in power demand management and the slab tariff system. DEWA will also push for optimal utilisation of electricity and water in the emirate by implementing green building principles and regulations of the Green Building Initiative of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai. The release assured that there is no change to the policy of the Supreme Council of Energy on partnerships with the private sector in future power generation projects. Dubai has already established a regulatory framework for independent water and power projects, represented by the Regulatory Supervisory Bureau for Water and Electricity, through Decree No. 9 of 2011, which was issued to make the necessary amendments to Decree No. 1 of 1992 regarding establishing DEWA, and Law No. 6 of 2011 regarding the regulation of the private sector’s participation in producing power and water in Dubai.

IFC and IDB to invest in MENA infrastructure IFC and Islamic Development Bank are each investing $50 million in the Arab Infrastructure Investment Vehicle (AIIV)

I

FC, a member of the World Bank Group, and Islamic Development Bank (IDB) are investing up to $100 million to support the construction of major infrastructure projects across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), part of an effort to stimulate economic growth in the region. Both entities are each investing $50 million in the Arab Infrastructure Investment Vehicle (AIIV), which is expected to grow to about $ 300 to $500 million, as part of the Arab Financing Facility for Infrastructure (AFFI), a joint initiative of the World Bank, IDB and IFC. "Governments in the region are facing challenges when it comes to financing major infrastructure projects," said Walid Abdelwahab, Director of the Islamic Development Bank’s Infrastructure Department. "But several recent successes have shown that the private sector can play a pivotal role in helping deliver essential services to the people of the region." Countries in the Middle East and North Africa need to invest an estimated $70 billion annually in infrastructure to sustain their growth rates. The AFFI supports cross-border projects designed to boost regional connectivity, including electricity, rail, road and maritime networks. The AIIV, with IFC and the Islamic Development Bank as anchor investors, will provide private investment to support public-private partnerships and explore the possibility of Shariah-compliant financing.


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intheregion NEWS MENA

Sewage Treatment Plant at King Saud University

Seawater desalination plant- Pearl Qatar

MEED Quality Awards for Projects names National Winners Four water/wastewater projects and two power projects across the GCC make it to the final list

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ut of a total of 24 winning projects across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, four water/ wastewater projects and two power projects have made it to the National Winners list of the annual MEED Quality Awards for Projects 2012. These include:

Kuwait

• Pumping Station, Wastewater Treatment Plant and Pressure Mains in Jahra

Oman

• Amal Power Station Project • Nimr Produced Water Treatment Project

Qatar

• Seawater Desalination Plant for Pearl Qatar

UAE

• Indoor Vacuum Sewage Collection System, Al Ain Wildlife Park and Resort

Saudi Arabia

• Riyadh Power Plant 10 • Sewage Treatment Plant at King Saud University The only exception was Bahrain, which didn’t have any water/wastewater and power project nominated. In the UAE, the only water/wastewater project in the final tally

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May2012

Nimr Produced Water Treatment Project-Oman

of nine national winners was the Indoor Vacuum Sewage Collection System in Ail Ain Wildlife Park and Resort, nominated by Corodex Industries. The project claims to have achieved massive carbon footprint reduction as only one litre of water is used to flush the toilet versus the traditional use of eight to nine litres per flush. It is also being considered for the KIMMCO Sustainable Project of the Year award in the GCC. Judged by an independent panel consisting of respected experts in the projects industry, the MEED Quality Awards for Projects 2012 selected the winners on the basis of their economic, social and environment impact, as well as innovations and achievements in design, engineering and construction. The GCC winners will be announced at the annual MEED Quality Awards for Projects on May 21, 2012 at The Westin Abu Dhabi Golf Resort & Spa. The categories being contested are HLG Leighton Contracting Oil & Gas Project of the Year, Industrial Project of the Year, Power and Water Desalination Project of the Year, Water Reuse Project of the Year, Leisure and Tourism Project of the Year, Transport Project of the Year, Metito Social Project of the Year, Emirates Steel Building Project of the Year and KIMMCO Sustainable Project of the Year. “The MEED Quality Awards for Projects 2012 salutes the architects, engineers, builders, financiers and clients behind some of the biggest social and economic developments that will change the Middle East and the world for the better. MEED is honoured to produce an initiative that recognises best practice in the projects sector,” said Edmund O’Sullivan, chairman of the judging panel of the MEED Quality Awards for Projects.


international NEWS

Turn it on !

Regional office benefits HARTING Technology Group The company is continuously expanding its international sales network to ensure optimal customer proximity

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he HARTING Technology Group’s decision to open its own local subsidiary, HARTING Middle East FZ-LLC to ensure optimal customer proximity has benefitted the company. “The local subsidiary’s first seven months in operation proved that the decision about the opening was right. Beside the increasing daily business, we have discovered medium and long term business opportunities which are projecting a sound future for HARTING in the Middle East,” said Gabor Edelmayer, Managing Director of HARTING Middle East. HARTING’s products connect and network devices, machines and systems with data, signal and power. The company develops, manufactures and sells electrical and electronic connectors, device terminations, network components as well as cable harnesses for networks or machinery, or for power and data application in factories. Our products are used in mechanical and plant engineering, factory automation, power generation and distribution as well as industrial electronics and telecommunication. Edelmayer continued: “We want to position the company with a new focus on the Middle East market – not just as the leading brand for innovative solutions, but also as a local partner which provides the “best value” products in terms of quality, price, dependability and longevity. Our participation on the Middle East Electricity Show (Dubai, Feb 2012), as well as HARTING’s participation on the Hanover Fair (Germany, April 2012) gave us another great opportunity to showcase our latest products and solutions like the Han-Yellock connectors, the Hall effect current sensors and our new Industrial Ethernet managed switches; to name just a few.”

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NEWS international

atlarge

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Solar without subsidies Solar installations are poised to grow to 38.3 GW in 2017 as the market goes global, says Lux Research.

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fter recent explosive growth capped by a 66% surge to 26.5 GW in 2011, solar installations will grind to a near halt this year — adding a mere 0.4 GW, totalling 26.9 GW of new installations — while industry revenues drop from $110 billion in 2011 to $92 billion in 2012 due to crashing prices. However, new installations will rebound to 38.3 GW in 2017 as the industry learns to navigate a global market fast losing its subsidies, according to a Lux Research report. A supply glut, caused mainly by Chinese manufacturers, speculation of incentive cuts in Europe and the end of the 1603 Cash Grant in the US, fuelled the sharp growth in installations last year. “The solar industry’s storied history has created a massive misperception of technology maturity and commodity status,” said Matthew Feinstein, Lux Research Analyst and the lead author of the report titled, ‘Market Size Update 2012: The Push to a Post-Subsidy Solar Industry.’ “Opportunities remain and extended success is possible for stakeholders, but the market’s shifting geographic profile – combined with a forced withdrawal from subsidy addiction – means strategic, surgical moves are needed,” he added. Lux Research analysts ran a levelised cost of energy (LCOE) analysis in 156 separate geographies, accounting for 82% of the world’s population, calculating internal rates of return, to determine the viability and competitiveness of solar in each market. Among their conclusions: • Emerging markets more than quadruple in size. Emerging markets will be both a battleground for suppliers and a source of great strength with South Asia accounting for the majority of growth, rising from 1 GW in 2011 to 4.5 GW in 2017. However, ASEAN, Africa and South America take the reins from 2017 to 2022, hurtling toward gigawatt status. • Utility-scale application segment grows. In large emerging markets like China, utility-scale solar will gain as conditions favour fewer, larger-scale projects that allow more control over financing and regulatory factors. This segment will grow from 6.3 GW globally in 2011 to 13.8 GW in 2017. • Oversupply still a possibility. Even the boom of 2011 was not sufficient to utilise all of the world’s module capacity, which reached 50 GW and pushed prices down to $1/W. With China’s 12th Five-Year plan calling for major expansions in solar capacity, global markets will still see strong downward price pressure. • Securitisation boosts smaller installations. Assetbacked securities are spurring growth of the small-scale segment in the US residential and commercial markets. Securitisation and ‘renewable bonds,’ which have been tested in the past by SunPower (in Italy), and Wells Fargo (in New Jersey), are likely to see widespread growth in 2012 or 2013. Expect major commercial banks like Citibank to lead this effort.

May2012

Solazyme and Dow enter into offtake pact Agreement to accelerate commercialisation of biobased dielectric insulating fluids for transformers and other electrical applications

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olazyme, a renewable oil and bioproducts company, and The Dow Chemical Company have entered into a contingent offtake agreement in which Dow has agreed to purchase from Solazyme all of its requirements of non-vegetable microbe-based oils for use in dielectric fluid applications through 2015, contingent upon Solazyme’s ability to supply such oils within agreed specifications and certain terms and conditions of the sale. The new, renewable and biodegradable bio-based dielectric insulating fluids offer increased fire safety thanks to higher flash points and provide additional functionality that may improve the operating efficiency and extend the useful life of transformers. Concurrently, Solazyme and Dow have entered into a Phase 2 Joint Development Agreement (JDA2), an exclusive, multi-year extension of the current joint-development agreement including accelerated commercialisation timelines based on Solazyme’s rapid progress in the production of tailored algal oils. JDA2 enables additional application development work to be conducted by Dow, due to Solazyme’s accelerated ability to scale up their uniquely tailored algal oil feedstocks. Consumption of Solazyme’s algal oil feedstocks is expected to significantly exceed the minimum estimated volumes of 8.5 million gallons (29,000 metric tonnes) starting in the second half of 2013 and through 2015. The offtake agreement contemplates that final pricing for the oil will be linked to certain items including Solazyme’s sugar-based feedstock costs. “Solazyme’s unique biotechnology-based oils platform has created a new market opportunity to develop and produce the next-generation of safe, renewable, dielectric insulating fluids that provide increased performance benefits,” said Jonathan Wolfson, CEO, Solazyme. “We have continued to reach technological advancements ahead of schedule with Dow, enabling us to further progress our commercial relationship.” "Solazyme is a leading company in the industrial biotechnology space and its renewable oil technology platform provides a unique opportunity to significantly accelerate the development of next-generation, biobased, non-vegetable dielectric insulating fluids,” added Tim Laughlin, General Manager, Dow Electrical & Telecommunications. "In the fast-growing space of bio-based dielectric insulating fluids, Solazyme’s tailored algal oils will serve as a technology platform for our continued efforts to bring innovative solutions to the power industry.


The Safe Drinking Water Act requires EPA to identify and monitor up to 30 additional unregulated contaminants every five years.

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he US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently published a list of 28 chemicals and two viruses that approximately 6,000 public water systems will monitor from 2013 to 2015 as part of the agency’s unregulated contaminant monitoring programme, which collects data for contaminants suspected to be present in drinking water, but that do not have health-based standards set under the Safe Drinking Water Act. EPA will spend more than $20 million to support the monitoring, the majority of which will be devoted to assist small drinking water systems with conducting the monitoring. The data collected under the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule 3 (UCMR 3) will inform EPA about the EBRO_HP_v2_outlined.pdf 1 4/8/12 11:23 AM frequency and levels at which these contaminants are found

in drinking water systems across the United States and help determine whether additional protections are needed to ensure safe drinking water for Americans. State participation in the monitoring is voluntary. EPA will fund small drinking water system costs for laboratory analyses, shipping and quality control. The list of contaminants to be studied includes total chromium and hexavalent chromium, also known as chromium-6. Addressing hexavalent chromium in drinking water is a priority for EPA Administrator Lisa P Jackson. In January 2011, EPA issued guidance to all water systems on how to assess the prevalence of hexavalent chromium and in the March 2011 proposal for UCMR 3, EPA invited comments on whether the agency should include chromium in the final rule. Public comments received by EPA were strongly supportive of adding total chromium and hexavalent chromium for monitoring. “The monitoring that will take place will provide EPA with invaluable information about what municipalities are seeing in their drinking water all across the country,” said EPA acting assistant administrator for Water Nancy Stoner. “The results of this multi-year monitoring effort will help inform EPA’s work to ensure Americans receive safe drinking water.”

international NEWS

EPA releases contaminants monitoring list


NEWS industrynotes

saudigrid

The story so far The chief of Saudi Arabia’s recently created National Grid Company provides a peek into the Kingdom’s smart grid initiatives

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peaking at the World Smart Grid Conference Middle East 2012 in Dubai in late March, Saleh M Al-Onaizan, CEO, National Grid Company S.A underlined the high and rapid growth in power demand (driven mainly by residential consumption), and huge capital expenditure involved in meeting this demand, the focus on developing a more sustainable energy portfolio which includes nuclear and solar energy and the need to reduce carbon footprint as the main factors driving the adoption of smart grid in Saudi Arabia. National Grid Company S.A is a wholly owned power transmission subsidiary of Saudi Electricity Company (SEC), and is the first company to emerge from the multi-year restructuring programme underway at SEC. Citing data gleaned from the analysis of load curves, Al-Onaizan pointed out that Saudi Arabia is utilising only 36% of its generation capacity, even as demand is growing at a rate of seven to eight per cent annually. He continued: “The generation curve data shows 12,000 MW is used only 50% of the year, while 2,000 MW is used only for 200 hours a year, which is a very low utilisation of investment. Between 2000 and 2017, we are poised to more than double our generation and transmission systems, so we have to

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think smart and improve our system utilisation.” Currently, Saudi Arabia has more than 600 projects worth over SR120 billion under construction across generation, transmission and distribution. Before this decade is over, the Kingdom would have invested over SR370 billion in its electricity sector to meet the demand growth. To strengthen the transmission backbone, National Grid aims to have most of the country covered through strategic interconnection lines by 2017. “We had achieved 96% coverage by 2010. Closing the gaps will give us tremendous flexibility in terms of utilising the generation capacity, minimising the spinning reserve and customising the fuel transportation and costing,” said Al-Onaizan. National Grid is also overseeing an “important” project which involves the installation of 3,600 smart revenue meters in the boundaries between generation, transmission and distribution. The project will help the company calculate and monitor the energy moving between these boundaries. “Since 2008, every new substation installed is equipped with smart revenue meters,” said Al-Onaizan. The company has also put to tender a project for a national control centre, which will enable centralised monitoring and control of

the transmission grid countrywide. Other smart grid elements that have implemented include time-of userates for big industrial customers and distribution automation pilots. In the latter, one of the projects is controlling the Ring Main Units (RMU) remotely from the control centre instead of waiting for emergency response teams to go to the site and investigate. “Distribution automation also helps us evaluate the losses in the distribution system, which is high at present,” said Al-Onaizan. In the course of his presentation, the National Grid CEO also revealed that the Saudi Egypt Interconnection Project is in the final stages of design. The interconnection will enable both countries to take advantage of their different peaking times - evening in the case of Egypt and afternoon for Saudi Arabia - to exchange energy. “The basis for the interconnection will be energy against energy transaction,” said Al-Onaizan. “It will not be based on energy sales because of the subsidy on the fuel side in both Saudi Arabia and Egypt. We have already started working on right of way arrangements.” Other initiatives include working with the Electricity and Cogeneration Regulatory Authority (ECRA) for tariff restructuring, laying the framework for cost optimisation through load management and energy conservation, and challenging system operators to achieve load despatching and spinning reserve optimisation without sacrificing the reliability and stability of the system. To better utilise its telecommunication network, National Grid is spinning out its telecom network under a separate company. Al-Onaizan explained: “We have 23,000 kilometres of fibre optic cable network across the country with 47 core sites and 764 customer edge sites and growing. A separate company will help us focus on making our network ready for smart if not smarter future.”

