DistribuTECH Africa, the leading conference and exhibition for Africa’s power transmission and distribution industry, will increase its focus on distribution challenges at the 2015 event, following feedback from delegates at DistribuTECH Africa 2014.
In issuing a Call for Papers for the next event, Dr Willie de Beer, Chairman of the DistribuTECH Africa Advisory Board, says DistribuTECH Africa enjoyed a highly successful launch alongside POWER-GEN Africa in Cape Town this year. “We saw this year that utilities and municipalities across Africa are highly challenged with sustainability, and that there was keen interest from delegates in best practice information around distribution. With this in mind, theAdvisory Board believes the DistribuTECH Africa 2015 programme should do yet more to help them address these challenges and therefore, we will focus more on distribution in 2015.”
Over 2,330 power sector stakeholders from 72 countries – both across Africa and abroad – travelled to Cape Town in March this year to participate in the inaugural DistribuTECH Africa. Virtually all attendees (96%) rated session content as satisfactory to excellent, with 65% calling for even more content on business strategy and policy/regulation in future.
Dr de Beer notes that because DistribuTECH Africa is collocated with POWER-GEN Africa, power sector stakeholders are given a rare opportunity to attend tracks and review solutions across the entire electricity value chain.“ Delegates are able to focus on niche, specialised areas, or attend a broad range of tracks across both DistribuTECH Africa and POWER-GEN Africa to gain broad, high-level insights. With the top quality, valuable information being delivered in 6 concurrent tracks across both events, the only challenge delegate’s face is choosing which tracks to attend,” he says. However, delegates also have ample opportunities to engage speakers in discussion, and are able to access all papers after the event, ensuring that they do not miss crucial information.
The next high-level strategic and technical conference and exhibition, to be hosted by PennWell Corporation from 15-17 July 2015 at Cape Town International Convention Centre, Cape Town, South Africa, will again attract a broad range of delegates, including regional electricity distribution companies, municipalities, power producers, utilities, oil and gas companies, mining companies, energy and engineering consultants, government and regulators, environmental agencies, development agencies and investors.
The Advisory Board is now accepting abstracts for the 2015 conference, and is seeking experts and thought leaders capable of stimulating debate, delivering innovative ideas and cutting-edge solutions to address critical issues and transform industry practices.
Dr de Beer says speakers will share their knowledge, experience and ideas with strategic and technical decision-makers and planners, impacting on the future of African power. “While the Advisory Board has identified key challenge areas and topical issues that should be addressed at the conference, we also welcome abstract submissions covering new areas of discussion which have not been included in the preliminary programme. The goal is to deliver to stakeholders the broadest possible insights into best practice, policy, financing and learning.”
Experts in the field, academics, consultants and hands-on stakeholders are invited to submit abstracts with a view to delivering talks at DistribuTECH Africa 2015. PennWell Corporation notes that participation in this event helps develop the power sector across Africa, as well as raising the profile of speakers and their organisations. Topic areas include power delivery, development, financing, metering, system automation and operations, smart grids, sustainability, local government, regulations, distributed generation and its impact on the grid, data management and analytics and communication technology.
The deadline for abstracts is 10 October 2014.
POWER-GEN Africa and DistribuTECH Africa are organised by PennWell Corporation. PennWell conferences and exhibitions are the world’s leading business-to-business power generation events, together connecting over 50,000 industry professionals globally each year.
Established in 1910, PennWell Corporation is a leading international multimedia provider of business intelligence, producing 45 print and online publications, and over 60 conference and exhibitions, research, databases, Internet-based services and other information products to strategic global markets. PennWell conferences and exhibitions are the world’s leading business-to-business power generation events, together connecting over 50,000 industry professionals globally each year. In addition to its headquarters in Tulsa, USA, PennWell has offices throughout the world, including England, Germany, Russia and Hong Kong, to provide its customers and partners with a truly global service.
