African Utility Week returns to Cape Town in May

Energy expert Ted Blom believes distributed generation will slice electricity costs by up to 90% for the average household.

Blom is a speaker and advisory board member of the 18th African Utility Week that is taking place from 15-17 May in Cape Town, South Africa.

In the run-up to the event, he says in an interview that “South Africa and the world is at the precipice of revolutionary developments in energy generation and distribution, and the next 5 -10 years will render such dramatic changes that today's energy supply chain will not be recognisable, especially with the advent of distributed generation, which in many instances will kill off centralised ‘bulk’ generation and distribution. I believe this move will slice electricity costs by up to 90% for the average household, and be a boom industry for participants in the energy revolution, with concomitant radical improvements in standards of living.”

Parliamentary investigation into Eskom
Last year, the independent energy expert also testified before the South African Parliament’s inquiry into Eskom’s governance: “the Parliamentary Energy subcommittee investigation is a refreshing attempt to decipher what has gone wrong at Eskom since it was ‘commercialised’ in 2001. However, any results will only highlight that prosecution and clean-ups are long overdue, as the committee is powerless to take punitive action against wrongdoers.”

Blom also conducted forensic reviews on the Medupi, Ingula and Kusile power station contracts, “but that work is far from complete and dramatically short of resources. Another milestone is the completion of the legal preparatory work to have the first Tegeta coal supply agreement terminated, but again the action has been suspended for unknown reasons. The other two Tegeta coal supply agreements should also be terminated, but it seems South Africans do not have the political staying power to exercise their rights, with the result that Tegeta has managed to get Eskom to further increase coal supply prices, beyond the already outrageous prices- which eventually feed into new higher electricity prices. So while we appear to be winning on the ‘small stage’, we are falling further behind on the ‘Big Stage’".

“Nuclear deal will be pushed through”
With regards to the pending decision on the nuclear deal, Ted Blom says: “I am convinced that the nuclear deal will be pushed through the moment South African citizens take their ‘eye off the ball’. Zuma's government has already confirmed that it is beholden to the Russian deal, and their delivery of those contracts to Russia is allegedly behind. So expect renewed vigour from Eskom and the Department of Energy to bulldoze these through.”

The full interview with Ted Blom can be read here: http://www.african-utility-week.com/TedBlom-interview African Utility Week endeavours to provide a platform for dialogue in the industry and the views and opinions of event speakers and advisory board members do not necessarily reflect the views or position of the organisers.

Award-winning energy platform
The 18th annual African Utility Week will gather over 7000 decision makers from more than 80 countries to discuss the challenges, solutions and successes in the power, energy and water sectors on the continent. Along with multiple side events and numerous networking functions the event also boasts a seven track conference with over 300 expert speakers. The conference programme will address the latest challenges, developments and opportunities in the power and water sectors: ranging from generation, T&D, metering, technology and water.

The African Utility Week expo offers an extensive technical workshop programme that are CPD accredited, free to attend, hands-on presentations that take place in defined spaces on the exhibition floor. They discuss practical, day-to-day technical topics, best practices and product solutions that businesses, large power users and utilities can implement in their daily operations.

Industry support
Already the event has secured support from leading industry players including Landis+Gyr, Hexing South Africa as platinum sponsors while water expert company Sensus is a gold sponsor.

African Utility Week is the flagship energy event organised by the multi-award winning Spintelligent, leading Cape Town-based trade exhibition and conference organiser, and part of Clarion Events Ltd, based in the UK. Other well-known energy events by Spintelligent are Future Energy Nigeria and Future Energy East Africa. 

In 2017, African Utility Week was named the joint winner for the AAXO Award for Best Trade Exhibition 6001-12000 sqm category (with the World Travel Market). Co-located to African Utility Week is another AAXO award winner for best confex, the African Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit, an international platform that brings together the full spectrum of the African real estate and infrastructure sectors.

Dates for African Utility Week:
Conference and expo: 15-17 May 2018
Awards gala dinner:  16 May 2018
Site visits: 18 May 2018
Location: CTICC, Cape Town, South Africa

Website: http://www.african-utility-week.com & www.african-real-estate-summit.com    
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AfricaUtilities   #AUW2018  
Linkedin: African Utility Week

Contact: Senior communications manager:  Annemarie Roodbol
Telephone:  +27 21 700 3558
Mobile:  +27 82 562 7844
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