Gulf Solar

Introduction

The potential for solar power generation in the Gulf is enormous, with each square kilometre of land receiving every year an amount of solar energy that is equivalent to 1.5 million barrels of crude oil. Yet in spite of this, solar power has not traditionally featured in the Gulf nations’ renewable energy mix, with sceptics citing that it is unable to compete with the low cost of readily available hydrocarbons.

This is starting to change. Increasing environmental pressure from international countries on the oil producing nations is forcing the Gulf to examine its energy strategy and improve its green credentials. Furthermore, with the high price of oil, countries are considering the merits of increasing export volumes and decreasing domestic use.

Governments are setting in place renewable energy targets and green building legislation and several high profile projects are underway, including Abu Dhabi’s Masdar city and KAUST’s efforts in Saudi Arabia. Large scale power and desalination plants are under planning and construction, BIPV and green architecture are growing, with many of the regions major property developers leading the way. 

Research is being carried out to increase the efficiencies of solar modules in the extreme heat and prevalent dust of the Gulf and local companies are starting to manufacture new modules.

As such, solar power in the Gulf region is about to get big!

Hear from leaders of the Gulf solar industry including:

• Paddy Padmanathan, Chief Executive Officer, Acwa Power, Saudi Arabia
• Omran Al-Kuwari, Chief Executive Officer, GreenGulf, Qatar
• Sami Khoreibi, Chief Executive Officer, Enviromena Power Systems, UAE
• Abdulhadi Al-Mureeh, Managing Director, National Solar Systems, Saudi Arabia
• Samer Zureikat, Founder, MENA Cleantech, Jordan
• Vahid Fotuhi, Director, BP Solar Middle East, UAE
• Kees van der Leun, Chief Operations Officer, Ecofys Group, The Netherlands
• Ahmad al Khowaiter, Director, New Business Evaluation Department, Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia
• Kiomars Dabbagh, Managing Director, Schott Middle East, UAE
• Tarek Al-Amad, Chief Executive Officer, European Jordanian Renewable Energy Projects, Jordan
• Francesco Guidetti, Chief Executive Officer, Marketing and Sales, Innova, Italy
• Michele Appendino, Chief Executive Officer & Chairman, Solar Ventures, Italy
• Kevin Smith, Chief Executive Officer, Solar Reserve, USA
• Eng. Bander Allaf, Senior Planning Engineer, Saudi Electricity Company, Saudi Arabia
• Dr. Olaf Goebel, Senior Project Manager, MASDAR, UAE
• Olivier Steinmetz, Member of the Supervisory Board & Co-Founder, DESERTEC, Germany
• Dr. Raed Bkayrat, Technology Advancement Group Manager, KAUST, Saudi Arabia
• Samir Hassan, Executive Chairman, New and Renewable Energy Authority, Egypt
• Jonathon Walters, Sector Manager, Energy (MENA), World Bank, USA
• Mohammed Al Ta'ani, General Manager, Jordanian Renewable Energy Society, Jordan
• Ahmed Hassan Faleh Moheidat, Chief of Solar Energy Division, Jordan National Center for Energy Research, Jordan
• Ravi Suri, Investment Manager, Standard Chartered Bank, UAE
• Dr. Khaled A. Al-Sallal, Associate Professor of Architectural Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, UAE University, Al-Ain, UAE
• Nikolai Dobrott, Partner, Apricum, Germany
• Dr. Jouda Bouattour, Faculty Member and Expert Engineer, ISETN, Tunisia

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N.B This event will be conducted in English only