Dubai Smart Energy Summit to Shape Global Power Agenda

World’s industrial trendsetters to address mega smart power meet

Tesla CTO, former US Energy policy maker & ex-NASA Big Data expert to deliver keynotes

Dubai, UAE – 21 December 2017: The eyes of the industrial world will focus on Dubai next March as the world’s power and technology trendsetters take to the stage at the inaugural Global Smart Energy Summit (GSES), launched by Informa Exhibitions.

The three-day thought-leadership summit, being held at the Dubai World Trade Centre from 6-8 March 2018, will see science and innovation pioneers in international relations, space, industry and power explore the technology and processes set to transform the way we live and work.

With a packed agenda featuring 140 regional and international speakers from 28 countries delivering 100 content sessions across four themed tracks, GSES is designed to be the world’s brainstorm think-tank in the age of power-for-everything, everyone and everywhere.

Top GSES billing is a strictly US affair with keynote speakers from the sharp end of the 4th industrial revolution. They are: Jeffrey Brian Straubel, Tesla Inc’s Co-Founder and Chief Technical Officer, and board member of the transformative SolarCity; Andy Karsner, former Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency at the US Department of Energy, who led the implementation of the Twenty-In-Ten Advanced Energy Initiative, and internationally-acclaimed Big Data guru, Kirk Borne, the astrophysicist and data scientist who for two decades supported NASA projects including the Hubble Space Telescope research phenomenon.

“This is a transformative trio,” said Ryan O’Donnell, GSES Programme Director. “From research, to conceptualisation, policy making and delivery, this group has breakthrough insights into all aspects of industrialisation including the energy revolution which powers it.

“With unparalleled expertise in reform, policy and incentives, energy technology and storage, data and digital transformation, they will set the scene for advanced technological learning so that attendees can dive deeper into, and participate in, expert-led, peer-to-peer debate on topics that will drive forward the regional and global smart energy landscape.”

The summit will also open with a Ministerial keynote – State of Energy – by the UAE Ministry of Energy, that will outline the need to balance growth from smart and sustainable energy sources to drive long-term competitive advantage.

GSES will also feature dedicated, country-focus sessions looking individually at the opportunities and challenges of developing usable renewables and meeting national power programmes in seven Middle Eastern countries – UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan, Egypt and Kuwait.

Addressing these key sessions are luminaries such as Her Excellency Fatima Mohammed Al Shamsi, Assistant Under Secretary for Electricity and Future Energy at the UAE Ministry of Energy; Engineer Ziad Jebril Sabra, Assistant Secretary General, Jordan Ministry of Energy and Mineral Respurces; Dr. Ayad Y.Aldaijy, Advisor and Chief Information Officer for Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Environment, Water & Agriculture; Tamer Farid Hejazi, Director, Technical Minister’s Office at the Ministry of Electricity and Energy, Egypt, and, Engineer Suhaila Marafi, Director, Department of Studies & Research, at the Kuwait Ministry of Electricity & Water.

“The GSES programme explores every aspect of smart energy that is now being actively pursued worldwide – from the technology driving innovation, to the future of storage and the need of smart cities,” explained O’Donnell. “There will also be insightful case studies of evolutionary projects worldwide, from the microgrids that could shortly power Africa to the smart building technologies of Denmark. As an advanced learning forum, GSES is shaping up to be peerless. The knowledge takeaways will assist an anticipated 700 attendees aligning their strategies, processes and delivery with international best practices and staying relevant and competitive in this disrupted and transformative era.”

O’Donnell said Dubai is the obvious choice to host the Summit given its standing as the regional conference hub and its resounding commitment to clean energy.

“The disclosure of the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 states clearly the emirate’s intention for 7% of its total power output to come from clean energy by 2020, 25% by 2030 and 75% by 2050. It’s an ambitious statement now in the public domain, which opens up both challenges and opportunities for the industry to rise to,” said O’Donnell.

Running alongside GSES is Informa Exhibitions’ well-established Middle East Electricity (MEE) show, the region’s leading annual international trade event for the power industry, which is held under the patronage of HH Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Deputy Ruler, and is hosted by the UAE Ministry of Energy.

MEE is undergoing major expansion for its 2018 show to service the shifting demand dynamics of the regional sector. The 2018 edition will feature MEE’s first dedicated Energy Storage & Management Solutions sector, aimed at being the most comprehensive coming together of local, regional and international energy storage and management providers, with international manufacturers demonstrating the latest technologies transforming industry practices.

Energy Storage & Management Solutions will join four other specialised sectors at the show, which over 43 years has ignited, and then maintained, a reputation of being a pacesetter for regional development. The other sectors are the Transmission & Distribution, Power Generation and Lighting stalwarts, as well as Solar, which joins the MEE fold in a dedicated sector after six years as a co-located event.

MEE 2018 will host more than 1,615 companies from 66 countries, supported by 24 dedicated country pavilions.

For more information, please visit:

www.middleeastelectricity.com/globalsmartenergysummit/en/home.html