WETEX sees wide participation on first day of exhibition
Day One of the 26th Water, Energy, Technology and Environment Exhibition (WETEX) hosted specialised seminars and discussion panels delivered by a group of leading global experts and specialists. The sessions were widely attended by visitors and those interested in sustainability, water and technology.
Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) is organising WETEX under the directives of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and the patronage of HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy, from 1 to 3 October 2024, at the Dubai World Trade Centre.
The first Leadership Roundtable took place at WETEX 2024 and it was titled ‘Harnessing AI in Utilities, Waste Management and Sustainability’. The leading speakers of the session were Abdulla Al Jaziri, Chief AI Officer at DEWA; Rima Semaan, Data & AI Lead at Microsoft; Rajeev Nair, Vice President at G42; Adnan Kashwani, Vice President of E2E Cloud and Infrastructure Management at e& UAE; and Dr Shivagami Gugan, Chief Technologist at AWS. The session was attended by the main players and stakeholders in artificial intelligence, and partners to the industry.
The exclusive roundtable highlighted many aspects of AI and aimed to share the current challenges faced, opportunities, risk-mitigation and responsible AI practices, key lessons and the latest market trends.
Al Jaziri highlighted the journey of DEWA that started seven years ago, when the wise leadership announced the first AI Ministry and outlined a clear strategy to boost AI utilisation in all sectors. He discussed how DEWA’s AI journey had evolved throughout the years to bring about useful customer services, resulting in initiatives such as the rollout of the Rammas 2.0 virtual assistant in 2022. The speakers agreed on the need to upscale talent to keep abreast with advances in Gen AI. DEWA Academy was presented as an example for accelerating the upskilling of talent and harnessing AI skills, especially among youths.
In the Future Energy Landscape Forum, Dragon Oil highlighted innovation in waste management in the oil & gas sector. Day One included a session titled ‘Dragon Oil’s Decarbonisation Initiatives and Opportunities’, which shed a light on the company’s latest initiatives to reduce its carbon footprint and preserve the environment.
In a presentation, Dr Waddah Ghanem, Senior Director of Logistics & Marine Assurance at ENOC, delivered a presentation on the role of digital technologies in promoting the decarbonisation of the industrial, energy, agriculture and manufacturing sectors. He noted that digital transformation is an essential strategy for companies to achieve sustainability and innovation, and requires a comprehensive approach encompassing technology, management and cultural integration. He also highlighted that digital technologies can reduce global emissions by 15% when implemented in the energy, agriculture and industrial sectors, according to a World Economy Forum report.
In his ‘Use of Waste Materials for Production of High-value Products and Fuels’ presentation, Dr Alexander Ritschel, Masdar’s Senior Adviser on green hydrogen, highlighted the role of new technologies in transforming waste materials into fuels, as in supporting efforts to reduce the carbon footprint. He noted that such technologies can transform non-recyclable waste into a clean energy source, as part of the circular economy. He showcased five leading examples in transforming waste into energy – projects in Swindon, in the UK, and in Reno, Nevada, and North Dakota, in the US.
The ‘Governance and Leadership in Occupational Health & Safety as per National & International Standards’ session highlighted the key pillars of implementing health and safety standards, in line with the ISO 45001:2018 certification. It also shed light on the importance of effective leadership and its role in ensuring the successful implementation of the standards. It also highlighted the need to connect planning, implementation and performance, while explaining the differences in the roles and duties of senior executives and board members in achieving excellence in health and safety.
The ‘Sustainable Health and Safety at the Workplace with ISO 45001’ panel session was moderated by Krish Sriram, Principal Auditor and Training Manager at Bureau Veritas, with the participation of Paul Williams, HSE Director at KEOLIS; David Robinson, HSE and Sustainability Director at INNOVO; Willean Master, Supply Chain Director at Electra; David Enders, Group HSES Manager at LAMPRELL; and Nancy Nouaimeh, Managing Director, Xcellium.
Participants highlighted that effective health and safety management in line with ISO 45001 standards requires the support of the higher management through the setting of proactive systems and constant monitoring. This is especially relevant for dynamic industries, such as events, manufacturing and public transport. The effective engagement by the leadership can include site visits and directly communicating with employees to create a safe and supportive working environment. They explained that the benefits of implementing sustainable health and safety systems improve the wellbeing of employees, increase retention and promote personal growth.
Mohamed Aymen Lazreg, Head of Sales Central at Siemens Energy, delivered a presentation on ‘Managing the Renewables Integration Challenge’. He highlighted the challenges facing efforts to integrate renewable energy into existing networks and the role of gas power plants in ensuring network stability and the reliability of energy supplies.
Alex Yang from Huawei delivered a presentation on ‘Intelligent Distribution Solutions’ that touched on key challenges facing the energy sector and the important role digitisation plays in improving distribution systems and networks. He used DEWA as an example of a company utilising industrial AI in its services and utilities.
Yang added that smart technologies help to reduce waste, improve supply reliability, enhance operations and maintenance efficiency in the energy sector, as well as drive the development of new services. He offered an example in which the application of digital capabilities helped to achieve business objectives by reducing downtime and providing an analysis of energy losses within minutes.
Water seminars on Day One kicked off with the ‘Global Water Resilience, Security and a Just Transition’ presentation delivered by Martin Shouler, Global City Water Resilience Approach Lead at Arup. The session focused on water resilience approaches utilised in different parts of the world, and highlighted the importance of water in all sectors, including food, manufacturing and even energy. The key to water resilience is understanding the system, which can be achieved by leveraging the latest developments in AI, data analytics and machine learning.
The panel on ‘Transforming the Grid: Advanced Storage Technologies and Integrated Solutions’ was moderated by Avanthika Satheesh, Director of Emerging Technologies MENA at Customised Energy Solutions, with the participation of David Nankivell, Vice President of Power Network Development and Investments at TAQA; Easa Al Zarooni, Systems Operations Executive Director at EWEC; Mahmoud El-Dessouky, Gulf Marketing Director of the Power Systems Division of Schneider Electric; Younes El Jazouli, Head of Project Management, Grid Technologies, UAE & Oman, Siemens Energy; and Mohamed El-Fayoumy, Digital Lead for the Gulf Region at Hitachi Energy. The panellists discussed how to achieve reliable electricity supply by applying the latest technologies and investments to transform the grid and add batteries for energy storage, as well as learning how to integrate solar energy into the grid to reduce carbon footprint and the costs of energy generation and distribution.
The ‘Managing Urban Flood Risk in a Changing Climate’ session was moderated by Ghaith Tibi with the participation of Martin Shouler, Global City Water Resilience Approach Lead at Arup; and Dima Rashid, Managing Director and Founding Partner of Studio Liana. The panellists discussed the risks posed by flooding and extreme weather events that many cities will be facing over the next few years, the importance of modelling the data into actionable information to inform decision making and the development of an integrated system to achieve the desired results.
During ‘The Impact of Thermal Insulation on Energy Consumption of Buildings session’, Dr Bejay Jayan from Smart Insulation Finishing Systems (SIFS), highlighted that 80% of energy in the Middle East is consumed by buildings, mainly by HVAC systems. In a case study, he presented an energy net-positive building in Jebel Ali, Dubai. The building is powered by 57 photovoltaic panels and is capable of exceeding the energy needs of the building and feeding back into the grid.