Electricity and Control January 2020

DIARY DATES Investing in African Mining Indaba 2020 3-6 February 2020, Cape Town International Convention Centre

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The next edition of the African Mining Indaba will look at key issues facing the African mining industry in 2020 and beyond: addressing mining’s impacts on the environment, opportunities to alleviate South Africa’s heavy unemployment levels, and the potential for automation and digitalisation in mining operations, among others. Visit https://www.miningindaba.com Africa Agri Tech (AAT) 18-20 February 2020 The Maslow Conference Centre, Menlyn Maine, Pretoria The conference, workshops and expo will look at how the latest technologies, innovations and advances in agri tech can deliver greater efficiencies for farmers in 2020 and beyond and how best to harness technology to benefit African agriculture. Visit: www.africaagritech.co.za Africa Energy Indaba 3-4 March 2020 Cape Town International Convention Centre, Cape Town Catalysing investment and business opportunities – Africa Energy Indaba brings together the continent’s energy leaders around an agenda that influences energy policy for Africa, backed by strategic partnerships with the World Energy Council, the South African National Energy Association and the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency. Visit: www.africaenergyindaba.com Hannover Messe 2020 20-24 April 2020 Hannover, Germany The world’s leading industrial technology show will focus on key trends in industrial transformation: Industrie 4.0, industrial security, artificial intelligence, lightweight construction, logistics 4.0, platform economics, carbon-free production. Visit: https://www.hannovermesse.de/home PowerGen Africa 2020 Co-located with African Utility week 12-14 May Cape Town International Convention Centre African Utility Week is Africa’s meeting place for the power, energy and water value chain. PowerGen Africa adds to the focus on generation technologies, alongside transmission, distribution and metering, as well as new technologies including energy storage, mini and micro grids, IoT and ICT systems. Visit: https://www.powergenafrica.com/ Machine Tools Africa 2020 12-15 May 2020 Expo Centre, Nasrec, Johannesburg High performance machine tools. Endorsed by Machine Tools Merchants' Association of South Africa (MTMA). Visit: https://www.machinetoolsafrica.co.za/ Electra Mining Africa 7-11 September 2020 Expo Centre, Nasrec, Johannesburg A shared exhibition platform for the African mining, industrial, construction and electrical sectors. Visit: https://www.electramining.co.za/

Equally welcome is the constant rollout of wind projects at 1 600 MW per year from 2022 to 2030. This provides investors with a clear pipeline for projects that should lead to greater levels of localisation, industrialisation and job creation. The introduction of storage as an energy resource itself is a plus, but it is important that this is not seen as battery storage only. It must include other options such as pumped storage, hydrogen, molten salts used on CSP plants, and more. Another positive is the postulated move from mega-projects to smaller and modular projects. They come on stream more quickly and at a reduced risk. While the proliferation of renewable energy is a threat to coal sector jobs, at the same time it opens up other job opportunities. And this is not only about which technologies will provide more job opportunities. It is more important that we act against climate change for the benefit of future generations and in an affordable way for the consumer. The cost of cleaner technologies is coming down and soon they will offer the best cost option when combined with storage and gas. Of course, a just energy transition is vital – we need to engage all stakeholders, minimise job losses in the coal sector and reskill workers. Unemployment is a national crisis: government must make it possible for the private sector to create jobs and trade unions also need to focus on creating additional jobs and not just enhancing labour conditions for current employees. Overall, the government has taken the first important steps to revitalise the energy sector. SENER is a private engineering and technology business group founded in 1956. It aims to offer its clients the most advanced technological solutions and to achieve international recognition based on its independence and commitment to innovation and quality. SENER is today a leading company worldwide in the infrastructure and transport; renewables, power, oil & gas, and marine sectors. It leads the global solar thermal-electric power market, in terms of the number of projects in its portfolio and its own technological solutions. SENER has participated in 29 plants in total, most of them turnkey projects, in Spain, the United States, South Africa (Bokpoort, Kathu and Ilanga-1 solar thermal power plants) and Morocco (Noor I and Noor II parabolic trough solar thermal power plants and Noor III central tower power plant), representing over 2 000 MW of installed capacity and a saving of more than one million tonnes per year of CO 2 emissions.

For more information visit: http://www.engineeringandconstruction.sener/sener-group

32 Electricity + Control

JANUARY 2020