WCA May 2017

Industry news

Experts predict solar to drive renewable energy

panels, and policies allowing customers to sell electricity back into the network are in place. This will fundamentally change the way we think about electricity in the region.” Enviromena has constructed 42 solar projects in nine countries throughout the region, including rooftop solar installations at Yas Marina Circuit and solar car park shades at Masdar City. Pakistan investments Pakistan’s secretary of water and power, Mohammad Younus Dagha, and the chairman of State Grid Corporation of China have signed an agreement to develop an HVDC transmission link between Matiari and Lahore. With the capacity to transmit 4,000MW it will be the first such high capacity transmission line in Pakistan. Construction was due to begin in January, and is expected to take around 20 months. China is investing $1.5 billion in the project – the latest in a series of significant Chinese investments, most of which fall under a planned $55 billion worth of projects towards a China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). World Future Energy Summit – Abu Dhabi Website : www.worldfutureenergysummit.com Local production for HV equipment Taihan Electric Wire Co, a South Korean manufacturer of industrial cables, is to build a production plant in Saudi Arabia in cooperation with a local electric power equipment company, Mohammed Al-Ojaimi Group. The new facility will help to meet growing demand for high voltage electric equipment within Saudi Arabia and its neighbouring countries. Taihan Electric Wire and Mohammed Al-Ojaimi Group have established a 60-40 joint venture, Saudi Taihan, in Riyadh, to build a plant to produce HV electric equipment for the first time in Saudi Arabia. The new venture aims to install all necessary facilities by the second quarter of 2017, and plans that construction of the factory will be complete by the third quarter. Saudi Taihan will mainly produce cable connectors and insulating materials, the company has revealed. Previously, Saudi Arabia has depended on imports from Germany and the US for all of its HV equipment needs. A Taihan Electric Wire official confirmed that the decision to build the factory followed increasing demand for HV electric equipment across Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, including Saudi Arabia, and that the company expects the new joint venture to pave the way to other markets such as Africa and Europe. Taihan Electric Wire Co – South Korea Website : www.taihan.com

INDUSTRY experts at January’s World Future Energy Summit and Solar Expo in Abu Dhabi predicted that rooftop solar will help drive renewable energy to the next stage of its development in the Middle East and South Asian markets. Renewable energy, particularly solar, is making rapid progress in the region, with organisers estimating that buyers at WFES have more than 200GW of planned capacity to be added within the next decade. The industry expects to see rooftop solar driven by initiatives such as the Shams Dubai programme by Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa), which encourages PV systems on residential, commercial and industrial buildings. The projects themselves vary in size from just a few to thousands of solar panels. One initiative under the Shams Dubai programme is the installation of 88,000 solar panels on buildings belonging to port operator DP World, producing enough energy to power around 3,000 homes. “We are at a point where solar energy is clearly at the centre of the UAE’s electricity plans, and we are beginning to see rooftop solar play an important part in this growth,” said Sami Khoreibi, CEO of Abu Dhabi-based Enviromena. “Official targets are being set for installing rooftop solar

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Wire & Cable ASIA – May/June 2017