(By Anoop K Menon)


2012

Celebrating the oustanding achievements of the MENA Water Sector

21st November 2012

The third edition of the H2O Water Awards will be presented to outstanding nominations in the following categories:

Project Category

Product Category

• Best Water Project • Best Wastewater Project • Innovative Use/Application of Technology • Water Efficieny Leader • Water Communications & Marketing

• Best Water Product • Best Wastewater product • Water-Efficient Product if the Year • Most Innovative Product/Technology of the Year (Industrial & Commercial)

To submit your nominations, please visit www.h2ome.net/awards

For sponsorship enquiries, contact: Vedran Dedic (Group Sales Director) Tel: +971 4 375 6834 Mobile: +971 55 8644831 Email: vedran@cpi-industry.com

For other enquiries, contact: Anoop Menon (Editor) Tel: +971 4 375 6830 Mobile: +971 50 2816075 Email: anoop@cpi-industry.com


NEWS industrynotes

desalfocus

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IDA launches energy task force targetS 20% reduction in energy consumption in seawater desalination processes by 2015.

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he International Desalination Association (IDA) has announced the formation of a global Energy Task Force whose goal is to achieve a 20% reduction in energy consumption in all major seawater desalination processes by 2015. The announcement was made at the sixth World Water Forum held in Marseille in March. IDA presented the Task Force’s goals and commitment to an overflow audience at its session titled Desalination: The Sustainable Solution and Hope for Future Generations. Speaking to MW-H20, Leon Awerbuch, Chairman of the Energy Task Force Steering Committee elaborated: “The emphasis on energy efficiency is part of the global climate issue, and particularly in desalination, one of our major challenges is reduce energy. IDA had been discussing the nexus of water and energy and their inter-relationship for some time now, notable milestones being the two-day conference on energy efficiency in seawater desalination in Huntington Beach, California in 2010, and the Water-Energy Nexus Challenge sessions I chaired at the SIWW 2011 Water Leaders Summit. We made a big splash in Marseille by committing to develop the guidelines to reduce by 20% energy consumption in all major seawater desalination processes in three years time. The task force will be leading the effort to meet this challenge.” May2012

The IDA Energy Task Force will create a framework to encourage and promote strategies to further enhance energy efficiency in desalination processes. “We will be looking at thermal, membrane and hybrid as well as power interlinking. The energy consumption in many of the desalination process is pretty efficient now in relative terms, so squeezing 20% efficiency will be a major challenge,” said Awerbuch. The Task Force will also support and build on existing initiatives and will also investigate further development and deployment of hybrid processes as well as the further use of alternative energy sources in desalination. It will be structured to include a network of experts from around the world to share best practices for energy efficiency in desalination. These professionals will represent utilities (end-users), desalination companies including suppliers, consultants, research and development institutions, academia, and IDA’s Technical Programmes Committee. Initial work by the Task Force includes establishing existing energy requirements for desalination processes and outlining specific targets for each process – thermal, membrane and hybrid. “The first definition will be to establish a benchmark for each of these processes,” said Awerbuch. The Task Force will look to the desalination industry to develop pilot and demonstration plants meeting the

Leon Awerbuch, Chairman, IDA Energy Task Force Steering Committee

stated targets. Awerbuch continued: “The biggest effort will come from technology solutions. How far we can push the energy recovery envelope in membrane processes, how far we can improve membranes to use smaller differential pressure. In the case of thermal, MED has achieved significant improvement in electrical power consumption. If we exclude pumping, we can build MED to deliver at 1kWh/ m3, but that needs steam. So the area we would look at is reducing the pressure of steam so we can extract more power from the turbine.” The Energy as well as the Environmental Task Forces will convene a joint conference to discuss opportunities for enhancing energy efficiency in desalination. The two task forces will work under the umbrella of energy and environment. “Many desalination utilities and companies are already committed to significant reduction in energy. In fact, over the past two decades, energy requirements for desalination have been reduced by more than 50% and many new plants have been or are being designed to utilise renewable energy resources, with a long term goal of significantly reducing or eliminating the use of fossil fuels,” said Awerbuch. “The ultimate objective is to encourage the industry to implement these solutions in all desalination projects, using the best available technologies applicable to the location of the plants.”


Advertorial

As an established market leader of 23 years in the manufacture and supply of GlassReinforced Polyester (GRP) enclosures and kiosks in the Middle East, GRP Industries is today evolving its manufacturing capabilities and professional outlook even as its next generation of leadership set their sights on global opportunities. In 2007, GRP Industries’ CEO Suneel Aggarwal took up the reins of the company founded by his father. A BS in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and an MBA from Georgetown University, Aggarwal has ambitious plans for the company. He shared a few of them with us during an extended interview session at GRP Industries’ SAIF Zone offices.

Could you give us a snapshot of GRP Industries’ journey to becoming the largest manufacturer of Glass-Reinforced Polyester (GRP) enclosures and kiosks in the Middle East?

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hen GRP Industries was founded in 1989 by my father Sudesh K Aggarwal, it was about seizing the nascent opportunity for Glass-Reinforced Polyester (GRP) products in the region with a vision about the future. My father had an MBA degree, who came to the region in the early 1970s and eventually became the finance manager of a company in Dubai, which manufactured GRP surfboards for export to Australia. When the then owner decided to close the factory and move to other businesses, my father gathered funds and bought the company, convinced of GRP’s potential in this region. In those days, the water and electricity authorities were using sheet steel or concrete for outdoor protection of their

equipment like switchgear systems and meters. However, we were confident that GRP is the best material suited to the region's harsh climate with several advantages, not least of which is a long life of at least 20 years versus one to two years for sheet steel which is vulnerable to rust and corrosion. Though you might pay a premium up front for your GRP application, there are significant savings in the long run due to little or no maintenance. Convincing the water and electricity authorities and consultants on the advantages of using GRP took months of meetings, discussions and promotions. Our efforts finally bore fruit when we helped DEWA prepare the specifications for GRP enclosures for the switchgear industry and meters.

GRP ADVERTORIAL

Leadership lessons

From 1989 to now, how has the company grown?

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y father started the company with a team of four engineers, 10 labourers and a factory in the Sharjah Industrial Area (a 20,000 square feet unit which is still in operation). We now have added the two factories in the Sharjah Airport International Free (SAIF) Zone contributing 110,000 square feet, we currently have 130,000 square feet of manufacturing space and aw total work force of 200, made up of 20 engineers, a 150-strong labour force as well as administrative and support staff. In 1989, we started with a product range of five sizes. Today, we have a product range of 1,000 sizes and an extensive inventory of moulds. Starting with enclosures and kiosks for the water and electricity applications, our product range has now expanded to include battery boxes, polyester sunshades and instrument enclosures for the oil and gas industry and roofing products such as skylight sheets, soaker panels, flashings and downspouts for the construction industry. We are an approved vendor to all the Gulf region water and electricity authorities including FEWA, SEWA and ADWEA. We also have offices in Qatar, Kuwait and Oman, and are in talks to set up a joint venture in Saud Arabia. May2012

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Wherever there is infrastructure development, there is going to be a requirement for GRP Are you also looking outside the GCC region for business opportunities?

ADVERTORIAL GRP

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hen I started managing the company in 2007, Dubai was in its boom phase. When the impact of the global financial slowdown began to be felt in the region and in Dubai, and projects began to be put on hold or scrapped, we decided to diversify and de-risk our sales in terms of geographies, new sectors and product ranges, and simultaneously, revamp the company to prepare for the new business environment. First on the agenda was adoption of best practices that are the hallmark of any professional organisation. So this year we will be putting in place an integrated management system certification encompassing the ISO Quality Management System, OSHAS Occupational Health & Safety Management system, and Environment Management system. These internationally recognised certifications will help us gain entry into the highly demanding Western markets and convince them to source their requirements from GRP Industries. We have also restructured our organisation and processes as part of a broader makeover of the company. We have established a strong online presence through a comprehensive and informative website, and by advertising through Google and online marketplaces. This has helped the company get orders from the UK, the US, Egypt, Italy, Jordan, Sri Lanka and other countries. We have leveraged the UAE's position as global trade hub to supply to these and other major markets in the world. A market that we want to be in the future is Africa. We are testing the waters by participating in exhibitions and events. However, the UAE and the Gulf region will always remain our main markets because of our physical presence; also our product range is designed specifically for this region. In Europe, for example, they still use sheet steel in a big way because they don't have to deal with high humidity or heat. So I don’t see us enjoying the same competitive position we have here though perhaps, we could compete on the aesthetic side as GRP is more attractive in terms of appearance.

Earlier, you had singled out Saudi Arabia as a market that deserved a different approach. Could you share with us your plans for the Kingdom?

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e prefer to operate through agents, and in the GCC, this approach has served us well because you can visit your agent or customer anywhere in this region in a matter of hours. However, Saudi Arabia is an exception because it is a large but closed market with difficult barriers of entry. It is impossible to operate in Saudi Arabia without a strong local partner. Moreover, they prefer to procure products locally manufactured. That's why we

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are working towards establishing a physical presence in the Saudi market and are in negotiations to set up our fourth manufacturing facility in the region in Saudi Arabia.

If you had to sum up the key strengths of your company, what would they be?

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RP Industries has a start to finish production line that includes everything from mould design, lamination, cutting and sanding, accessories fabrication to assembly, finishing, cleaning and packaging. Manufacturing processes include moulding by injection, contact and cold press. Our core competency lies in our product range with an inventory of over a thousand sizes and the ability to manufacture custom sizes suiting client requirements. In GRP manufacturing, the biggest investment in the product is the mould. We have our own mould design team to make moulds that we utilize in our production line. Because projects here have a variety of sizes, we have the capability to make to the size and requirements of our customers. In fact, we may already have that particular mould as we have accumulated a vast inventory of moulds since inception. That's a key strength and also a competitive barrier because others will find it expensive to invest in moulds and also hold such a large inventory of sizes. 5The GRP brand also stands for quality in our industry. In GRP manufacturing, you can play a lot with the mix of raw materials to minimise your cost. However, we utilize the highest grade of certified raw materials from worldrenowned manufacturers and enforce quality checks at every stage of the manufacturing process as dictated by our ISO 9001 Quality Management System certification. Thus we are confident to provide our customers a six to seven year guarantee on our products. If you drive around the streets of U.A.E., you are sure to see a GRP enclosure or kiosk that might possibly be installed 20 years ago and is still in excellent working condition. To strengthen our internal efficiencies, we have gone paperless by implementing an ERP system, which is still not so common in our sector or industry. Even though we are small, we like to behave like a Fortune 500 company. Our culture of standing behind our commitments, whether that is our products or all our stakeholders such as employees, suppliers and financiers is a major strongpoint. We have never defaulted on anything even during the slowdown. We also provide a secure and healthy working environment for our employee, which benefits the company because our employees are more motivated and productive. Having been in existence for 23 years, our brand is synonymous with GRP enclosures and kiosks. Our triangular logo, I am proud to say, is regarded as a stamp of high quality and made for the market to the extent that the logo is often automatically associated with specs as laid down by authorities. Therefore, to prevent misuse, we have copyrighted our logo.


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n GRP enclosures and kiosks, there is a lot of weight on the accessories or hardware side, whether it is the locking mechanism or the insulation level of the locking or even the quality of the hinges. We used to outsource the accessories but when we launched our new manufacturing facilities in the SAIF Zone, we moved it in-house. So we started our own fabrication department to control the quality of the accessories, develop new products, and manage the costs. Today, almost 80% of our requirements for accessories are met in-house. What we don’t make, we source from the best – for example, in oil and gas applications, customers look for different locking mechanisms, emergency lights. We source these from top suppliers in India and China. In fact, we also buy IP-rated and certified locks from the UK. In addition to all these, we closely follow the world's premier plastic composites exhibition, JEC Asia Composites Show, which takes place annually in Singapore to seek new technologies.

Having a product with a long life means replacement is not so frequent. So how do you keep your factory running?

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ur products are linked to infrastructure and this region is still underdeveloped in terms of infrastructure. For example, Qatar’s world cup ambitions are set to unleash a new wave of infrastructure development in that country. Wherever there is infrastructure development, there is going to be a requirement for GRP enclosures for street lighting, electricity distribution, irrigation and so on. So there will always be movement along those lines. We have never ever faced a situation where we didn’t have enough business to fill our workforce and labour hours. In fact, we run 24 hour shifts here.

Apart from Saudi Arabia, do you have other expansion plans?

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feel there is a lot of scope right now to improve the productivity and volumes within our existing facilities. Right now, we use 25,000 square feet as an open space

Could you also elaborate on the barriers that deter competition from other parts of the world like China and India from taking your market share?

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s I mentioned earlier, local manufacturing and supply and the fact that our products are designed for this region are a significant competitive barrier competition. We provide our products with an exterior protective layer of 400 µm gelcoat, which cannot be machine moulded but has to be applied by spray. That thickness is, in fact, the main deterrent against the harsh climate prevalent here harsh visible light, ultraviolet radiation, sand blasting and humidity. The products manufactured in China and Europe is machine moulded for indoor applications. This deters a lot of competition from overseas because the specs actually dictate the layer of gelcoat thickness which is not possible in a machine moulded process where the maximum thickness that can be achieved is about 40 µm. So there is a factor of safety of 10 which favours our products. Furthermore, our experience of operating in this region for the last 23 years gives us a sizeable advantage. Of course, we face local competition from products that use cheap raw materials or don’t meet the thicknesses and grade levels or if the project is seeking a cheap supplier. As for competing head to head with us, our expertise in this niche industry along with the capital investment to match our infrastructure and the lead time to catch up is quite high.

GRP ADVERTORIAL

What are the developments undertaken by your company to push the industry forward?

to assemble the products. However, we are planning to set up a third shed to house a continuous sheet lamination machine for which I have started the procurement process. Where we used to make around 100 metres per day, we will now be able to make around 1,200 metres per day with less labour. The new machine will also free up a lot of space and capacity in our existing facilities to focus on enclosures and kiosks. We have also drawn up a five-year plan in place to shift our factory in the Sharjah Industrial Area to a newer and bigger facility since we will always need to maintain an onshore presence to do business in the U.A.E.

What is your vision for the future?

