Growing MENA’s energy and water industry with digitalisation

Following the release of ‘Energy and Utilities Market Outlook 2020’, digitalisation has been identified as a key driver for energy and water supply in the MENA.

Commissioned by Informa Markets, the most recent report highlights the “tremendous growth opportunities for those willing to become digital champions of the global power community.” 

Key areas of opportunity include:

• Smart lighting - forecasted to reach US$2.1bn by 2023

• Smart grid investment - forecasted to reach US$17.6bn by 2027

• Overall sector profitability - forecasted to increase by 20-30%

Dr. Josef Petek, Manager of Commercial Operations at ENEXSA, highlights the increasingly high levels of complexity within energy and water supply, and the need for digitalisation to combat this. “Today, complex tasks must be solved within a short space of time, and every decision must be based on profound knowledge of the current situation and the understanding of the effects of the measures to be taken. Digitalisation not only means creating more information through many more measurements, but also understanding the complex interrelations in the processes so that intelligent devices and large-scale optimisation systems can become effective.” 

SEE ALSO:

• Energy challenges in the MENA region 

• How Egypt is future proofing the energy sector

• Chinese companies commit US$1.4bn into Bankable Energy projects in Africa

• Read the latest issue of Business Chief, Africa edition, here

Petek further comments that “digitalisation is the key ingredient to make the energy and water supply resilient, effective and affordable. Making the right dispatch decisions that will make maximum use of renewable energy sources while at the same time ensuring that the demand can always be met by the most efficient generation assets of the fleet requires good data, good models, and effective algorithms to support the decision makers.“

All over the world, “Digitalisation is playing an increasingly prominent role in industries, and the energy sector is ripe for transformation,” adds Claudia Konieczna, Exhibition Director, Middle East Energy.

For more information on business topics in Africa, please take a look at the latest edition of Business Chief Africa.

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