Energy Box’s latest edition of Solar Energy Storage Future MENA 2024 concluded successfully on 16th April 2024 in Dubai.
The regional event focused on latest trends, market outlooks, investment opportunities, and the development of the solar energy industry. The event featured in-depth thematic speeches and panel discussions on various significant topics.
It comes at a time when the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has witnessed remarkable growth in its solar market in recent years, with several countries taking substantial steps towards solar energy deployment.
The summit brought together government officials, corporate leaders, renowned industry analysts, technology experts, international investors and green energy enthusiasts to help shape the future of of PV sector of the region.
The summit aimed to share on deep and comprehensive understanding of renewable energy market and to support in improving business cooperation between local companies with international companies.
The event was opened with the remarks of Marcelle Combrink, Board Member at International Business Relations (MESIA). Addressing the opening ceremony, he highlighted on the importance of solar energy industry development for green future of MENA region.
Followed by speech, the first panel discussion was held on "Charting Pathways for More Renewables in MENA," which was moderated by Abhishek Singh-Manager of Regulatory at TRANSCO.
The Panelists included Abla Dasser - Director of Business Development at JERA, Marcelle Combrink- General Manager at Menlo Electric, Brendan Cronin - Director at AFRY Management Consulting, Michael Levesque - Ambassador at ITC & President & Chief Technical Officer at AstralENERGY, Dr. Basma El Zein-Director General at UBT techno-Valley, Moutesem Ahmad AL-Khwaldeh - Head of Sales | On-Site Energy Production-KSA at ENGIE Solutions Middle East, Ashish Gupta, Head of Renewables at Al Jomaih Holding and Alex Oeser-Vice President of Revenue Strategy at TAQA Group.
It was followed by a presentation from Danny Song, Global Product Center Director at Risen Energy, who highlighted on milestones of Risen, and its products and their features contributing to the higher efficiency and saving energy costs. He focused on Hyper-ion Module Based on 210 n -type HJT Technology.
Furthermore, Song explained about Trend of Cell Technologies and consecutive World Records for HJT. As part of technical breakthrough, the company has 120+ HJT related patents until end of 2023. In terms of Hyper-ion advantages, he presented with figures how HJT is suitable for a wide range of application scenarios with high reliability.
“In high-temperature regions, the power generation of HJT is about 6% higher than PERC and about 3% higher than TOPCon,” Song remarked. The company has shipment of 3GW+ so far.
The second presentation was titled “Innovative technology for clean power to all” by Anoop Koothoor Unni, Technical Director -MEA PV & ESS BG at Sungrow. He started the presentation by sharing about the company’s global presence, which has 20+ International Subsidiaries and operation in over 170 countries.
In terms of Sungrow MENA utility reference, the total deployed capacity has been 15 GW+ while market share stands at 75%. He also explained about PV Inverters, Energy Storage System, and EV Charging Equipment among others.
In his presentation, Unni explained about features of SG1100UD-20 Central Inverter, SG320HX-20 String Inverter, PowerTitan G2 series among others.
Unni also took the occasion to highlight PV integration and industry-leading product development driven by technology innovation.
Likewise, the event hosted another panel discussion on "Rooftop Solar Development in MENA: Enabling Sustainability Strategies - Commercial &Industrial (C&I) , Self – Consumption." It was moderated by Hatem Hamam - Head of Business Development - Energy at Emirates Electrical Engineering LLC.
Manoj Divakaran - Co-Founder/Managing Director at Empereal Energy and Services Adel Alnagar-Director of Operations at Arabian Qudra, Dr. Firas Balasmeh - Co - Founder/ CEO at FB Group, Stephen Molden - Director of execution and Delivery at Infinity Power Nazir Muhammad- CEO& Founder at Green Watt Company for Energy, Audah Abu Zaid - Business Development Manager at Emerge and Waseem Haider, Sales Director of LONGi Distribution MENA, participated in the discussions and shared their insights on various aspects of rooftop solar development.
Followed by the panel discussion, Li Chao - Director of MEA BESS solution at Trina Solar, delivered a special presentation. He started by sharing the company’s history and milestones on energy storage business, while it targeted 500MWh+ signed Elementa deals and a total of 1 GWh expsected to be delivered by 2023.
The company has a global shipment of 4GWh+, while project pipeline of 10GWh+ capacity.
He focused on Trina Storage Elementa 2 Platform and its major features like higher capacity and power density for lower CAPEX, up to 25 years’ lifetime with over 10k cycle life, and comprehensive safety. Chao also took the occasion to mention about advanced manufacturing capability, battery full-chain ecology, vertical integration for production and improved supply chain control among others.
The third discourse was on “The Role of Energy Storage to Enhance Solar Development and Energy Efficiency" which was moderated by Marco Antonio Gómez Castillo-Senior Director at Red Sea Global.