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see GRP Industries becoming a strong player in Saudi Arabia, which will probably become our core market and the base of our largest manufacturing facility in the region due to sheer volumes. The rest of the GCC will be catered to very well by our current set up. I am also exploring setting up a new manufacturing facility in a free zone which will serve as an offshore outsourced manufacturing unit focussed on the UK and European export markets. Apart from our existing product range, I also see a lot of potential to invest in new composites technology to manufacture windmill blades as a alternate product line for the European market. With wind driving clean energy revolution in Europe, there is a lot of potential in this line. May2012

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NEWS industrynotes

polishingpayoff

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Recycling is cool Park Hyatt Dubai reuses wastewater in its cooling towers and saves precious potable water

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uests at the luxury Park Hyatt Dubai hotel are being kept cool thanks to a unique water recycling project, which treats Treated Sewage Effluent (TSE) for use in the hotel’s HVAC (heating, ventilating, and air conditioning) system. Thanks to this project, the hotel has saved 154,880 cubic metres of potable water to date or enough water to fill as many as 62 Olympic-sized swimming pools. (The average volume of an Olympic-sized swimming pool is 2,500 cubic metres). The overall system processes 148,300 cubic metres/year of TSE for the resort which is used to supply the HVAC towers that help cool the property’s 225 luxury rooms and suites. Dow Water & Process Solutions, through Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies, supplied the ultrafiltration (UF) and reverse osmosis (RO) components that process the TSE at the hotel. “At Dow, sustainability is at the heart of everything we do and it is always gratifying to see our solutions being used to drive change,” said Dr Ilham Kadri, Commercial Director, Dow Water & Process Solutions, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). “Water is a precious resource in the Middle East and it’s important to recognise that wastewater will evolve into the next big source of water along with desalination.” “The success of this project demonstrates the viability of water reuse and recycling solutions in a May2012

region where water scarcity leads the agenda,” said Emmanuel Gayan, CEO, Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies Middle East. “The system is an excellent example of how we collaborate with Dow in the value chain to integrate technologies and deliver effective solutions that are not only sustainable but also cost effective with a fast return on investment. I truly believe that this model can and should be replicated in order to help conserve water and improve efficiencies.” (See Q & A on Page 28) The TSE is pre-treated using DOW UF membrane technology and is further purified using FILMTEC RO membrane technology. The process results in high quality water that is low in Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) and not only has an impact on the resort’s environmental footprint but also on the efficiency and cost of the HVAC towers operation. Apart from helping the hotel reduce its consumption of potable water, the system has also contributed to improving the efficiency of the cooling system. As Sanjeev Unni, Technical Manager, Middle East & Africa, Dow Water & Process Solutions, pointed out, cooling water cycles depend on turbidity and TDS in the water. In the case of normal potable water, where the TDS is around 120-150 ppm, both TDS and turbidity will go up after six to seven cycles. So the water is blown down with fresh water. In the case of TSE, the combined UF-RO system actually reduces TDS to levels lower

Dr Ilham Kadri, Commercial Director, Dow Water & Process Solutions, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA)

than that in potable water. Unni elaborated: “The TSE comes with a low TDS of around 1,000-1,200 ppm. The UF stage removes all the biological activity and TDS, while the RO stage reduces TDS to around 20 to 30 ppm. If you use this water for the cooling blow down, you can actually increase the cycles.” The combined UF-RO system can help addresses the scaling and bio-fouling problems encountered in wastewater reuse applications. “Good pre-treatment is the key. With proper anti-scalants, you will get softened water from the RO system,” said Unni. Dr Ilham Kadri believes that the region will only see more and more of such projects in the future. She said: “We take water from the sea, remove the salt, use it, recuperate the wastewater and then put the water back into the sea, which is a real waste of money and energy. We believe that wastewater will become the fastest growing market in the region. It is an easy resource to access and less energy intense compared to seawater desalination.” Another landmark water re-use project that Dow is associated with in the UAE involves the country’s leading dairy producer. Al Ain Diary is using a similar combined UF- RO system to reuse 300,000 litres of TSE/day, which is then sprayed through an automated cooling system designed to keep the herd cool and comfortable during the summer season, thereby maintaining optimal dairy production levels.


NEWS industrynotes

Interview with Emmanuel Gayan, CEO, Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies Middle East Are you seeing a lot of demand for such water re-use solutions in the Gulf region today?

W

hen we implemented this water re-use project in 2009, it was really the first of its kind, not only in the UAE but also the region. Since then, we have executed several similar projects across the region. In the UAE, if we take just the hospitality industry as an example, we have done two to three similar projects. Once you are comfortable with the TSE quality (which we check), the design is pretty straightforward. Of course, you don’t always have a TSE network (like in some parts of Saudi Arabia), then it is much more challenging. We might have to directly treat the wastewater for re-use, which require additional technologies to be used. Overall, we have now done nearly 20 projects or more on the same principles in the GCC.

What is the biggest concern of your clients when it comes to water reuse?

T

he major worry, which comes irrespective of the actual application of the water, is safety. Is it safe to send in the perceived dirty water? It is more of a mental concern because the technology available today can ensure that the re-used water is safe. Our industrial clients have consultants working on their large scale water re-use projects, and they trust their consultants. But when it comes to smaller projects in hotels and with water not being their business, one has to do a lot more in terms of explanations and assurances. But the Return on Investment (RoI) for the Client, especially in the UAE, is very good.

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In Dubai, the high water tariffs are a motivating factor and ensure faster RoI. What about other parts of the Middle East?

O

ne has to go on a case by case basis. Sometimes, it is either reuse the water or nothing. You have places in Saudi Arabia, where conversations would be on the lines of: no we don’t have TSE, yes the city water is almost free but there is no city water here. So if you want water for cooling or other purpose, you have to desalinate the water or reuse what you have already desalinated. Then the answer is very simple: if you have to desalinate water to operate your cooling system, better to re-use everything you can.

With many hotels and commercial projects having their own desalination systems, can we start talking about closing the loop?

B

rine disposal is always the limiting factor when it comes to closing the loop. In cities, we have wastewater networks and common sewage treatment plants, so the high TDS brine discharged by the re-use system will be only a very small part of the overall wastewater flow and there will be natural dilution effect. But when you have to do specific onsite treatment to dispose the brine, it can be very complicated. A simple and cheap option, if you have space and do things right environmentally, is natural evaporation; if you don’t have space or have environmental restrictions, forced evaporation is the alternative. We have a company called HPD, which is a world leader in this technology. We have implemented Zero Liquid Discharge systems for power plants in the US; closer home, we did a huge one for Shell in Qatar. However, it is still an expensive technology on both capex and opex.


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Advertorial ADVERTORIAL LOTO

Preventive control

30

Many of the accidents caused by unexpected energisation or startup of machinery and equipment, or the release of hazardous energy during service or maintenance activities can be prevented by applying proper Lockout / Tagout (LOTO) procedures.

A

s technology has advanced, the energy sources that drive machines have become more powerful and sophisticated, making service and maintenance tasks more demanding, complex and often more dangerous. Lockout/Tagout (LOTO)" refers to specific practices and procedures to safeguard employees from the unexpected energization or startup of machinery and equipment, or the release of hazardous energy during service or maintenance activities. OSHA 29 CFR & 1910.147 standard for Lockout / Tagout has been in effect since September 1, 1989 and governs implementation of Lockout / Tagout procedures during plant maintenance and shutdown. This standard is exhaustive and has been benchmarked by most countries across the globe. The standard applies to General Industry workers performing servicing and maintenance on machines and equipment and who are exposed to the unexpected energisation, startup, or release of hazardous energy. Activities and operations covered under OSHA 29 CFR & 1910.147 Lockout / Tagout are Constructing, installing, setting up, adjusting, inspecting, modifying, maintaining and/or servicing machines or equipment, including lubrication, cleaning or unjamming of machines or equipment, and making adjustments or tool changes, where employees could be exposed to the unexpected energisation or startup of the equipment or release of hazardous energy. OSHA also stipulates LOTO implementation when an employee May2012

is required to remove or bypass machine guards or other safety devices or place any part of his or her body into a point of operation or into an area on a machine or piece of equipment where work is performed, or into the danger zone associated with the machine's operation. Under the rule, hazardous energy sources must be isolated and rendered incapable of being operated before work can begin. Hazardous energy sources include Electrical, Mechanical, Hydraulic, Pneumatic, Chemical, Thermal, Kinetic & Potential. Injuries and losses arising from failure to control hazardous energy are entirely preventable provided a properly defined Lockout / Tagout programme is implemented ensuring procedures and implementation are designed to address multi-cultural, multi-lingual workforce in the Middle East. Vital to programme success is developing procedures that are understandable and easy for employees to implement. Building lockout capability into machines and having lockout materials and hardware readily available for use saves time and effort. Employees shouldn't be tempted to take shortcuts by having to walk a distance to obtain lockout devices. Successful best-management practices include placing lockout stations close to machines and equipment requiring frequent service or maintenance under lockout, or personally assigning locks, tags and appliances to authorised employees as is done with other types of personal protective equipment. It's also a good practice to post written

energy control procedures at or near the machines to be serviced so they are accessible to employees. Management plays a major role in creating Safe Working Practices. Accidents occur for various reasons, and they can generally be attributed to management system failures. Errors such as inadequate training, poor energy control procedures and a lack of emphasis on implementing proper Lockout / Tagout programme increase the likelihood of accidents. As a good rule of thumb for effective safety management, a general safety inspection should be incorporated as part of a regular business review and should be conducted every six months, but not less than annually. These inspections must periodically be made in order to ensure that the rules and policies are still accurate, being enforced, and that all necessary control measures, if any, are being implemented. Inspections also serve to demonstrate the company’s commitment to safety. The most cited accident in the Oil Industry is the “Piper Alpha� Rig blowout in 1988 in the North Sea killing 167 men and causing a loss of over $0.2 Billion. Another infamous tragedy is the Bhopal Gas Tragedy in 1984 in India which killed over 23,000 innocent people. The cost of both tragedies in terms of human lives and suffering is incalculable. Investigation in both tragedies revealed nonimplementation of proper Lockout / Tagout as one of the factors. The Oil & Gas sector in the GCC and Middle East strictly implements Lockout / Tagout programmes, However awareness in other sectors is still in the nascent stages with the exception of Abu Dhabi making it mandatory to implement LOTO during plant commissioning and maintenance as stipulated in their website http://www.adehsms.ae/ Pages/ADEHSMSDetails.aspx Code of Practice Cop 10 -


performed • Types and magnitude of hazardous energy • Type and location of the isolating device(s) • Involved personnel • Specific procedures and sequences for de-energising, verifying and locking/tagging out • Specific steps for re-energising the machine and restoring it to normal operation. According to OSHA, a lockout/tagout program must include three basic elements. 1. Written procedures for controlling hazardous energy releases from each piece of equipment. They should describe preparation for shutdown, actual shutdown, equipment isolation, steps for applying and removing lockout/tagout devices, requirements

for testing that hazardous energy has indeed been isolated, and notification of employees. 2. Training for: "authorised" employees who do the maintenance and servicing work and must know how to safely isolate energy sources before beginning work; "affected" employees who might be working in the vicinity of a locked-out machine and must understand the hazards of attempting a start-up; and "other" employees who might be walking through part of a plant where a machine is locked out. 3. Periodic audits, at least once a year, of the overall programme. This inspection must be done by an authorised employee who is not actively involved in the energy control procedures being inspected.

(Source: www.osha.gov)

LOTO ADVERTORIAL

Occupational Health and Safety To perform service and maintenance work on industrial equipment safely, it is imperative to understand the importance of energy control in line with OSHA’s standard and know how to isolate energy and apply proper LOTO procedures to safeguard and prevent serious injuries and death. The basic elements of a Lockout / Tagout programme include conducting a detailed application and exposure survey, developing a written programme and machine-specific energy control procedures, employee training and annual Program / Procedure review. Basic elements of any LOTO Programme include documenting the procedure prior to implementation: • Machine, equipment or process to be locked / tagged out • Intended use of the procedure or type of service/maintenance to be

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NEWS industrynotes

assetnotes

Transformative technologies How social technologies, mobile Internet, cloud computing and analytics impact industrial automation

N

atural gas fracking, wind turbines and solar farms, Boeing's 787 Dreamliner, electric cars, self-driving cars, military drones, smart phones and tablets, smart learning robots, selfhealth monitoring gadgets, the Nest learning thermostat – an assorted but industry-transforming mix of processes or products. That's how Andy Chatha, ARC Founder and President collectively described the above line up during his leadoff keynote on Day 2 of the 16th Annual ARC World Industry Forum, held from February 6 to 9, 2012 in Florida. He chose to expand on the forum’s theme for this year - Transforming Industry through New Processes and Technologies. Pointing out that his picks of the top four transformative technologies — social technologies, mobile internet, cloud computing, and advanced analytics — do not apply at the industrial controls layer, Andy noted that each technology, however, provides opportunities for improvement at higher levels of the enterprise. As social technologies become increasingly mature, they can provide people across an industrial organisation with easy access to the information they need to do their jobs better and improve overall

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performance. Smart phones, tablets, and other mobile Internet technologybased products provide people with access to the information they need from any location at any time. “We already have more devices connected to the Internet than there are people on this planet,” said Andy. “It's safe to say that the era of the Mobile Internet is here." The emerging Internet of Things (IoT) will further extend mobile information access to a wide variety of smart industrial devices (sensors, machines, equipment) to help enable collaborative predictive maintenance and other highly effective asset management practices. Andy recommended that every company should implement a good mobile enterprise management platform. Cloud computing-enabled virtualisation technology can offload much of the cost and the responsibility for providing server hardware and implementing and supporting virtualised applications from an industrial organisation's own typically under-staffed IT group, to a third-party provider. These service providers typically utilise the most advanced technology for high availability and security (both physical and cyber). "A cloud is just another data centre; you can think of your control room as a private cloud," said Andy. “While

many manufacturers are already doing mission-critical control in the field, it's not likely that we'll ever do mission-critical control in the cloud.” He added that cloud computing is perfectly acceptable for a wide range of other plant and enterprise-level applications. In his address, Andy also discussed advanced analytics as a transformative technology. "Analytics is my favourite," he said. "Now that it's much faster and easier to use, you have to see it to believe it! I didn't realise the full potential myself until we started using the technology ourselves to develop our new cloudbased analytics capability. Several of our larger supplier clients are already using this new capability, which we call MIRA (Market Intelligence & Rapid Analysis) to extract more value from ARC's vast amount of market research data." For manufacturers and other industrial organisations, today's advanced and well-proven analytics technologies can provide the key that finally enables them to unlock actionable information from the "Big Data" they've been collecting all along in their plant historians and other data repositories. Many industrial organisations already use advanced analytics to do performance monitoring, statistical process control, root cause analysis, and so on. In the concluding part of his speech, Andy summarised that while each of these transformative technologies is powerful on its own, when one combines cloud computing with advanced analytics, a mobility platform and devices, and a collaborative social platform, one will have a much more powerful organisation.

(Based on an ARC Insights report on the forum by Paul Miller, Senior Editor, Analyst & Content Director of ARC Advisory Group. For more information, please e-mail pmiller(at)arcweb.com)



FEATURE interview

ontherecord

A winning thesis Dr David Cartmell is Executive Chairman & CEO, BWA Water Additives. A PhD in Nuclear Chemistry from the University of Leeds, David joined the company in 1985 as a research scientist, and took over its reins in 1997. Since then, his strategic agenda for the business, in terms of market-based focus on water treatment, continuous innovation, close connections with the customer base and strong emphasis on established BWA brand names has yielded rich dividends, WITH BWA establishING itself as a global technology leader IN water treatment chemicals. In this exclusive interview with Anoop K Menon, David holds forth on what makes BWA Water Additives tick and how his strategy for the company continues to endure and deliver. It isn’t often that one comes across PhDs running businesses and highly successful ones at that. How did you end up at the helm of what is, unarguably, a highly successful and global water chemicals business?

