Conference focuses on Africa's need for energy

"Africa has a phenomenal need for energy to drive its economic growth and to meet the justifiable aspirations of a growing and urbanising population. Over such a large and diverse continent, these needs vary greatly as do the approaches to meeting the challenges and implementing solutions. POWER-GEN Africa will bring the industry together to encourage knowledge sharing and partnerships in order to advance these goals in sub-Saharan Africa," says Nigel Blackaby, event director and director of conferences at the PennWell International Power Group, UK.

Conference covers two tracks

Industry experts from South Africa and Africa, the USA, Germany, Italy, Russia and further afield, will bring their expertise to bear upon a programme designed by an advisory board of African power industry experts, and which spans two different conference tracks - the Strategic Track and the Technology Track.

The event opens on Tuesday, 6 November with a joint keynote session with the co-located Renewable Energy World conference that is open to all attendees. Blackaby will deliver the introduction and opening remarks, followed by speakers Elizabeth Dipuo, South Africa's Minister of Energy and Brian Danes, CEO of Eskom.

This will be followed by a joint plenary panel discussion on 'Powering Africa's Growth - The Energy Challenge Ahead', that will give industry role players the chance to voice their views about current policies and the future direction of the power sector within sub-Saharan Africa. Confirmed speakers include Lawrence E. Jones of Alstom Grid Inc., USA, and Alexander Schwab of Andritz Hydro, Austria.

Energy security under discussion

Highlights on the programme include a look at energy security and sector regulation by the Strategic Track, and steam and gas turbine technology by the Technology Track. The Strategic Track will delve into financial and investment issues, planning and operational challenges and industrial power generation. The Technology Track takes an operational turn to explore flexible power generation, fuel quality, operations and maintenance and emissions control.

The third and final day of the conference will see the Strategic Track turning to the issue of capacity building, skills and training and the challenge of rural electrification, while the Technology Track explores lifetime extensions and retrofits, followed by performance optimisation.

More information on the programme is available at www.powergenafrica.com.