This year's edition, which takes place next week will also discuss and debate the many issues, challenges and opportunities in the sector, against a backdrop of burgeoning energy demand across the region.
MEE has been energising the industry for more than four decades, and this year is no exception, with a three-day agenda featuring conferences and workshops that bring together government authorities, industry experts and thought leaders with manufacturers and solution providers.
By the numbers
For 44 years, MEE has indisputably been in the vanguard of regional development, serving as illuminator, bellwether and pacesetter in equal measure.
Spread over 80,000 square metres, the event at Dubai World Trade Centre is expected will host more than 1,600 exhibitors representing over 130 nations and house 23 country pavilions, each demonstrating systems, processes and technologies aimed at making the sector more productive, efficient, cost-effective and sustainable.
Running from March 5 to 7 at the Dubai World Trade Centre, we preview all that's in store at this year’s edition.
IoT Lighting Conference
Debuting on the first day of the event on March 5, the region's first IoT Lighting Conference will explore how smart lighting solutions - driven by the emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT) in the lighting sector - are on the way to the UAE as the country pursues its aim of developing smart cities.
Experts from the Middle East, South America, Europe, India and the US will probe the advances possible from leveraging IoT within the lighting sector and its ability to transform lifestyles. The conference opens with a talk on how IoT lighting will help establish the UAE as a global smart city, by creating an ITS highway via lighting systems. Necessary legal frameworks for data sharing will also be discussed with plans being outlined by Eng. Ammar Majed Safi, the Senior Electrical and Development Engineer and Innovation Team Member at the UAE Ministry of Infrastructure Development.
Role of AI
With the symbiotic relationship, that artificial intelligence (AI) and IoT share and with lighting in the vanguard of AI transformation, Informa Exhibitions has introduced a one-day conference focusing on IoT lighting – the first of its kind in the region – as part of Middle East Electricity’s extensive CPD accredited knowledge programme.
The conference will focus attention on the key industry developments which are changing the entire face of this vital sector
Smart street lighting is a central conference theme with speakers predicting its impact across the MENA and how this will possibly evolve the role of lighting from merely illuminating highways to providing social, environmental and operational cost benefits.
Smart street lighting areas can be "used to recharge electric vehicles, offer hotspots for WiFi connections, charge hubs for the public within walkable areas," says Scott Fennelly, Director of Transportation at UAE-based Solutions Mobility Consultants, one of the show participants. "They can also provide elements of smart way-finding by pushing notifications to phone applications, which improve the public’s lifestyles and provide easier access to services," he adds
Revolutionising Power Generation Conference
MEE organisers are planning a comprehensive knowledge programme to coincide with the show this year including the much anticipated, and CPD accredited, Revolutionising Power Generation Conference. “The conference will focus attention on the key industry developments which are changing the entire face of this vital sector,” says Claudia Konieczna, Exhibition Director of Middle East Electricity.
Topics already listed for discussion include digital retrofits for improved power plant efficiencies, value-based maintenance, and redefining power plant performance using cloud-based analytics. There will also be a case study on reliability centre maintenance presented by Egypt’s East Delta Electricity Production Company.
Technical workshops
MEE has played a pivotal role in providing technical knowledge and training to power and construction professionals and those interested in joining the sector, and the current edition is no different.
"The show will offer a diverse range of professional education and training opportunities where attendees will be able to learn about the latest technologies at exhibitor-led Technical Seminars," says Konieczna. "It is our intention to ensure that a visit to Middle East Electricity is essential to every power professional within the region and those wishing to work with them."
Sectors in the spotlight
Over 60,000 senior-level industry decision makers are expected to attend MEE this year, which showcases five dedicated sectors; power generation; transmission and distribution; lighting; solar and energy storage and management.
Claudia Konieczna, Exhibition Director – Informa Industrial Group, says, “With power investment expectations for the region reaching $260 billion between now and 2022, this puts the exhibition’s catchment zone in the top global league for power investment and explains why international interest in the show continues rising annually.”
With five sectors under one roof, the knowledge takeaways are staggering and will assist in aligning strategies and processes to international innovations, standards and best practices.
Point of No Return screening
MEE is not just a venue for industry professionals to network and do business, there is also two interactive screenings of the multi-award-winning documentary Point of No Return, that follows the record-breaking 26,000-mile Solar Impulse – the first round-the-world flight powered by solar.
Its directors, Noel Dockstader and Quinn Kanaly, who will be present at screening, will put the growing influence and versatility of renewables firmly in focus at Middle East Electricity 2019.
Dockstader and Kanaly will host two special interactive screenings of their movie, which has garnered ten awards at film festivals around the globe. The screenings will show up to 45-minutes of footage and include Q&A sessions with the show’s exhibitors and visitors.
The special free-to-attend sessions will take place at 11am and 2pm on March 7, with the film and its directors offering great insight into the exploits of the Solar Impulse pilots, psychiatrist and balloonist Bertrand Piccard, and engineer and jet fighter pilot André Borschberg, on a journey that flew the duo into aviation record books.
About MEE
MEE 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.
Free visitor registration can be completed online at Middleeastelectricity.com