M

y PhD thesis was on corrosion in nuclear power stations. So when I joined BWA in 1985, when it was still the water treatment business of Ciba Geigy, it was as a corrosion scientist in the research group. I worked there for two-three years, got a couple

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of patents and published some technical papers. I was often asked to help our sales guys with their customers’ technical problems, and I found myself engaged more and more with the commercial side of the company. I started to find that more interesting and exciting and if I may confess, far more energising than being in a laboratory because that was the real world out there. So in 1988, I moved into sales and in 1997, I was invited to head the business. Having been at the helm for nearly 15 years now, I strongly feel that for any business to have a sustainable advantage, finding a differentiation or angle is crucial. For a business like ours, that angle has always been technology and technical leadership and approach has served us well. We address mainly two key problem areas – scale control and bacteria. Companies are always developing or upgrading their plant equipment over time. When they change processes or techniques, they get different scale problems that need slightly different products or more data about how to use our products or new solutions. Scale control is a major focus area for us, where we are working with customers directly and also in our laboratories. On the bacteria side, which is a problem in Reverse Osmosis (RO) and also in industrial water, especially in processes requiring cooling water, having better control of bacteria in water treatment systems is a real need that we focus on as well.

How has BWA’s preferred business model of not owning manufacturing assets served the company through the highs and lows of the business and economic cycles? How has it helped the company innovate?

W

hat differentiates us from many chemical companies is our single-minded focus on just one market, which is water treatment. Most chemical companies manufacture products and sell them into whatever market they can put them into, a strategy which makes sense if you have a large manufacturing base. If you don't have that, it makes more sense to focus on only one market and source or develop products for that market. So how does that approach tie into technology and innovation? If you are focussed on one market, which in BWA’s case is water treatment, all your sales, marketing and technology people are essentially water treatment specialists. This, in turn, means that most of our new product ideas come from the market, not from our laboratory. Our new product development is largely guided by the market. Our R&D people work on what we think we have heard from the market place and we take that back to our customer base. That gives us the confidence that there is a market for our products and that customers are going to be receptive. Also we work


You chose to launch your new range of biodegradable antiscalants at a time when the emphasis seems to be lot more on managing costs, and global economy is unable to shake off the weight of uncertainty. So what kind of conversations are you having with your customers today, some of whom are large global corporations?

W

e always think long term, and for me, long term is nothing less than five to 10 years. There are three areas that we have identified as desires or needs of our customer base, be it desalination or general water treatment. One is discharge of chemicals into the environment. To compare, if you are making chemicals that go into the foam which goes into furniture, they might be lying for 20 years or more in somebody's office. But in the water market, most of the time, they end up in water bodies in hours or days. I know that people are becoming more and more focussed on that. The second thing we find our customers talking a lot about is their carbon footprint and environmental profile. Nowadays, large companies have people within their organisation who are serious about improving the organisation’s environmental profile over the long term. They tell us they want to have better control over the chemicals they use. So monitorability and ability to measure the chemicals in the system is becoming more important. The third thing is safer handling of products. When people are handling chemicals, they want it be easier and safer to handle. I feel that in the very short term, people will always be talking about cost control. But our product development takes years, so allowing short term financial situations to come in the way doesn’t make sense. Ultimately, those desires and needs will be there in two to three years time because people will always want a better environmental profile from the products they are using. That is a given, so our goal will always be to position our product range for the future not just for today's market. Having said that, the products we currently sell are safe and environmentally acceptable, and regulated for drinking water. We would not, as a company, sell anything that wasn't. So I would say the new products are simply improving on the profile we have.

Are there any gaps in the product portfolio that you are looking to fill?

W

e typically break down the application to the real problem – it can either be a scale problem or a corrosion issue or a microbicidal/biological fouling problem. And we are always scouting for new applications for our chemicals. A great example is oil fields where membranes are being used to remove sulphate from the seawater used for injection into the oil reservoirs. This gives rise to a distinct scaling problem, so we have developed a product purely for that market. I like these different uses because they all give slightly different challenges. At the moment, we can address most of the problems occurring on the scale side but we always want to try and make things better if we can. As much as the focus is on controlling the problem, it is also about making total use of the product in the best way possible. That's where aspects like handling, safety, biodegradability and environmental profile come into play. All these are part of the chemical because people buy and use the chemical and then it gets discharged into the environment. We have to think about the total usage of the product rather than limit ourselves to just the actual problem it is designed for. In fact, an unmet market need we have identified in water treatment is an online biocide for controlling bacteria in membrane plants. The product will actually allow you to control the bacteria on membrane while it is still being used. That’s a key research project for us. To add, we initially launched our first biodegradable antiscalant for desalination under the Flocon family of products because the markets demanding such a solution, especially in Europe, in Scandinavia are mainly membrane markets. However, we will be launching one for thermal desalination, under our Belgard range, sometime in the next 18 months.

interview FEATURE

closely with about two-dozen suppliers around the world. This means that our people enjoy giving customers the very best possible recommendations on how to solve their water treatment problems, without being influenced in any way by the need to recommend one particular product or another order to 'fill a plant'.

What is your vision for the future?

M

y vision is to continue to drive BWA towards global technical leadership in the water treatment chemicals business. We had a clear strategy for 15 years and it has worked. I am great believer in stability and innovation. If we can continue to combine business stability and very strong new product innovation, I think we have got a great success and a great future. In any other business like mobiles or cars or laptops, markets come and go. But water is a basic need and requirement, so the demand will always be there. But this shouldn’t make us complacent either. I think we have to continually innovate and improve what we do. Every year, we have got to set ourselves new goals and new targets; so the biggest challenge for us would be to sustain our drive to innovate. May2012

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FEATURE irrigation

sub-surfacevalue

Turf wars As more grassy fields are converted to artificial turf, many disadvantages of application of the synthetic material are being overlooked. A rising temperature problem means that installation can come with drawbacks. According to some studies, the infill material can heat up to 65°C in warmer months, far higher than anything that could be considered safe; becoming a health hazard above 48°C and simply unusable for long periods of time during the day in spring or summer.

W

hile things will get a lot cooler when the sun goes down, artificial turf unintentionally contributes to the urban heat island effect – along with concrete asphalt – whereby it radiates heat back into the night, making temperatures slightly higher for the surrounding area. Some proponents of artificial turf claim that it is easier to manage and maintain. This is not necessarily true. While grass needs to be mowed on a reoccurring basis, the act itself removes accumulated dirt and debris that will leave the lawn looking replenished. Artificial turf, on the other hand, will start to collect this waste – especially in desert climate where dust quickly becomes entrapped in the upright fibers. While earlier versions allowed for vacuuming, doing so in newer versions can cause damage to the synthetic field. This in turn means that sanitation is frequently overlooked, and pathogens are allowed to penetrate the area. Whereas on natural grass,

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complex soil bacteria and other microorganisms initiate decomposition and neutralisation processes that creates a more hygienic environment. The absence of these biological systems allow the contaminants to simply remain dormant and infectious for longer periods of time – even Salmonella has been known to be viable on dry surfaces for several months. While the water-saving prowess of artificial turf is exemplary, the EPIC system – which uses natural grass and has the capacity to save up to 80% of water – means that synthetic material is not the only answer for reducing hydration requirements. The subsurface EPIC (Environmental Passive Integrated Chamber) system provides exceptional drainage, irrigation, filtration, and acts as a water reservoir with zero waste. The innovative chamber is positioned below the surface, and is completely non-pressurised, allowing water to rise up to plant roots via capillary action

Synthetic material is not the only answer for reducing hydration requirements.

after being filtered through sand. Lined with EPDM (a waterproof rubber liner), there is no loss to the ground and virtually no evaporation, allowing the natural grass to have a constant source of water. Its unique design eradicates water blockage, and allows for the use of fresh, brackish, grey and treated water. Not only is less water used, but there is a constant source for irrigation requirements. Grass remains hydrated, green and fresh, and the need for artificial turf is dismissed. For those applications already using artificial turf, EPIC does propose a solution that works to eliminate the intense heat associated with the synthetic material. EPIC system provides two cooling options which can operate independently or simultaneously to provide field heat reduction on a continuous basis. Where conventional artificial fields use a gravel base that is inefficient in transferring heat, the EPIC system uses materials that divert this heat away from the turf.


YOUR ONE-STOP GUIDE TO CONSTRUCTION DEVELOPMENTS IN THE REGION... The Big Project is the Middle East’s leading monthly B2B magazine for the construction industry.

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Artificial Turf - EPIC Cross Section

The first option uses a sand base instead of gravel. Combined with water, to create a damp water film that is conducive for heat transfer, heat has a pathway to move and be absorbed into the cool damp sand base below. That is because heat will always transfer from a hot area to a cool area. By establishing a passive but effective heat absorption pathway, test fields with an EPIC base cooled by as much as by 10° C below identical models with a conventional dry gravel base.

EPIC System for Artificial Fields

The second option is injecting air into the EPIC base profile. Much like an ‘air hockey table’, the EPIC Sports Field of any size can move damp air from the base of damp sand, past the cooled fibers, to the air above the field. Damp air may be as cool as 18°C, and can absorb additional heat through evaporative cooling. Air injection can be automatically controlled or manual operated to boost a cooling requirement for a short time period. This breakthrough technology is suitable for all brands of artificial turf surfaces regardless of infill combinations. The application also makes the switch to natural grass convenient, where the artificial turf can be pulled and the seeds laid down.

CONTACT DETAILS Associate publisher Liam Williams liam@cpidubai.com TEL: +971 (0)4 440 9158

Editor Melanie Mingas melanie@cpidubai.com TEL: +971 (0)4 440 9117 GSM: +971 (0)56 758 7834


FEATURE cables

cabletalk

Graham O’Geran, operations manager at BASEC explains the most common cable types and tests

Test basics

T

he British Approvals Service for Cables (BASEC) is a specialist certification body for cables, working across the Middle East with reputable cable manufacturers. Gaining BASEC product approval for a cable is a prestigious mark of quality for a cable manufacturer. Electrical power and wiring cables, data and signal cables and ancillary products are rigorously tested to meet necessary and appropriate standards through detailed examination of manufacturers' production processes and controls, full initial type-testing and regular surveillance testing. BASEC can in principal certify any type of cable, including bespoke and novel designs. The technical specifications for cables are set out in standards at British, European and international level, supplemented in many cases by industry, application or company specific specifications. In addition to the construction and materials requirements (for example the types of plastics to use) these documents also specify the testing that needs to be applied in order to demonstrate and verify compliance. Most cables require between 30 and 60 different tests and examinations.

are 11 separate construction types set out in Tables, including the familiar ‘flat twin and earth’ ‘meter tails’, ‘conduit wire’ and other types.

BS 7211 - This standard offers Low

Smoke Halogen Free (LSHF) versions of many of the types of wire and cable found in BS 6004. There are nine separate construction types set out in Tables.

BS 6231 - This is the primary

British standard for single core instrument wire and includes the higher temperature rated type known commercially as ‘tri-rated’. This means it can simultaneously comply with the

Building wiring and flexible cables

BS 6004 - This is the main standard

for PVC wire and cable commonly used in final circuits in buildings. There

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Fire test

The BASEC mark is a sign that cables are tested to meet relevant British standards

British, American (UL) and Canadian (CSA) standards.

BS 6500 - This is the main British

Standard for flexible cables. It incorporates a number of construction types of various materials, many of which are harmonised with European standards and are within the HAR scheme.

BS 8436 - This is installation cable

for use in final circuits, with an integral earthed screen and LSHF sheath. It is intended for use at shallow depths in partitions and related applications. It is nail penetration tested in conjunction with an RCD (Residual Current


Fire tests on cables vary considerably, but all cables are subjected to the ‘bunsen burner’ test Device) to meet Wiring Regulations requirements.

Armoured and special cables

BS 6724 - These are armoured power cables with XLPE or EPR insulation and LSHF sheathing, commonly used where public access is a factor. Two, three, four, five and multi-core versions are available. BS 7846 - These are fire resisting

armoured power cables with XLPE or EPR insulation and LSHF sheathing and enhanced circuit integrity properties. Two, three, four, and five core versions are available.

BS 7629-1 - Commonly used with

fire alarm systems to BS 5839-1 and emergency lighting systems to BS 5266-1, this is a widely used type of ‘soft skin’, fire resistant screened cables. They have low emission of smoke and corrosive gases when affected by fire.

BS EN 60702-1 (IEC 60702-1) -

Often used in emergency systems, this is an internationally harmonised standard for mineral insulated cables. They have high fire resistance and properties designed to survive fires.

Examples of tests on cables Conductor resistance: This test

measures the amount of electricity that a cable can safely transmit, and broadly measures the amount of copper present. BASEC has issued a number of warnings to the electrical trade of cables that, when tested through BASEC's independent

Strippability

testing laboratory, indicate excessive conductor resistance. Some conductors have been found to have up to two standard sizes smaller than that marked on the cables, which could result in overloading and overheating in use.

Smoke tests: To describe a cable as 'LSHF' (Low Smoke Halogen Free), it must pass two tests: (a) a smoke cube test, which sets a maximum accumulated smoke density produced when burning the cable with a standard fire, and (b) a corrosive and acid gas test where the cable materials are roasted and must give off a maximum of 0.5% acid gas. These tests are both specified in cable standards which include the description 'having low emission of smoke and corrosive gases when affected by fire'. Cables made from PVC or similar halogenated material. Fire performance: Some cables are used in specialist fire systems and have to withstand a fire for two hours or more. Fire tests on cables vary considerably, but all cables are subjected to the ‘bunsen burner’ test and others are expected to continue working for many hours while being subjected to hot gas flames, water spray and hammering.

Strippability: Sometimes due

to a manufacturing fault, cables are found to be unstrippable. Strippability can be readily checked by feeling the free end of each reel of cable with a fingernail to check if the sheath and bedding can be lifted away from the cores. If it will not come away from the cores easily, then normal stripping of the cable should be attempted.

cables FEATURE

BS 5467 - These are armoured power cables with XLPE (Crosslinked Polyethylene) or EPR (Ethylene Propylene Rubber) insulation and PVC sheathing. They are used in several construction, commercial and industrial applications. Two, three, four, five and multi-core versions are available.

Tensile strength: The plastic materials used for insulation and sheathing the cable must be pliable enough for the cable to be bent easily, but not too much that it easily stretches. It must also not be too brittle that it cracks. These materials are also artificially aged so that the likely performance of the materials in 20 or more years of time can be assessed. Heat and Cold: Cables are used in a wide variety of environments, so several tests assess their performance in very hot and very cold conditions, to check whether the insulation and sheathing material melts or cracks and hence ensuring safety.

Further information about BASEC and advice on faulty cables is available at www.basec.org.uk or you can contact BASEC directly on +44 (0)1908 267300 als are unlikely to pass these tests. May2012

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FEATURE cables

HVstakes

Aiming for world class Ducab-HV is determined to set the highest standards in its mission to supply high voltage cable systems to regional and international markets.

