RIYADH — Informa Exhibitions Saudi, a newly opened country branch of Informa Exhibitions, will be officially launching the first edition of Middle East Electricity Saudi next week (Oct. 15-17) at the Riyadh International Convention Centre.

Under the official patronage of Eng. Khalid A Al-Falih, the Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources, the event is strategically aligned with the Saudi Vision 2030 and the organizers have partnered with leading institutions such as Saudi Electricity Company to ensure the show delivers exactly what the industry needs..

There is an abundance of activity currently taking place in the Kingdom which is at the forefront of a regional power investment drive. According to the ‘GCC Power Market’ report commissioned for Middle East Electricity 2018 by Ventures Onsite, the value of power construction contracts awarded throughout the GCC in 2018 hit approximately $23.6 billion.

The impressive figure represents a substantial 41 percent increase on 2017. The report highlights that Saudi Arabia leads the awards ranking, accounting for 59 per cent of contract value, followed by the UAE and Kuwait.

This upsurge in the value of contracts reflects the vibrancy of the region’s power sector where governments are looking to meet increasing demand - between 7 to 8 percent a year.

“The exhibition aims to contribute to the modernizing Saudi power market by bringing together a range of key stakeholders, from power manufacturers, suppliers, domestic wholesalers and distributors to thousands of visitors from across the Kingdom and neighboring countries, all with decision making competence” said Deep Karani, Exhibition Manager, Middle East Electricity Saudi.

The Kingdom is also seeking investment of up to $7 billion to build approximately 4,000MW of renewable energy capacity, as well as targeting 40 gigawatt hours of energy savings in 2018 as part of the country’s economic diversity and environmental sustainability objectives.

Even though 2018 is a launch year for the event, it already has significant support from some of the regional solar solution providers, such as Canadian Solar, Jinko and JA Solar, who will be displaying their latest range of solar modules to meet the growing need of renewable options in Saudi. They will also be conducting a series of technical seminars during the show which will be free-to-attend for all visitors.

The events other key subsectors include; Power Generation; Transmission and Distribution; Lighting and Energy Storage and Management. — SG