Keynote speakers formally opened here Monday the 6th International Water, Electricity and Power Generation conference and exhibition (WEPower 2010) at the Dhahran International Exhibition Center calling for regional and international cooperation in establishing infrastructures that will secure and sustain the future of the water and electricity sectors in the Kingdom and the Gulf region. Dr. Abdullah Al-Shehri, Governor of the Electricity and Cogeneration Regulatory Authority (ECRA), set the tone of the conference by examining and presenting the future strategy of ECRA in Saudi Arabia in his keynote address, and by asking whether strict regulation and soft regulatory options are conducive to meeting the increasing water and power demand in the Kingdom. “Our mandate at ECRA is to implement sustainable water management policies, including changes to tariff structures,” Al-Shehri said. He added that key players in the water sector should look at decentralized water production to support downstream industrial development, as well as examine the pros and cons of distributed water supply as against centralized water systems. ECRA has been established mainly to protect consumers against the monopoly of the water and power sectors. Fouad Al-Sherebi, Generation Executive Vice President of the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC), also delivering a keynote address, said the expected demand from industry and population growth requires serious and determined efforts to address the future productivity target of national power companies. Assessing the power generation sector's race between demand and supply, he said that the SEC has already set its priority target in meeting future demand in the power sector with the company's long-term expansion and development targets. Discussions during the question and answer sessions focused on the sustainability of the current independent power project (IPP) models in the Kingdom and in the Gulf region and the advantages of utilizing alternative fuels, such as nuclear and solar power. One major concern expressed during these sessions was the capacity of EPC (engineering project management) contractors and suppliers to complete time-tabled power projects in the GCC region, particularly in Saudi Arabia. In Saudi Arabia a SR700 billion investment is required to complete three projects in the water and power generation sectors, according to the Ministry of Water and Electricity. These include SR300 billion for power generation, SR200 billion for additional desalination plants, and SR200 billion to modernize the country's sewerage system. In the GCC there are 234 projects worth $162 billion spanning the region, according to the Middle East Economic Digest. The region's wastewater sector also requires almost $10 billion of investment to fund new water treatment capacity up to 2015. WEPower was formally inaugurated by Saleh Bin Hussein Al-Awaji, Deputy Minister for Water and Electricity. The three-day conference is supported by the Ministry of Water and Electricity, Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC), Saudi Electricity Company (SEC), National Water Company (NWC), Water and Electricity Company (WEC) and Electricity and Cogeneration Regulatory Authority (ECRA).