W

hat makes a cable green extends beyond its recyclability aspects, observes John Vail, CEO, Ducab-HV. “The biggest lifecycle impact of cables on the environment is the losses during their life time,” he explains. “Manufacturing forms only a small part of the lifecycle analysis of cables.” A very simple way to reduce the losses, Vail grins and suggests, is to make a bigger cable. “A bigger cable will cost a lot more money because you need a larger conductor. But environmentally, it is the best way long term to save power losses.” But he admits that the recyclability advantage will retain a bigger mindshare. “In fact, 90% of the cable materials are recyclable,” said Vail. “The copper, whether it is scrap or recovered from any cable at the end of its life, can be completely recycled. All the copper goes back to our copper rod plant in Abu Dhabi. The lead sheet, which protects the cable from the environment, is 100% recyclable as also the high density PE. Only few of the tapes are hard to recycle.” Ducab-HV, which is joint venture between Ducab (50%), DEWA (25%) and ADWEA (25%) to manufacture

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high voltage cable systems, is walking the green talk in its operations too. “We are trying to make our factory green wherever we can,” said Vail. “With DEWA and ADWEA as partners, conserving water and electricity becomes all the more important for us.” Thus, the factory’s electricity system uses the most modern control systems to regulate the demand for electricity. “If we can use less electricity (and it costs us more), it certainly helps,” said Vail. Further, the factory uses a lot of process water to cool down the extruded polymers which are hot, so that they don’t deform. To conserve water, Ducab HV has installed closed circuit systems that collect, cool and re-circulate the water using natural cooling. An onsite grey water processing system processes all the domestic wastewater for re-use in irrigation. “Ultimately, being green is good not only for the environment but also for the business,” said Vail. On the business front, the DucabHV CEO has a lot of expectations from the company’s partnership with J-Power Systems of Japan, one of the world's leading companies in HV technology. Hitachi Cable and Sumitomo Electric, JPS' founding partners, have been leading HV cable technology since the 1960s. Vail explained: “Due to the exacting nature of this business, our customers want to see a proven track record of success. For a new company,

John Vail, CEO, Ducab HV

this creates barriers to entry. So we wanted a technology partner, who could bring in the expertise. We have had a relationship with them for years, having done benchmarking exercises with them. Also, they were very keen to export their technology and products. So they were a logical choice.” Technology transfer is a key part of the agreement and is taking place through a combination of Ducab-HV engineering teams visiting Japan, as well as experienced JPS engineers' stationed in the UAE to train DucabHV staff. “What we hope to get from them is the credibility of their huge experience and access to their latest R&D,” said Vail. “Our manufacturing team was trained in Japan on the latest manufacturing techniques. We are now starting to implement some of those ideas back in Dubai.” Though HV cable market is a highly project driven segment, Vail is confident that market will continue to grow, pointing to the rapid pace of urbanisation in the region. “If you take only Dubai as an example, the city has doubled in size over the past 10 years,” he said. “In cities, HV cables are always underground. As the city expands, even those areas with overhead lines will switch to underground.”

(By Anoop K Menon)


coverstory

Zero Odour

By Anoop K Menon When it comes to odours, no electronic or mechanical detector can beat the human nose, which can distinguish between more than 5,000 odours and detect some compounds with concentrations as low as 0.1 parts per billion. Even today, the human nose provides the only accepted standard for determining odour intensity, where a panel of people are used to account for the range of sensitivity to odours.

coverstory FEATURE

Are biological odour treatment systems a 'green' and ‘economical’ alternative to chemicalbased systems?

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repare to see more of these panels as odour control is becoming one of the most challenging aspects of wastewater treatment. As urban sprawl encroaches on the land around remote wastewater treatment works, unpleasant odour from sewage can have a detrimental impact on the quality of the local environment, while increasing the number of people likely to be impacted by odour. Decentralised wastewater treatment could well exacerbate the impact, while public awareness and expectation of a better environment means increasingly lower tolerance for odour related issues. Several published research studies have concluded that chronic exposure to hydrogen sulphide (H2S) can result in adverse human health effects ranging from eye irritation, sore throat and cough, shortness of breath to fluid in the lungs. Odour is usually caused by the presence of H2S, mercaptans (Organic Sulphur Components), ammonia and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) in the air. So an odour control system will have to treat not only H2S, but also other pollutants to reduce the total odour. While the market for odour control systems has traditionally been dominated by chemical scrubber and carbon-based systems, in the past few years, environment-friendly odour control technologies have started advertising their presence in the Middle East, as ‘green’ alternatives to the ‘traditional’ systems. May2012

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“Biological odour systems seek to replace traditional odour control systems that have high operational and maintenance costs,” said Mohanned Awad, Director of Business Development, ConcordeCorodex Group, which launched its new biological scrubber-based odour control systems in the region in the early part of the year. Odours are formed by the breakdown of organic matter and sulphur under anaerobic conditions. The major sources of odours are wastewater collection systems, pumping stations, gravity sewer lines and to a lesser extent, sludge collection tanks. For example, in a gravity sewer line, H2S gas is formed in the anaerobic portion of the bacterial film layer on the invert of the sewer pipe. Typical places where H2S is released include force main discharge, pump stations and gravity sewer line manholes. Chemical scrubbers have long been one of the most common odour control technologies used in the Middle East, especially in the municipal wastewater industry. “Caustic soda scrubbers, where the sulphides are scrubbed out with sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) or sodium hypochlorite (bleach) are pretty common in the region,” notes Dr Louis D. le Roux, President, BioAir Solutions, a leading US-based provider of biological odour and emission control solutions. The technology enjoys a long track record in the region as it was found to be highly effective on H2S and ammonia odours. Sodium hydroxide and sodium hypochlorite are used to control H2S while sulphuric acid is used to control ammonia odours. “In simple terms, you strip all the odours from gaseous phase and put them in liquid phase,” explained Awad. “But that gives rise to problems related to disposal, storage of hazardous chemicals and also Health, Safety & Environment (HSE) issues.” Chemical scrubbers have a May2012

very small footprints, but have high O&M costs as the system requires chemical storage tanks, pumps as well as expensive control and instrumentation elements like pH and ORP sensors, metering pumps, recirculation pumps, level switches linked to chemical supply tanks and alarms and fan controls. “There is a lot of operator attention because you need to go and tweak pumps and calibrate all the sensors,” said le Roux. Maintaining the chemical conditions favourable for ultimate performance is critical, so strict operation management is needed. Finally, chemical supply has to be replenished periodically, which gives rise to issues related to chemical storage and handling. “These systems use a lot of hazardous chemicals so their running costs are high,” explained Le Roux. “What people perhaps overlook is the creation of ozone-depleting chlorinated by-products that are emitted into the atmosphere.” Activated carbon systems reportedly have the smallest overall footprint of any of the odour control technologies. “They are a simple and easy-to-operate solution for odour control,” said Le Roux. These systems don’t have many moving parts and generally, do not require sensors or instruments. “However, if the concentration of sulphides goes up, the running cost becomes very high,” cautioned le Roux. Further, the carbon must be removed and replaced when it becomes spent. Disposal of spent carbon is an issue, especially in countries with strict landfill disposal regulations. Both BioAir and Corodex claim that their respective biological odour control systems address the high or skewed ‘costs’ associated with traditional odour control systems. Both rely on bacteria instead of chemicals to remove contaminants from the air stream, and tout savings in chemicals where the expenditure can run into millions, as the biggest benefit of deploying their systems.

Dr Louis D. le Roux, President, BioAir Solutions

Our odour treatment system takes bio-trickling filter technology to an advanced leveL to truly create a sustainable process “Our odour treatment system takes bio-trickling filter technology to an advanced level,” said le Roux. “What really makes us unique is the fact that we use a structured synthetic media called EcoBase with engineered flow channels through it to truly create a sustainable process.” The odorous air comes in at the bottom of the reactor, where the H2S and organic odour compound are transferred from the odorous air to the bacteria growing on the EcoBase


From a maintenance standpoint, the manual labour required for biological systems is minimal.

media. Autotrophic bacteria then oxidises H2S while Heterotrophic bacteria oxidises the organic odorous compounds. “Inside the reactor, you have different layers of bacteria because we create a pH gradient. Thus, the autotrophic bacteria at the bottom eat the sulphides, while heterotrophic bacteria at the top eat the organics. That’s how we can eliminate both organic and inorganic odours.” But what happens if inlet odour levels increase? “Even if there is surge in H2S, which is natural, the bacteria system is very forgiving,” said le Roux. “During low concentration periods, they starve a little bit, so when the surge comes, it is the equivalent of a big steak. In the Middle East, we deal mostly with high loadings as the sulphide concentrations are high. The more bacteria you can retain in your reactor vessel, the more you can actually feed it per unit volume.” The BioAir filter media is guaranteed for 10 years, although it is expected to last in excess of 15 years. Awad positions his company’s biological odour control as biological scrubbers, operating more or less on the same principles as bio-trickling

“The manpower requirement for our system is only 20% of that for a chemical scrubber. The only O&M element is lubrication of the blower.” The long media life exceeding 10 years also contributes to lowering the O&M costs. However, biological odour systems also demand a disciplined approach to design. “It is important to understand the characteristic of the odours before you can design the treatment,” said le Roux. “For example, in a wastewater treatment plant, you will see more sulphides and fewer organics at the head works, while the opposite is the case in the primary grit chamber. The odour characteristics shift as you move through the plant.” Odour control systems are custom designed; therefore, to get a good design basis for a system for a particular application, it is important to get several factors right. Le Roux elaborated: “If we consider the example of a pump station, people prefer to use the thumb rule of looking at the volume of the pump station, say six air changes per hour and base their solution on that. But that is not scientific. We prefer to model the air flow. So if you have sewage flowing in a gravity sewer line, we look at the drag between the air and the liquid, model that air flow and then calculate how to size the system properly.” Corodex has invested in a sophisticated state of the art pilot plant that can be placed at sites to treat a side stream of the nuisance odour and configure an optimised custom solution before up scaling into a large system. Awad explained: “Any industrial wastewater treatment designer will tell you that the best way to design a treatment plant is to have a pilot plant to measure the variance of the influent coming in. With odour, every single manhole or pump station has a unique smell. We use the pilot to measure the variance of the incoming odour and test different system configurations, like a May2012

coverstory FEATURE

Mohanned Awad, Director of Business Development, ConcordeCorodex Group

filters. “Our media allows the bacteria to live in multiple pH environments,” he explained. “They can treat average of 250 ppm and high loadings of up to 1,000 ppm, and in the case of H2S removal, they have a minimum of 98% removal capacity and often exceed 99.9%.” Awad devoted nearly two years to developing the solution and then testing it at a sewage pumping station in Sharjah, before launching it this year. He has tied up with Canada’s Biorem for media selection and design consultation. “We decided to go with their media after testing nearly a dozen types of media during the pilot phase,” explained Awad. “What impressed us about their media is that it is readily available, is inorganic and comes with a 10-year warranty. They also have a huge technical staff to advise us on system configuration.” Biological odour control solutions don’t require sophisticated instrumentation and control systems. “Our system is only automated to a level where it brings value for owners. For example, we provide PLC with Ethernet output to a SCADA system, which helps to monitor everything from the SCADA room,” said le Roux. The elimination of chemicals means savings on HSE requirements too. “The personnel have to be fully trained in terms of HSE practices to be able to deal with the plant,” said Awad. The solutions supplied by Corodex and BioAir use Treated Sewage Effluent (TSE) as the nutrient source for the bacteria. “You are substituting the chemicals with a nutrient solution,” explained Awad. “You are basically taking a small stream of treated wastewater at the plant where your system is working and using it as feedstock.” From a maintenance standpoint, the manual labour required for biological systems is minimal. “In the municipal sector, maintenance is always an issue because people don’t want to go out,” said Le Roux.

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With region becoming more environmentally conscious, being a ‘green’ solution is an added advantage

two step configuration or a three step configuration with a polishing step or one step with a double lift inside. The pilot tells us what type of media should be used. Once we configure and optimise the solution, we look at the site, the head works and the plant’s operational working volume and then scale up.” Le Roux believes that biological odour control technology suits the Middle East because it provides total odour control rather than just H2S removal. Moreover, the market is also ready to try a feasible alternative to traditional chemical and carbonbased odour control solutions. "Though very niche solution, biological odour control solutions can contribute significantly to reducing the O&M costs of wastewater treatment works,” said Awad. For cost comparison, le Roux prefers to apply the concept of Present Worth to calculate the return on investment. “Typically, you take the capital cost and all the running costs over next 10 years and bring it to today’s value, expressing it as a function of H2S concentration in the air. For the biological system, there is a slight slope because the blower needs power; but for chemical scrubbers, the relationship is linear - higher the concentration, the more

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chemicals you use.” He continued: “I have visited installations in the region that use chemical scrubbers. They are desperate because they don’t have budgets anymore. What we are doing is installing our biological system in front of the scrubber. The money they save is their pay back. They can still use the chemical scrubber, but the operating cost is very low now and the payback in some cases is less than one year.” Awad believes that in addition to the replacement market, there is also a market in new projects. “In fact, biological odour control is recognised as unique technology with separate specification within a tender,” he observed. “It will have detailed specifications and nominated system suppliers.” A common worry expressed by clients is whether the biological nature of the technology is robust enough to deal with peaks. “During our pilot project in Sharjah, we witnessed peaks of up to 600 ppm from a steady state of 20-30 ppm in a matter of a few minutes,” said Awad. “But the bacteria were able to compensate. Even we were surprised by the robustness of the bacteria. We share this data with prospective clients so that they are convinced

about the solution.” Both le Roux and Awad agree that the market for biological odour control solutions has received a boost thanks to the prevailing economic environment where people are being asked to do more with less. “Now that things are tough and nobody has money in their pockets, they are re-thinking about how they can save,” said le Roux. “This is a standard technology approved by the US EPA,” said Awad. “People here are beginning to embrace it now because they see the economical benefits but the environmental benefits are even better.” Le Roux added: “With region becoming more environmentally conscious, being a ‘green’ solution is an added advantage.”

End note: Le Roux notes that

if one compares biological odour control systems with chemical scrubbers and activated carbon in terms of printer equivalents – the latter two are the equivalent of inkjet printers. “You get inkjet printer practically free, but you are paying for the ink. My solution is the laser printer equivalent.”


insight Forecasts from multiple suppliers are used

Filtering out the dirt

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n EU-funded project Hi-Fre is developing 'Efficient membrane filtration units with integrated high frequency backpulsing device.’ In other words, once the filter starts clogging, the device reverses the thrust with a lot of power to safely flush out harmful residue. The new backpulsing technology under development will be integrated into filtration systems. The applications being considered for the new technology range from the treatment of liquid residues from biomass-based power generation to treatment and reuse of process fluids and wastewater. The project delves into the hydrodynamics of highfrequency backpulsing and novel backpulsing devices, as well as adapted membrane configurations and new applications for this creative technique. The technique works by reversing the pressure between the feed and the outer side of the filter using short backpulses in a very controlled process. In the first phase of the project, seven SMEs and one industrial end-user, in addition to R&D stakeholders investigated the system's design. They agreed that a successful backpulse device should be capable of controlling backpulse frequency and be flexible enough to work with different types of sophisticated membranes. Thus, the backpulse device has been constructed in a practical way, using a motor-driven piston rather than valves. Continued testing against different membrane modules provided by SME membrane manufacturers has also proved successful. The backpulsing systems have been tested with different membranes and feed solutions such as surface water, biomass from wastewater treatment plants and liquid residues from biogas plants. With initial success confirmed, the way has been paved for further improvements of the systems and their application on a pilot scale.

