Africa's future energy needs amplified by new brand

28 Feb 2017

Some of Africa's most established regional power events in East, West and Central Africa, including EAPIC and WAPIC, have been renamed to Future Energy, reflecting the optimism and potential of the energy and power sectors on the continent.

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“Energy is fundamental to economic development of every country, driven by population increase and industrialisation, with a landscape of depleting fossil fuels and climate change,” says Claire O’Connell, the event director of the Future Energy Power Portfolio at the event organiser Spintelligent.

She continues: “The energy industry is changing and so is the role of the traditional utility. This shift is creating enormous and exciting opportunities: we are seeing more IPPs, more distributed generation, more micro grids and more off grid solutions and it is not just on a commercial scale, we are seeing these changes at community level too. As the technology behind renewable energy evolves, more and more consumers will cut their ties with incumbent utilities and become their own source of power.”

She adds: “In the next 10 years we can expect significant advances in generation technology and storage as well as better energy management and increased efficiencies. Most of the continent is experiencing these changes in some form and with abundant natural energy resources and a general drive towards building environmentally cleaner energy, is creating an increase in foreign direct investment into the region. With our Future Energy events we will continue to stimulate discussions and bring together the players and movers in the industry to shape and develop this continent.”

New events

With its 19^th edition taking place in November in Nairobi this year, Future Energy East Africa, formerly EAPIC, is the largest and longest running regional power and energy conference and exhibition in the region, attracting stakeholders from 12 countries, utilising Nairobi as accessible hub.
Also taking place in November in Lagos, Future Energy Nigeria has evolved from the West African Power Industry Convention (WAPIC). This energy conference and expo addresses the Nigerian power crisis through industry connectivity and creative solutions. After 14 years of successfully driving new and existing industry relationships across the region, WAPIC has established its base in Nigeria to support the privatisation of the Nigerian power space.
Future Energy Uganda is a two-day Ugandan project investment forum and exhibition taking place in Kampala from September 13-14 and will showcase projects that are in the pipeline. The forum discussions will include policies, tax and rebates, project briefings, ROIs and project implementation.
Future Energy Central Africa (formerly iPAD Cameroon Energy Infrastructure Forum) is a regional strategic gathering from October 2-3 in Yaoundé that will allow neighbouring Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Sao Tome and Principe to share their expertise, project developments and plans in order to facilitate regional grid integration. This two day conference and supplier exhibition will support the new up and coming energy sector in Central Africa.
Part of the power portfolio is African Utility Week & Energy Revolution Africa, an event that has been running for 17 consecutive years and has established itself as the largest power and water utilities exhibition and conference on the African continent. It is taking place from 16-18 May 2017 at the CTICC in Cape Town, gathering over 7000 decision makers in the power and water sectors from more than 40 countries to source the latest solutions and meet over 300 suppliers. The expo will feature free to attend technical workshops and technology demonstrations and a coveted industry awards evening.

African Utility Week, Energy Revolution Africa and the Future Energy series of events are organised by Spintelligent, a multi-award-winning producer of exhibitions and conferences across the continent in the infrastructure, real estate, energy, mining, agriculture and education sectors. Other well-known events by Spintelligent include Agritech Expo Zambia, CBM-TEC, Kenya Mining Forum, iPAD Nigeria Mining Forum, DRC Mining Week and EduWeek. Spintelligent is part of the UK-based Clarion Events Group.