Africa’s Power and Water Innovations, Opportunities and Successes in Focus at African Utility Week in Cape Town

Cape Town, South Africa, May 17, 2016 --(PR.com)-- Cape Town will be the continent’s energy capital this week when more than 6000 power and water professionals from more than 70 countries, including 27 African nations, will gather for the 16th African Utility Week and Clean Power Africa conference and trade exhibition from 17-19 May at the CTICC. The opening keynote session starts at 09h00 on Tuesday, 17 May.

“There’s no doubt that renewable energy as well as smart technology are changing the way power and water utilities operate and deal with their customers,” says Evan Schiff, event director for African Utility Week. The event will feature 250 exhibitors, 250 speakers, a six stream strategic conference, free-to-attend technical workshops on the expo floor, three high-profile keynote sessions, technical site visits and the coveted industry awards gala dinner.

African Utility Week addresses the latest challenges, developments and opportunities in the power and water sectors: ranging from generation, T&D, metering, clean energy, finance and investment, water supply and energy efficiency. Says Evan Schiff, “We will once again showcase many success stories in clean energy as well as new innovations for the sector, look at bankable power projects, and energy storage will be discussed as a possible game changer for energy independence. We also have a strong focus on water this year, including the water-energy nexus, water efficiency and wastewater management.”

African Utility Week speaker highlights include:

Opening day keynote session, Tuesday, 17 May, 09h00:
- Thembisile Majola, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Energy, South Africa
- Mongezi Ntsokolo, Group Executive, Distribution, Eskom, South Africa
- Kandeh K Yumkella, UN Under-Secretary-General and Former Special Representative of the Secretary-General and CEO, Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All), Sierra Leone
- Michael Liebreich, Chairman of the Advisory Board and Founder, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, UK
- James E. Rogers, Former CEO and Chairman of the Board, Duke Energy, USA
- Anton Eberhard, Professor: Management Programme in Infrastructure Reform and Regulation, Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town, South Africa

Keynote session, Wednesday, 18 May, 09h00:
- Monika Weber-Fahr, COO, Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All), Austria
- Dhesigen Naidoo, CEO, Water Research Commission, South Africa
- Henk Ovink, Special Envoy for International Water Affairs, Netherlands
- Akinwole Omoboriowo II, CEO, Genesis, Nigeria

Utility CEO Forum
The invitation-only Utility CEO Forum will give more than 40 high-level power and water utility executives the opportunity to discuss challenges and share best practice from countries including Botswana, DRC, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

Innovation Hub
Aquaponic farming, a geyser switch and other water and energy savings gadgets and software are amongst the winning innovations and inventions that will be showcased at the Innovation Hub on the African Utility Week exhibition floor. Fifteen SMEs, start-ups and young innovators have been selected for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be part of the event and take their businesses to the next level.

Continent’s top power and water people and projects
Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront’s Solar Farm, Nigeria’s Genesis Energy, Nairobi City Water in Kenya and Sierra Leone’s Kandeh Yumkella of the SE4All Initiative are just some of the exciting and pioneering power and water professionals, utilities and projects that have been named as finalists for this year’s African Utility Week Industry Awards. Other success stories that made the coveted final selection are from Rwanda, Nigeria, Uganda, Ghana and Tanzania.

African as the next energy hotspot
The Tesla Powerwall is just one of the exciting, new technologies that will be on display at the African Utility Week exhibition where more than 250 local and global technology and service providers to the water and power industry are showcasing the latest solutions and sharing their successes in projects.

Platinum sponsors are Accenture, EPG, Landis+Gyr, Lucy Electric, KPMG and Shell. The following companies are gold sponsors this year: ABB, ElSewedy, Genesis, Itron, Oracle, Poweroad and Sensus. There is also a lot of international interest in Africa as the next energy hotspot with country pavilions from Germany, Sweden, India, China, France and the Netherlands. The South Africa Electrotechnical Export Council (SAEEC) is hosting the South African pavilion of solution providers with more than 20 companies.

The trade exhibition will be free when registering in advance and showcase water and energy saving technologies and services for the industry and feature hands-on demonstrations while various industry bodies are offering CPD-accredited technical workshops on the exhibition floor; including the South African Renewable Energy Technology Centre, the Standard Transfer Specification Association and the Africa Utilities Technology Council.

Dates for African Utility Week and Clean Power Africa 2016:
Conference and expo: 17-19 May 2016
Awards gala dinner: 18 May 2016 – limited seating for media
Site visits: 20 May 2016
Location: CTICC, Cape Town, South Africa