For more information on the project, visit www.hi-fre.eu

Marketing renewable energy

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he growing volume of solar and wind power is a challenge because they are subject to strong natural fluctuations. So the stored volume of wind energy, for example, at TenneT TSO, a German transmission grid operator, can fluctuate from just a few 100 MW up to about 9,000 MW within a few days. With photovoltaic, these power increments can happen within hours, which is comparable to the difference in performance between one small gas turbine and nine large conventional power plants. However, transmission system operators must assess precisely the supply of electricity from renewable energies for the next day in order to market this electricity on the European Power Exchange (EPEX) as effectively as possible. To solve this problem, Fraunhofer researchers, working jointly with TenneT TSO, have developed software that takes multiple forecasts and combines them with each other to generate one single, highly reliable projection. To achieve the best possible prediction, forecasts from multiple suppliers are used. For the respective next day (day ahead), these are summarised into an optimised ‘Meta-Forecast.’ Added to these forecasts are predictions for other renewable energies, such as biomass, hydroelectric and geothermal power and landfill gas. The collective result represents the entire projected volume of green electricity. From a large number of individual forecasts, the software generates an optimised overall projection. The entire computing process consists of roughly 15,000 individual steps – a massive challenge that requires a high degree of automation from the software. Not only can the software calculate the power for a day in advance, it can also provide precise forecasting every quarter hour by correcting the day-ahead marketing every 15 minutes, with partial assistance from short-term projections on the spot market. This means that TenneT TSO is able to respond to shifts in storage volumes with great speed. Another advantage: Using the optimised marketing of green energy quotas on the EPEX, revenues from green energy are maximised, and the utilisation of balancing energy is minimised. This, in turn, helps to reduce the share of costs from green energy that every consumer has to pay with the electricity bill. May2012

thehub FEATURE

Fouling phenomena still limit membrane filtration performance

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FEATURE thehub The study found CDM skewed towards the interests of polluting corporations

‘UN emission market needs urgent reform’

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he United Nations (UN) global carbon market requires substantial reform because it too often fails to support the projects and people it is meant to help, according to new research from the Economic and Social Research Council (www.esrc.ac.uk). The research findings were released as the UN, which has designated 2012 the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All, begins a policy dialogue about its Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), under which companies are allocated tradable credits if they pay others to cut their carbon emissions. The CDM is designed to help finance investment projects that reduce emissions and bring real development benefits to those communities in poorer countries that host them. But a three-year ESRC research project to explore the politics and governance of the CDM found that it is skewed towards the interests of polluting corporations and people who earn a living from the CDM market rather than the communities that host the projects . “The goals of CDM are being undermined by poor governance and vested interests, especially in the energy sector,” said Professor Peter Newell, from the University of Sussex, who led the research. “We have found a strong link between who takes the decisions about which

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projects earn CDM credits and who benefits.” He added: “There is a real danger that the Clean Development Mechanism could become a ‘rich man’s club’ of project developers, emission verifiers, and government officials where these roles overlap and lack transparency.” Under the CDM, projects that reduce emissions in developing countries can earn credits that they sell to industrialised countries. The buyers use them to meet some of their emission reduction targets under the UN’s Kyoto Protocol. But critics of the CDM claim that many of the projects that earn credits do little or nothing to actually reduce emissions. They also argue that industrialised nations should be doing more to cut their emissions, rather than buying “pollution rights” from the developing world. Professor Newell said the UN’s recent climate change conference in Durban had underlined the need for urgent CDM reform. The Executive Board of the Clean Development Mechanism has temporarily suspended new registrations from controversial coal-energy projects that offer no clear emission-reduction benefits, but negotiators in Durban have moved ahead with support for carbon capture and storage projects that channel investment into fossil fuels. At the same time, the Executive Board of the CDM has launched a policy dialogue through 2012 to reflect on how to improve the CDM’s performance in the future. It comes as the price of carbon credits has fallen to an all time low, creating little incentive for polluting industries to change their practices. But the research suggests that reform of the Clean Development Mechanism needs to consider more than just the carbon price signal to companies. “We need to reform the CDM as soon as possible so that it does more to channel investment to projects that will make a real difference,” said Professor Newell. “Our research shows that we need to get local communities more involved in decisions, build stronger governance institutions and coordinate Clean Development Mechanism finance with other development money in the area of climate change. But crucially, we need wider political changes – the barriers to promoting clean energy cannot be overcome by carbon markets alone.” He added: “If we don’t seize this opportunity to reform the way the CDM operates, then I fear that the problems we uncovered with our research will only become worse. The United Nations General Assembly has designated 2012 as the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All. Reform of the Clean Development Mechanism would be an excellent way for the UN to show it really is committed to sustainable energy.”


electricalreview measurement TEST

Matz Ă–hlĂŠn, Director Transformer Test Systems, Megger spoke to Anoop K Menon on the issue of moisture in transformers.

On the moisture trail Could you elaborate on why it is important to estimate and address moisture in power transformers?

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power transformer is built to a very high standard, but it has a limited life span. Sooner or later, the transformer will die and what kills it is high temperature and moisture. Since the Middle East sees relatively high temperatures, transformers here are subject to more stress from temperature than in other regions. In the industrial environment, sometimes the life span will be as short as 15 years. In Sweden and North Canada, for example, there are transformers that are 50-60 years old, which is uncommon here. So anything you can do to get more years out of your transformer is worth a lot of money. Just adding five more years will save you a lot more dollars. So people are keen to understand how to extend the life of their transformers, how to handle the moisture in the transformers - where it comes from, how to measure it and what can they do about it.

But haven’t transformer manufacturers already factored in moisture and temperature issues when they design and manufacture these products?

When you propose testing as part of transformer maintenance, your value proposition is about prolonging the life of the power transformer...

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ven if we assume that everything is working perfectly, the moisture in the transformer will still increase, but on a gradual basis, because of the decomposition of the cellulose. This is a natural process which is relatively slow. But if you have a little bit of leakage somewhere, moisture can come in from the outside. Or if you have to do some maintenance on the transformer and need to open it, moisture could go up due to direct exposure to air. So things can happen over the lifetime of the transformer. Maintenance is not risk free that's why we always recommend that you should do tests before and after maintenance just to make sure everything is in place.

es, the whole idea of carrying out diagnostics or finger printing of the transformer, as we like to call it, is that we know the status. Power transformers are built to last, so they may show up OK on tests. But when you find a transformer that has relatively high moisture after only five years, that's a warning signal.

Post-detection, do you also propose the solution to deal with the moisture problem?

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like to think of the transformer as a little bit of a human being. He needs to go the doctor some time and the latter is basically the owner of the transformer. Of course, owner may use a consultant or a service company, but responsibility of ownership is something he cannot May2012

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TEST measurement

Based on the test results and the power transformer’s history, you can take the appropriate decisions walk away from. What we do is supply the doctor's kit or tool box; so that when you decide to test your transformer, you can do your tests quickly, reliably and accurately. Based on the results and the power transformer’s history, you can take the appropriate decisions. One single number from a test instrument doesn't say much.

In your opinion, what are the best practices that can help extend the life span of the transformer?

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he top priority is to keep track of the temperature; whatever the transformer is designed for, the lower you can keep the temperature, the better. Most companies that own power transformers follow basic routine testing, like taking oil samples every year or do a full diagnostic test every five years depending on the size of the transformer and its criticality. But whatever maintenance programme you choose, do it right because the devil is always in the details. Make sure that your procedures for oil sampling are very thorough and followed, that your instruments are well maintained and calibrated; and your personnel has the right education and information. If you cannot trust a diagnostic result from the test, whether chemical or electrical, you will only end up becoming more confused.

What are the products and solutions supplied by Megger for transformer testing?

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e supply all the traditional instruments used for transformer testing. What is new is dielectric frequency response which is tan delta and capacitance measured over frequency. We measure down from kilohertz to millihertz range, and the information you get from this range is much more detailed than from a single number. Using this information, we can get the moisture content in the paper because the water sits in the paper not the oil. We can measure the

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dielectric properties of the oil in the same test. We can also do accurate temperature correction because when you look at the traditional test at 50 Hz, they are always related to 20°C and if you measure at 40°C, you need to make a correction. Using dielectric response, you can make that accurate instead of using a table. Recently, we found that dielectric frequency response is a very good method to test bushings because a single failed bushing, which explodes can destroy the whole transformer. However, replacing that one failed bushing is just a minor cost of the transformer. Another new thing we have introduced is a winding resistance test set that can measure three phases - six windings at the same time. You connect to the transformer once and run all your tests from the laptop because one of the risks in testing transformers is climbing up and down the transformer, especially if you are moving cable.

One hears a lot about the benefits of remote monitoring of transformers. How does that fit in with use of instruments and needing people on site to do the tests?

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ne doesn't replace the other. Monitoring is becoming more and more a part of the big generator transformers. But it only gives you a trend; it can only signal that something is going wrong. You have to take the transformer offline and do the diagnostic test, using the traditional method you know how to interpret and rely on. Some of the testing engineers I have spoken to are always looking for easier ways to understand the data in the machine and be sure of it. That's exactly what you get with dielectric frequency response. From the response we get, we apply a computer model that describes the transformer and out of that comes straight forward

numbers - for example, it will say 2.2% moisture in the cellulose; oil conductivity of 10 p/Sm; Based on those numbers, you can decide to do oil re-generation and dehydration of the transformer.

In your opinion, are power transformers getting better?

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hat's a very interesting point. They are getting better in a way; but if you say better is longer life, that is not necessarily true. I know several people who think that a traditional power transformer with natural cooling and flow will last longer. But that transformer will be bigger, cost more money because of high copper, steel prices and so forth; so better is relative word. I know companies with old transformers that have survived many years. But instead of replacing them, they have rebuilt them completely because they wanted the same design. I have seen this especially in industrial environments where the transformer had survived for 40-50 years in a very tough environment. In contrast, if you want a new one, the manufacturer will probably guarantee it only for 30 years. What we see as a general trend is transformers becoming smaller and compact, so cooling becomes more critical, you need more pumps and fans. People are also driving transformers at higher temperatures. In the old days, it was natural flow and also lower maximum temperature that made old transformers last longer. There is also natural versus synthetic ester fluids debate. I have seen results where synthetic esters could prolong the life of power transformers with all the environmental advantages. But they also cost more. The power industry is a very conservative business and doesn’t change its habits quickly. If something has worked for the past 50 years, do I want to buy something with limited experience? The answer will probably be negative. But I think we will see more of these new oils in the future.


flipside interview FEATURE

In the centre of things Tim Armsby, who joined International law firm Eversheds as a partner across its Middle East offices early this year, has over 10 years of experience of advising on complex transactions in the MENA region.

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specialist in energy and infrastructure projects, construction and upstream oil and gas, Tim holds the unique distinction of having advised on every social infrastructure Public Private Partnership (PPP) project launched in Egypt to date. Tim’s wealth of experience includes advising the Jordanian government on the crossborder Arab Gas Pipeline Project, advising the Egyptian Ministry of Finance in relation to three PPP projects and advising on the planned first nuclear power plant in Egypt, in addition to numerous Independent (Water &) Power Plants (IWPP) and petrochemical projects across the region. In the first of a two-part interview with Anoop K Menon, Tim explains the scope of Eversheds’ Kahramaa engagement, the impact of Arab spring on PPP projects and the best places for business in these uncertain times.

Could you tell us about the scope of Eversheds’ recent contract with the Qatar General Electricity and Water Co (Kahramaa)?

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atar is in a unique position in the region in that it has a lot of spare generation capacity. With over 2,000 MW above normal demand, Qatar has no worries on the power front. But with water, by 2017, Qatar is expecting to face a few supply constraints. Therefore, Kahramaa is looking at various short term options to manage the issue even as it is gearing up to structure the country’s next big Independent Water and

Power Plant (IWPP) project. The solution to deal with short term water constraints could be a combination of extending existing Power and Water Purchase Agreement (PWPA) or getting existing plants to build in additional desalination capacity for which Kahramaa had issued some tenders. From a legal perspective, first, we will help Kahramaa evaluate the bids to ensure they are compliant with the RFP, and second; if a bid is acceptable, we will work with them to amend the existing legal agreements for the projects to cover the extension of the PWPA or addition of extra capacity. But the big ticket item is the IWPP, where we will be working with technical and commercial advisors. Feasibility study is mostly a technical activity, but there are commercial aspects in terms of structuring the project and also legal aspects in terms of examining existing regulations to see whether any of those need to be adapted for the new project. So we will be looking at basic due diligence, like for example, the current environmental regime and how does that tie in with the proposed structure of the plant, the nature of the land – who owns the land, the necessary licenses and permits to do this project, and so on, so that there are no surprises later on. The other big area of legal work is drafting the contracts themselves - they are long term agreements where you have to deal with as many scenarios as possible because it is impossible to know what can happen over a 20 year term. You also have to correctly allocate the risks between the parties, the general idea being

that the risk goes to the party best able to manage it. But changes in circumstances can alter this risk strategy. For example, in normal conditions, the risk of obtaining finance is with the private sector; but with the global financial crisis and the more recent Arab spring, that risk is perhaps swinging back to the government to the extent where the government is either financing the project or providing additional support to ensure that the project can get financed.

You also have to correctly allocate the risks between the parties, the general idea being that the risk goes to the party best able to manage it. May2012

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i think only a certain type of project - simple in terms of structure and allocation of risk - will be able to achieve financial close

FEATURE interview

Does the legal work vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction?

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he project documentation and PWPAs have become fairly standard over the past 20 years. In fact, any country choosing to start an independent power or water programme will tend to use as a base agreement what is well known in the market because developers, banks and governments are fairly comfortable with the way the risks are allocated in those agreements. Theoretically, this should reduce costs for all parties, and the time spend on negotiations and arranging finance. The aim of any infrastructure programme is to develop a suite of documents that can be used with minimal amendments.

Last year, despite the difficult conditions, the Muharraq WWTP PPP in Bahrain achieved financial close; but in Egypt, PPP activity is almost at a standstill. Given the different outcomes, how has social turmoil in the Arab world impacted the region’s risk profile?

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re-revolution, Egypt had a 200 MW wind farm IPP in the tendering process; they had completed the prequalification for Dayrut power plant, and I personally was involved in three social infrastructure projects. But a year on, only one of the projects - a hospital - is really moving forward because the bid deadline was in March 2011, while the revolution happened at the end of January. As the bidders had already incurred all their costs, there was a willingness to keep things moving rather than call it a day. Internally, Egyptian authorities are trying to keep things moving, but there is also an acceptance that given the uncertainty as to what the next government will look like and what their policies are going to be,

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developers will be reluctant to incur the costs of bidding while banks will be reluctant to be involved in the financing. Even if you find bidders and banks prepared to do the project, you are going to be paying a premium to bring that project on stream. Bahrain is interesting because they managed to close the Muharraq WWTP; that said they also had a housing PPP project, where the contract award has happened, but they are yet to close it financially because banks are willing to provide finance only for 20 years with no commitment on refinancing even though it is a 20 year project. I think only a certain type of project - simple in terms of structure and allocation of risk - will be able to achieve financial close in the current environment. In a WWTP or a power project, developers have pretty much full control over the asset and liaison with the government is minimal, but a PPP housing scheme is a completely different proposition. But the impact of the political and economic environment will always make itself felt, in terms of the interest the project attracts, how competitive the tender is going to be or the quality of the bidders. The end result is a more expensive project because even if you are able to get a political risk cover, it will come at a premium and a very high one at that.

Which countries in the region are your favourites when it comes to projects?

