Discussions on South Africa’s nuclear future and a pledge of commitment by the water industry to ensure a water resilient future are some of the highlights at the 17th annual African Utility Week conference and expo that kick off at the CTICC in Cape Town on Tuesday, 16 May.
The returning Eskom CEO Brian Molefe, will also deliver the host utility welcome address during the keynote opening session that starts at 09h30 on Tuesday, 16 May. Molefe’s appearance at African Utility Week will be one of his first public appearances since the Eskom board announced last week that he was returning to his job as chief executive of Eskom.
“If simple, honest energy planning is done, nuclear should form the foundation of South Africa’s energy supply” says Dr. Anthonie Cilliers, Programme Manager: Nuclear Engineering, North West University. He is part of a panel discussion at Nuclear Power Africa as part of African Utility Week.
He adds: “I believe nuclear energy is being misrepresented by many parties because it does not fit personal interest. Nuclear power is on record the safest energy source of all, it is clean and provides the most stable form of electricity available today. Unfortunately it has large capital costs attached to it making it difficult for private investors to have an appetite for it. When deployed it will, however, provide in all our energy needs – taking away private investors’ opportunity to make money.“
An exciting announcement by Eskom’s Chief Nuclear Officer, Dave Nicholls is also expected during his presentation on “Eskom’s Study for Advanced High Temperature Reactor” on Thursday, 18 May.
African Utility Week always has a strong focus on water and this year key water industry stakeholders and water utilities from across the continent will take part in signing a pledge to commit to FLOW, which stands for: For Love of Water, to ensure a water resilient future.
The founder of FLOW, Justin Friedman, will facilitate the session: “we will ask participants to commit time, money, resources, energy, actions, or all of these, to make a significant impact on water consumption and conservation and to make this pledge towards their commitment to champion water conservation. We will keep track of their progress and announce the results and successes at next year’s conference.”
The 17th annual African Utility Week will gather over 7000 decision makers from more than 80 countries to source the latest solutions and meet over 300 suppliers. Along with multiple side events and numerous networking functions the event also boasts a five track conference with over 300 expert speakers.
Theconference programme will address the latest challenges, developments and opportunities in the power and water sectors: ranging from generation, T&D, metering, technology and water. The African Utility Week expo offers an extensive technical workshop programme that are CPD accredited, free to attend, hands-on presentations that take place in defined spaces on the exhibition floor. They discuss practical, day-to-day technical topics, best practices and product solutions that businesses, large power users and utilities can implement in their daily operations.
Theleading global advisory firm KPMG is this year’s diamond sponsor for the event while industry stalwarts EPG, GE, Huawei, Landis+Gyr, Lucy Electric, Ontec and Shell are platinum sponsors. The gold sponsors are Aberdare Cables, Conlog, Oracle Utilities, SAP, SBS Tanks, SNPTC and Vodacom. African Utility Week and Energy Revolution Africa is the flagship energy event organised by the multi-award winning Spintelligent, leading Cape Town-based trade exhibition and conference organiser, and part of Clarion Events Ltd, based in the UK. Other well-known energy events by Spintelligent are Future Energy Nigeria (formerly known as WAPIC), Future Energy East Africa (formerly EAPIC), Future Energy Uganda and Future Energy Central Africa. Earlier this year, Spintelligent won four major awards at AAXO’s ROAR Organiser and Exhibitor Awards, with African Utility Week named the joint winner for Best Trade Exhibition 6001-12000 sqm category (with the World Travel Market).