The Speakers were Faysal Pirmohamed - Senior Energy Consultant at Sargent & Lundy Eng Mohammed Al Taani-Secertary General at the Arab Renewable Energy Commission &Vice Chairman at Jordanian Renewable Energy Society, Wasif Shaikh-Chief Technical Officer at X-NOOR, Marek Kubik - Director at NEOM, Saptharishi Manikandan - General Manager at Jakson Green Saroj Kumar Mahapatra, Senior Grid Manager at Infinity Power and Krunal Patel - Executive Manager - BESS Technology at ACWA Power. They highlighted on the importance of energy storage, which has gained global attention and has been highly contributing to the energy industry.
The fourth panel discussion revolved around "ESG Investment and Best Practices: ESG Concepts to Help Enterprises Achieve Carbon Neutrality and Sustainable Development Goals."
The Panelists included Vito Saluto - Head of ESG at AMEA Power, Tamara Bajic-Associate Director at AESG, Rijo Abraham-Project Development Manager at Abu Dhabi Energy Services (ADES), Ahmed Abunada-Senior Manager - Sustainability & Environment at Parsons Corporation, Vinod Anthraper - Sales Director-MENA at DAS SOLAR and Jonathan Keyes-Senior Manager – Sustainable Finance at HSBC. They highlighted on the role of ESG investment that can play huge role for net zero emissions in the region.
Sophia HASNAOUI - Senior Business Development Manager at Yellow Door Energy moderated the event.
The summit had a special CEO session on “How Do You Foresee the Future of Energy Transition in MENA" where the CEOs of renowned companies sat together and shared their experiences and valuable insights on future of energy transition. They also provided recommendations and suggestions.
The session was moderated by L K Verma - Founder & Managing Director at Power n Sun.
The participating CEOs were Marcus H. Schrauf - CEO at Fas Energy, Laurent Longuet - CEO at SirajPower, Samir Nacef - Chief Executive Officer at ABYDOS, Thalia Valkouma-President & CEO at FARIA Renewables S.A. and Moussi Ammar - Founder and Member of the Executive Board at Arab Renewable energy Commission.
Furthermore, the summit had a special presentation by Jacky Chan - Director of Overseas Sales and Project Development at Huasun Energy. He shared about “Heterojunction Technology Accelerates the Journey to a Zero-carbon World.”
Being the largest HJT manufacturer, Huasun aims to achieve 20GW+Production capacity by 2024 and 40GW+ production capacity by 2025.
In his presentation, he shared the importance of Heterojunction, which has been a truly proven PV technology. He added that Heterojunction delivers on what the market needs, including lower LCOE, higher efficiency, higher yield and proven reliability.
Meanwhile, another discussion was focused on “Breaking Ground: Innovations and Trends in EPC for PV Plants in MENA” which was moderated by Haytham Abdo - General Manager | Development dt Nurun at Desert Technologies.
Sudharshan Subramaniam - Director at Sunnyside Renewable Energy Services LLC, Haytham Abdo - General Manager | Development dt Nurun at Desert Technologies, Ashraf Taha - Managing Director at Vista Eco Solar Solutions LLC and Ayaz Alware - Senior Manager at Sharaf DG Energy took part in the discussion where they exchanged ideas on innovations and trends.
Likewise, another panel discussion was focused on another important topic “Opportunities and Challenges of Large-Scale Solar in MENA."
The Panelists included Samir Wani - Senior Business Development Manager EMEA at Nippon Energy, Shan Salahudeen - Head Of Engineering at Dutronix, Ketan Patel-Head - International O&M (MEA & Europe) at Sterling and Wilson Renewable Energy, Antonio Valentin Díaz-Head of Project Execution Middle East en EDF Renouvelables, Dr. Mahmoud Al-Hader-Head of Asset Information at Al Ain Distribution Company, Gutta Sreenu - Project Director at Larsen & Toubro, Zaki Nashif - Vice President at Etihad Water and Electricity and Carlos Sanabria - Director - Head of PV at ACWA Power.
Ravneet Singh Bhalla-Director - Energy Sector Advisory at KPMG Lower Gulf was the moderator for the session.
The event’s concluding panel discussion was on "Viable Finance Insights in MENA's Renewable Energy and Energy Storage Projects".
Nat Vora-Founder & CEO at StrategiX Advisors, Arash Nazhad - Co-Head Clean Tech Group | Managing Director at Moelis, Haytham Abdo - General Manager | Development dt Nurun at Desert Technologies and Mikhail Timofeev-CEO of StorEn took part in the discourse.
Mohammed Atif - Director of MEA, Renewables, Energy Systems at DNV moderated the session.
Followed by remarks and discussions, Energy Box hosted a Awarding Ceremony to honor the excellent individuals and companies for their outstanding contribution to establish, develop and promote clean energy across MENA region.
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