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he UAE is definitely on top of my list as it is benefitting from the stability and is picking up a lot of investments from companies who had their head offices in the troubled countries. The Gulf region as a whole is sending out a lot of positive signals. Kuwait is interesting because they have a massive PPP programme covering everything from power and water projects to a zoo. Of course, the country’s parliament is known

more for its deadlocks. But what I find commendable is that Kuwait has organised itself well for implementing PPP programme. Like Egypt, they are putting huge emphasis on building the internal capability to manage these projects because if you don’t manage the contract properly, you will be at the losing end. To build up their internal capacity, they have introduced a new legislative regime for procurement. There is also the social aspect, if you will, of Kuwait’s PPP programme where for certain projects, they are insisting on IPOs for public listing of the operator, which will give Kuwaitis an opportunity to invest in the development of their country. Oman has done this successfully in the power sector. Morocco managed the protests well and is continuing with its PPP programme, especially in the renewable arena. Tunisia has launched an IPP, which seems to be coming through. We are also advising the Jordanian government on their third IPP at Amman East, where the contract has gone to a consortium led by South Korea’s KEPCO. Iraq has been trying to launch an IPP programme, but hasn't been successful so far mainly because of the way the project is structured. In fact, one of the key issues is the allocation of the risk of feedstock to the bidders, resulting in very expensive bids. But there is a lot of potential waiting to be unlocked in Iraq.

(To be continued)


Qatar

Abhay Bhargava, Head, Energy and Power Systems Practice, MENA, Frost & Sullivan

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xpanding industrialisation and a rapidly growing population continue to put increasing pressure on Qatar’s power and water infrastructure. Indeed, last month, Kahramaa awarded contracts totalling QR4 billion encompassing several electricity and water projects. These included QR3.65 billion for Phase 10 of expansion of electricity transmission networks, QR300 million for water projects (which also includes engineering and environmental consultancy contract for Water Security Mega Reservoirs project in Doha) and QR64 million for a pilot project on Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI). In May last year, Qatar inaugurated its largest power and desalination plant with a power generation capacity of 2,730 MW and desalination capacity of 86,000 m3/ day. The Ras Laffan C Independent Water and Power Plant (IWPP), also called Ras Girtas IWPP, provides Qatar with a comfortable short-tomedium term cushion on the power and water front with a power surplus of approximately 2,500 MW and water surplus of 325 MIGD of water, sufficient for the next three years. Abhay Bhargava, Head, Energy and Power Systems Practice, Middle East and North Africa pointed out that Qatar currently enjoys over 30% excess capacity in its power system, giving it the ability to export

New vistas

power through the newly completed Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Grid. According to Frost & Sullivan, Qatar will be able to maintain this excess equation and shall stay a netexporter over the next decade, all the way up to the Football world cup (2022). While the predominant fuel will still be gas, renewable energy is expected to increase contribution over the decade. “There is definitely a potential for up to 1GW of solar power in Qatar in the near future,” said Bhargava. Driving this potential are Qatar’s plans to rely mainly on solar energy for desalination in the future and renewable energy targets for the world cup. It is a well known fact that Qatar is one of the highest percapita energy intensity states in the world. The country is also going through a rapid development phase with significant ongoing investment towards the development of infrastructure for events and industries. Additionally, there is a pressure to enhance efficiency across the entire power infrastructure. These factors, coupled with an increase in renewable sources, are creating a need to enhance and smarten the grid, which would allow for distributed sources of generation, enhanced efficiency, greater control, and a higher penetration. Smart grids can play a vital role in addressing some of these

issues. Recognising this, Kahramaa has already initiated a smart metering pilot with Siemens last month, leading to an implementation of approximately 17,000 meters up to 2013. “This pilot is expected to lead into a full blown smart grid implementation project in the decade, allowing Qatar to compete for the slot of being the first country in the GCC region to embrace a holistic solution,” said Bhargava. Based on excerpts shared by Frost & Sullivan from their upcoming Power and Distribution transformers GCC market report, the transformers market in Qatar is set to grow. Qatar constitutes nearly 15% of the GCC Power Transformers market, and is expected to grow from a market position of $225 million (2011), by a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 11.6% by 2016, with the 10.1 – 100 MVA segment expected to hold the highest share. In the power distribution market, Qatar holds a relatively diluted position. The market in Qatar was valued at approximately $77 million in 2011 and is expected to grow at a rate of nearly 11% by 2016. Bhargava continued: “While high price competition is expected to be a common challenge impacting the transformers market in Qatar, the distribution transformers market is expected to provide an additional challenge, in terms of high entry barriers for non-local businesses.” May2012

countryreport FEATURE

Having secured its water and power reserves, Qatar is now focussing on strengthening the electricity grid and tapping the country’s renewable energy potential

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FEATURE PVsolar

energyworld

PV’s beacon of hope Drastic cuts in subsidies in many European countries are forcing the region’s solar industry to focus on multi-crystalline silicon celLs

W

hen there was a rising demand for photovoltaic systems (PV systems) in the 1990s, solar cells made from multi-crystalline silicon were already regarded as obsolete. These cells were too bulky, and their average efficiency of a mere 10% was inadequate. Quite soon therefore they were replaced by thinner and more powerful absorbers. In the 1990s, the US government invested over a billion dollars of funding in the development of thinfilm cells and multiple cells. While thin-film cells aroused considerable interest in research due to their reduced material requirements, multiple cells fascinated researchers with their high level of efficiency. Under this technology, nearly 40% of light is converted to electricity involving the use of up to five different layers of semi-conductors. At the same time, in Japan, research concentrated on pure mono-crystalline silicon. Take, for instance, so-called heterojunction cells (HIT): to avoid loss of charge carriers, they are additionally surrounded by a further protective layer of amorphous thin-film silicon

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May2012

and achieve efficiency levels of over 20%. In Germany, on the other hand, companies continued to work with multi-crystalline silicon despite reservations. “Industry in this country invested not so much in revolutionary cell technologies but more in the evolution of existing methods,” said Eicke Weber, head of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) in Freiburg. With hindsight, it has since then become obvious that this was the right way forward. Multicrystalline cells are still dominating PV, according to market researchers Navigant Consulting, with a 47% market share that is clearly ahead of mono-crystalline cells (38%). A distant third are thin-film cells, with a share of 14%, while multiple cells do not figure in market statistics at all.

Underestimated technology

So far, however, there hasn’t been any way around multi-cells, the reason being that innovations tend to take place much faster here than in any of the competing technologies. “Over the last ten years average efficiency has gone up from 1015%,” said Eicke Weber, head of the

A much-coveted trial object: There’s no other country where multi-crystalline cells have been researched as thoroughly as in Germany. (Photo: Fraunhofer/Thomas Ernsting)

Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) in Freiburg. At the same time material requirements have gone down. In fact, silicon wafers are 0.2 millimetres in thickness, which is about a third less than 10 years ago. Also, standard multi-crystalline cells are easier to make than the new products. This means that manufacturing lines can be set up quickly and effects of scale can be achieved through bigger production volumes. Thanks to improved and increasingly bigger volumes, costs have gone done dramatically. In February 2011 the online platform pvXchange published wholesale prices of about €1.70 per watt for crystalline modules made in Germany. Since then manufacturers have reduced their prices by about a third, to €1.10 per watt. And this technology is set to become even cheaper. “I am confident,” said Weber, “that the efficiency of multicrystalline modules can be increased to 20%.” Any rise in efficiency automatically leads to a drop in material requirements and costs.   Considerable innovation potential can undoubtedly also be observed in


thin-film and multiple cells, although technical progress is slower in this area. For instance, thin-film cells based on semi-conductors – i.e. copper, indium and gallium (CIS) – reached 13% but failed to undercut their crystalline competitors, and CIS modules are still €1.50 per watt, according to pvXchange. “Developing larger production capacities for CIS is more difficult than expected,” admits thin-film expert Michael Powalla from the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research in BadenWürttemberg. Even multiple cell production lacks economic efficiency, due to its low level of automation. The problem is that the solar industry is running out of time to be competitive with PV. Nearly everywhere in Europe countries with feed-in tariffs for solar power have radically cut those tariffs because the increase in solar installations was getting out of control. In Germany, for instance, the solar power feed-in tariff is set to be reduced by up to 40%, according to the latest plans of the German government. “Anyone wanting to survive in this difficult market will need to cut their prices even more radically,” says analyst

Mathias Fawer from the Swiss bank Sarasin. No time for experiments From today’s standpoint, multicrystalline cells are the most appropriate technology for their purpose because they display the steepest learning curve. Germany’s solar equipment manufacturers are the technology leaders in multicrystalline technology and are aware of the decisive elements that are required for further innovations. Companies such as Bürkle, Centrotherm and Grenzebach provide equipment for all areas of the crystalline value chain, from silicon production to the manufacturing of modules. Their machinery and automation solutions ensure fast gains in efficiency and reductions in production costs. One promising technology which is currently moving into many factories is multi-crystalline cells with passivated emitter and rear contact (or PERC cells, for short). In the commonly available standard cells, electrons migrate towards the negative terminal at the front and electron holes migrate towards the positive terminal at the rear.

PVsolar FEATURE

Berlin in blue: Crystalline silicon cells are leading the way in Germany’s photovoltaics. A solar power plant is being installed on the roof of the Germany Ministry of Justice (Justizministerium/Paul Langrock)

countries with feed-in tariffs for solar power have cut the tariffs because growth in installationS was getting out of control The electric current flows off via an aluminium contact which covers a large part of the wafer. Although the aluminium ensures excellent contact with the positive terminal, direct contact between the metal and the semi-conductor means that negative and positive charge carriers cancel each other out on this border: they “recombine” as it were. Developers therefore use a simple trick: They replace the aluminium with a new coat that reduces any loss of current: a so-called dielectric passivation layer, which may consist of silicon nitride, silicon oxide or aluminium oxide. However, the disadvantage of such coats is that they are nonconductive and therefore need to be open in several places in order to take through the metal power connectors and combine them with the semi-conductor. A range of new multi-systems Thanks to PERC, Schott Solar, for instance, has reached a module efficiency of 18%. However, the company wants to go one step further and make these cells from so-called quasi-mono silicon in the future. This new semi-conductor, which is a multi-crystalline silicon, May2012

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FEATURE PVsolar

multi-crystalline technology is moving into an efficiency range that has so far been reserved for more expensive mono-crystalline modules.

Greater speed – lower costs:. Automation can lead to a clear reduction in manufacturing costs. PV manufacturers therefore use state-of-the-art equipment (photo: Solarworld)

is regarded as a springboard into competitiveness within the industry. Like simple multi-crystalline material, it is made in crucibles, although it has the properties of the monocrystalline material, which is of a higher quality. “We’re hoping to boost efficiency by up to two per cent while keeping production costs at the same level,” said Schott Solar’s Head of Development, Klaus Wangemann. Normally, silicon is melted in a special crucible and is subsequently cooled down in a controlled manner. With ingot casting for multi-crystalline blocks, the crystals align themselves in different directions. So-called grain boundaries form in the spaces between them, i.e. the kind of irregularities that reduce the electric power output. Schott therefore wants to insert a plate of mono-crystalline

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May2012

Blanks for cells: It is only through so-called texturising that the silicon wafers receive their characteristic blue colour. (Solarworld)

silicon at the bottom of the crucible, as seed crystals. When the semiconductor cools down, it solidifies on this crystal and largely adopts its alignment. This avoids efficiencyreducing defects in the material. Schott is hoping to use its quasimono material in cells for the first time in 2013. Finally, with decreasing costs of material and production, a technology is now attracting attention among manufacturers that has so far been avoided, as production was relatively difficult: so-called metal-wrapthrough (MWT) cells. Under this method, which was developed by the Dutch energy researchers ECN, the busbars are led through internally, at the rear. As a result, there are not as many conductor paths on the front that might keep the light from

the cells. This leads to an increase in efficiency and makes it possible to use better production methods for the modules. As many as five companies – Schott Solar, Bosch Solar, Ja Solar, Kyocera and Canadian Solar – now want to mass-produce this new equipment. Understandably, as it allows modules with an efficiency level of up to 16%. It means that multi-crystalline technology is moving into an efficiency range that has so far been reserved for more expensive mono-crystalline modules.

(Article courtesy: www.solarpeq. com - the international trade fair for solar production equipment)


1 – 5 July 2012 Sands Expo & Convention Center, Marina Bay Sands Themed ‘Water Solutions for Liveable and Sustainable Cities’, the Singapore International Water Week 2012 is one of the must-attend water events in the global water events calendar. The event comprises the Water Leaders Summit, Water Convention, Water Expo and Business Forums. It culminates in the presentation of the Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize, a prestigious international award to honour outstanding contributions in solving water issues. Water Expo (2 – 4 July) Water Expo is one of the world’s most comprehensive water trade shows on innovation, products and services, drawing strong participation from more than 650 participating companies. The USA Department of Commerce has endorsed the Water Expo and SIWW as one of the global events for US companies looking to venture into the Asia Pacific region. This reinforces Singapore and SIWW’s position as the platform for business opportunities. The strong US presence at the Water Expo is underscored by the presence of leading US companies, the Water Environment Federation (WEF) Pavilion and the State of Illinois Pavilion. In 2012, Water Expo’s exhibit portfolio in 2012 has expanded to include Trenchless Asia 2012, bringing innovations on trenchless technologies to the current mix of water-focused solutions. Featuring some 15 international group pavilions, delegates and trade visitors can look forward to a dynamic marketplace with more opportunities to uncover practical and sustainable water solutions and tap into a vast network of public and private sector players in integrated urban solutions. International Pavilions Australia Israel Belgium Japan Canada Korea China Singapore Germany State of Illinois

Taiwan The Netherlands Trenchless Asia 2012 United Kingdom Water Environment Federation (WEF)

Discover New Business Opportunities in Regional and Industrial Markets Industrial Water Solutions Forum (3 July) NEW! ‘Towards Water Sustainability in the Industrial Sectors’ The inaugural Industrial Water Solutions Forum examines challenges faced by industrial sectors, such as energy and manufacturing, in water management and how innovative solutions could address such challenges. Leaders from the global industry water-users can network and exchange views on the risks and challenges for large industrial water users and opportunities for current water solutions providers in industrial water management. Business Forums (3 – 4 July) The Business Forums offer industry leaders extensive business networking, partnership information and lucrative deal-making opportunities across key markets covering the Americas, Australia, China, Europe, India, Japan, Middle-East & North Africa and Southeast Asia. Date 3 July 4 July

Americas India Australia China

Business Forum Middle East & North Africa Southeast Asia Europe Korea Japan

Connect@SIWW Your personal business-matching platform that maximizes your time to network and engage with the who’s who of the water industry prior to attending the event.

Join global water experts as they converge in Singapore from 1 – 5 July 2012. Visit www.siww.com.sg to register.

Find out more about the Singapore International Water Week 2012 at www.siww.com.sg.


FEATURE productfocus

marketplace Pumped drainage

A

t IFAT 2012, KSB Aktiengesellschaft will present an innovative solids separation system for wastewater disposal in pumped drainage applications. According to a press release issued by the company, the new AmaDS³ is a combination of a patented, dry-installed solids separation system and two wastewater pumps in back pull-out design which, the press release claimed, provides economic efficiency and operating reliability. The raw wastewater flows into a separator where the solids are separated from the liquid. The solids-free wastewater then flows into a collecting tank until a pre-set level is reached. The pump set is started via a control system and pumps the wastewater from the collecting tank into the discharge line. During this operation, the solids are flushed out of the separator and into the discharge pipe as well. The pump set is switched off once the wastewater level in the collecting tank has gone to the pre-set minimum level. At this point, the inflow check valve opens automatically and raw sewage can again flow into the separator. According to the press release, as the wastewater handled by the pump’s hydraulic system is mechanically treated, pumps with smaller free passages and highly efficient hydraulic systems can be used, thereby enabling energy savings while keeping operating costs down. Since the pumps handle solids-free water only, the risk of wear and clogging is extremely low. The release further claimed that AmaDS³ makes for a viable solution even with high heads or long discharge lines. Additionally, the service life of the entire station is longer than that of conventional systems.

Other key features of AmaDS³ are:

• All main components are redundant. • The pumps as well as the system’s most important components can be reached comfortably and without getting wet. • The separators are located outside the collecting tank, which ensures that the system can be serviced or repaired while it is in operation. • The collecting tank is gas-tight and features a central vent. The new AmaDS3 is available in six different sizes. Its maximum head is 85 metres and maximum inflow rate 120 m3/hour.

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May2012

Tripp Lite’s new Inverter/ Charger models with pure sine wave output

T

ripp Lite, a leading manufacturer of power protection and infrastructure equipment, has launched two new inverter/chargers in the Middle East specially designed with pure sine wave output capability. Both the APSX1012SW and APSX2012SW are being packaged as perfect complements for remote job sites, commercial vehicles and also 'off-grid' applications like solar panels and wind turbines. The APSX2012SW and APSX1012SW are available in both 1,000 and 2,000 watt models with an optional remote control that works from up to 10 metres distance. Both the Units have the standard Tripp Lite Inverter Double Boost and OverPower feature to handle peak power requirements. The APSX2012SW is a 230V, 2000W PowerVerter APS INT inverter/charger with pure sine wave output that can reproduce wall power from a battery source without any power interference. The unit, which produces 2,000 watts continuous output with 4,000 watts peak output, comes with a selectable 8/80 amp wet/dry cell battery charger and seamless transfer switching. Tripp Lite claims that APSX2012SW gives users strategic features like quiet, high efficiency operation combined with high surge capacity and low idle current. The APSX1012SW230V is a 1,000W PowerVerter APS INT inverter/charger that offers reliable 230V AC power, pure sine wave output and the ability to charge batteries. The unit produces 1,000 watts continuous output with 2000 watts peak output and comes with a selectable 4/40 amp wet/dry cell battery charger and seamless transfer switching. ‘Businesses in the Middle East, particularly those operating in remote areas that use high capacity equipment, have demonstrated a demand for power protection equipment that can allow them maximum use of their machinery,” said Vipin Sharma, Vice President for Middle East, Africa and CIS Sales, Tripp Lite. “Looking to address this challenge, we have released the APSX2012SW and APSX1012SW—the latest models in our growing range of inverter/chargers that promises efficiency and longer lasting power protection. These models reflect our long standing commitment in providing our customers with strategic power protection solutions that can help drive in more productivity and increase efficiencies.”



tenders&projects Project Number Project Name

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May2012

WTR193-LE Power Plants Rehabilitation & Improvement Works Project Lebanon Council for Development & Reconstruction (Lebanon) Address: Tallat al-Serail City: Beirut Postal/Zip Code: 116-5351 Country: Lebanon Tel: (+961-1) 981 252/ 981 253 / 980 096 Fax: (+961-1) 981 431/ 981 434 / 981 252 E-mail: info@cdr.gov.lb Website: http://www.cdr.gov.lb Carrying out rehabilitation and improvement of power plants for Ministry of Energy & Water. 12,000 June 26, 2012 New Tender This project is at Zouk and Jieh power plants in Lebanon. The scope of the work involves, but not limited to pre-rehabilitation shutdown, testing, survey, diagnostic, design, manufacturing, supply, construction, installation, testing and commissioning, warranty, spare parts, training etc. The project consists of the following three separate lots: • Rehabilitation and improvement of units 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the Zouk power plant • Rehabilitation and improvement of units 1 and 2 of Jieh power plant • Rehabilitation and improvement of units 3,4 and 5 of the Jieh power plant. Tender documents can be obtained from: Tenders Department, Legal Affairs Division, Tallet El-Serail, Council for Development & Reconstruction Beirut, Lebanon. Tel No. (+961-1) 980 096-7 Fax: (+961-1) 981 252-3 Source of Finance: Arab

Tender Categories Project Number Project Name Territory Client

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Tender Categories Project Number Project Name Territory Client

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Fund for Economic & Social Development Bid bond is $ 3.5m - Lot 1 $ 1m - Lot 2 $ 2m - Lot 3. Power Generation & Distribution MPP2623-LE Deir Al-Ammar Power Plant Expansion Project Lebanon Ministry of Energy & Water (Lebanon) Address: Corniche du Fleuve City: Beirut Country: Lebanon Tel: (+961-1) 565 001/013 Fax: (+961-1) 565 555 Website: http://www.emwis-lb.org Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract for the expansion of a power plant at Deir al-Ammar. May 28, 2012 New Tender This project is in Lebanon. It is part of the emergency power plan. Client has issued a tender for the EPC contract. Bid documents will be available from March 19, 2012. Power Generation & Distribution MPP2622-LE Zouk & Jiyeh Power Plants Expansion Project Lebanon Ministry of Energy & Water (Lebanon) Address: Corniche du Fleuve City: Beirut Country: Lebanon Tel: (+961-1) 565 001/013 Fax: (+961-1) 565 555 Website: http://www.emwis-lb.org Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract for the expansion of power plants at Zouk and Jiyeh. May 14, 2012 New Tender This project is in Lebanon. It is part of the emergency power


middleeasttenders.com +971 2 634 8495

Project Number Project Name Territory Client

Description

Period Status Remarks

MPP2612-SA Abqaiq, Hawiyah & Ras Tanura Electricity & Steam Plants Project Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) Address: Saeed Tower, Dammam-Khobar Highway City: Al Khobar 31952 Postal/Zip Code: 151 Country: Saudi Arabia Tel: (+966-3) 872 0115 / 810 6999 Fax: (+966-3) 873 8190 Website: http://www. saudiaramco.com Build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) contract for the construction of three Greenfield gas-fired steam plants with capacity of 770 MW of power and 2.95-million pounds an hour in Abqaiq, Hawiyah and Ras Tanura. 2016 New Tender This project is at Eastern Province in Saudi Arabia. The facilities are likely to have following capacities: Abqaiq – 320 MW and 1,2000 thousand pounds an hour, Hawiyah – 130 MW and 550 thousand pounds an hour, and Ras Tanura – 320 MW and thousand pounds an hour. Each of the projects will convert fuel gas and feed water provided by client into electricity and steam for sale under an energy conversion agreement. Client has issued a request for qualification (RFQ) to developers to build the plants. Companies have responded to the Statements

Tender Categories Project Number Project Name Territory Client

Description

of Qualifications (SOQs) on this scheme. They include: Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power; UK/France's IP-GDF; South Korea’s Kepco and Samsung C&T; Japan’s Marubeni, Sumitomo, JGC Corporation, Itochu and Sojitz Corporation; Saudi Arabia’s Saudi Oger and Powertek Berhad; Qatar’s Qatar Electricity & Water Company, India’s Tata Power; Malaysia’s Tenaga Nasional Berhad; Singapore Sembcorp; Kuwait’s Kharafi National; UAE’s Taqa and Saudi Arabia’s National Power Company. Selection of qualified applicants is expected by April 22, 2012 followed by issue of request for proposals (RFP) on April 23, 2012. Bids are expected to be submitted by September 01, 2012 and award for three projects expected by December 31, 2012. The selected developer will be required to construct the projects to meet the following commercial operation dates: Hawiyah in November 2015, Abqaiq in January 2016 and Ras Tanura in March 2016. Power Generation & Distribution

updates PROCUREMENT

Tender Categories

plan. Client has issued a tender for the EPC contract. Bid documents will be available from March 19, 2012. Power Generation & Distribution

ZPR250-K Khiran Independent Water & Power Project Kuwait Partnerships Technical Bureau (Kuwait) Address: Touristic Enterprises Co. Bldg., 2nd Floor, Al-Jahra Street City: Shuwaikh Country: Kuwait Tel: (+965) 2496 5900 Fax: (+965) 2496 5901 E-mail: ahedaib@ptb.gov.kw Website: http://www.ptb.gov.kw Engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to build an independent water and power plant in Khiran, with capacity of 2,500 MW of power May2012

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tenders&projects PROCUREMENT updates

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and 125 million gallons a day (g/d) of water. The project is located to the south of existing Al-Zour South power & water project in Kuwait and will include a 400kV substation. Low-sulphur fuel oil, gasoline, crude oil and/or natural gas will be used for fire the plant. Desalination component will use multi-stage flash (MSF), multiple-effect distillation (MED) and/or reverse osmosis (RO) technology. A special purpose vehicle (SPV) will be established to design, build, finance, operate and maintain the facility. The SPV will sign an energy conversion agreement together with a power and water purchase agreement with Ministry of Electricity & Water. Client has issued a request for proposals (RFP) to consultants to advice on the development. Advisory bids are to be submitted by mid-May 2012. Firms which responded to the call for expressions of interest (EoI) in February 2012 are eligible to bid. Bids will be assessed according to technical and financial criteria with greater emphasis on the former. Winning firm or group of firms will assist the client in structuring, procuring and negotiating the transaction. In addition to advising at the tender stage, advisers will be responsible for carrying out environmental impact studies for the project. Once advisers are placed, client will work to secure fuel allocations for the project. Potable Water Works Power Generation & Distribution 54/2012-E Water & Wastewater Treatment Plant Project Egypt East Delta Electricity Production Company (Egypt)

Description

Tender Cost $ Closing Date Status Remarks

Main Consultant Tender Categories

Project Number Project Name

Address: Shebin El kom Street, Ismailiya City: Dakahlia Country: Egypt Tel: (+20-64) 337 1906 Fax: (+20-64) 337 6285 E-mail: procurementsector_ EDEPC@hotmail.com Execution of water and wastewater treatment package for the 650MW Suez Thermal Power Plant Project. 1,500 May 31, 2012 New Tender Tender No. 54/2012 This project is in Egypt. Scope of work includes the designing, fabricating, furnishing, testing, delivery, transport to site, unloading, storing, erection, start-up, commissioning and maintenance until the issuance of operation acceptance certificate of the equipment. The tender is open to African Development Bank member countries only. Details can be obtained from the Consultant: Project Procurement Manager, Power Generation Engineering & Services Company (PGESCo) 41 El-Salam Avenue, Central District, New Cairo, Egypt Tel: (+20-2) 2617 6497 Fax: (+20-2) 2617 6519 E-mail: aamostaf@pgesco.com The specified tender fee is to be paid to Account No. 11000441395 with National Bank of Egypt, Ismailiya branch. Bid Bond is $250,000/-. The project is financed by African Development Bank. Power Generation Engineering & Services Company (PGESCo) - Egypt Potable Water Works Sewerage & Drainage SQ/R/E/347-SA Electric Switches


middleeasttenders.com +971 2 634 8495

Territory Client

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Tender Categories

CLASSIFIED

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updates CLASSIFIEDS

Description

Comprehensive Testing Services Saudi Arabia Saline Water Conversion Corporation - SWCC (Saudi Arabia) City: Riyadh 11691 Postal/Zip Code: 85369 Country: Saudi Arabia Tel: (+966-1) 463 1111/ 463 4546/ 463 0503 Fax: (+966-1) 464 3235/465 0852 E-mail: info@swcc.gov.sa Website: http://www.swcc.gov.sa Comprehensive testing of electrical switches SF6 for a water conversion corporation. 135 May 13, 2012 New Tender Tender No. SQ/R/E/347 This tender service is at Shegaig Plants in Saudi Arabia. Tender documents can be obtained from: Procurement Department, Saline Water Conversion Corporation Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Tender result date will be on May 13, 2012. Power Generation & Distribution

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calendar2012 EVENTS calendar

6-9 May

Muscat

Oman Power & Water Summit 2012

Dammam

WEPOWER 2012

Following the success of the first Oman Power & Water Summit in 2011, IQPC and GEC are once again organising the second Annual Oman Power & Water Summit at the Grand Hyatt Muscat. Developed in cooperation with the Public Authority for Electricity and Water (PAEW) and with the official support of Ministry of Regional Municipalities & Water Resources (MRMWR), Oman Power & Water Procurement Company (OPWP), Authority for Electricity Regulation (AER), Electricity Holding Company (EHC) and Rural Areas Electricity Company (RAECO), the 2012 edition will provide an update on power and water projects in Oman, present the latest strategies in the power, water and renewable energy sectors as well as review key strategies, objectives and challenges with regard to the management and conservation of power and water resources.

Now in its eighth year, the Water, Electricity and Power Generation (WEPower) Forum has become an annual meeting place to discuss strategies and project opportunities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Forum is supported by the Ministry of Water and Electricity, National Water Company (NWC), Saudi Electricity Company (SEC), Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) and the Electricity and Cogeneration Regulatory Authority (ECRA). List of confirmed speakers include H.E. Dr Abdulrahman Al-Ibrahim, Governor, SWCC; H.E. Loay Al-Musallam, CEO, National Water Company; Abhay Bhargava, Industry Manager, Energy and Power Systems, Middle East and North Africa, Frost & Sullivan; Dr Corrado Somarriva, President, IDA and Abdulrazzag Hijan, General Manager Privatisation and Commercial Affairs, SWCC. WEPower will take place at the Dhahran International Exhibition Centre, located in Dammam.

Contact: Rozenn Cornec

Contact: Glen Miller

Tel: + 971 4 364 2975 E-mail: enquiry@iqpc.ae URL: www.omanpowerandwater.com

16-17 May

Abu Dhabi

MENASOL 2012

MENASOL Solar Conference & Expo has been positioned as the premier solar meeting place for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Now in its fourth edition, MENASOL 2012 will address topics as varied as regulatory frameworks, CSP and PV technology roadmaps, finance, and opportunities in unconventional applications. This year’s event includes: • 40+ expert speakers • Two focused tracks on PV and CSP • 25+ innovative sessions to ensure all the key topics are covered The event will be held at Sheraton Abu Dhabi Hotel and Resort.

Contact: Max Crompton

Tel: +44 - 207 375 7156 E-mail: max@pv-insider.com URL: www.csptoday.com/solar-conference/

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13-15 May

May2012

Tel: + 44 - 203 328 6524 E-mail: glen@bme-global.com URL: www.wepower-sa.com

22-23 May

Dubai

Global Water: Oil & Gas Summit

Global Water: Oil & Gas Summit seeks to bring together key decision makers and industry experts to discuss key issues surrounding the water and oil and gas sectors, such as production levels, supply, treatment and environmental solutions. The summit has the official partnership and support of the UAE Ministry of Environment and Water, Dubai Supreme Council of Energy (DSCE) as well as the support of the Global Water Intelligence (GWI) and the International World Water Council (IWWI). The event is being held under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Maktoum Bin Juma Al Maktoum at the Madinat Jumeirah.

Contact: Francesca Ruggiero

Tel: +44 - 20 7978 0011 E-mail: fruggiero@thecwcgroup.com URL: www.cwcoilgasandwater.com




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