Energy Review MENA secured an exclusive interview with Dr. Mostafa AlGuezeri, managing director in the UAE, Gulf, Near East and Pakistan for Hitachi Energy on the sidelines of ADIPEC2022, where he discusses how the company is moving towards advancing the world's energy system to be more sustainable, flexible and secure.
Please give us a brief overview of Hitachi Energy's operations in the MEA region.
Hitachi Energy is a global technology leader that is advancing a sustainable energy future for all, serving customers in the utility, industry and infrastructure sectors with innovative solutions and services across the value chain. We are committed to a holistic sustainability approach to our entire value chain, from system design to our comprehensive offering and service solutions. We do this by lowering electrical losses in power infrastructure, replacing SF6 gas and hazardous substances with cleaner alternatives such as our EconiQ™ products, and by introducing sustainability services like remote support and life cycle assessments. We are also supporting the decarbonization of infrastructure by providing sustainable and efficient charging facilities for the transportation segment. As the partner of choice for a sustainable energy future, we are pioneering digital and energy platforms that help customers to overcome complexity, increase efficiency and accelerate the shift towards a carbon-neutral energy future. What we have within our portfolio are: high-voltage products, transformers; grid and substation automation; and scalable solutions for grid integration and power quality, including high-voltage direct current (HVDC) projects, of which we are executing two of the biggest within the region. We have exceptional system design, project management and domain execution expertise in both brownfield and greenfield projects and across key growth segments: utilities (transmission and distribution), renewables (solar, wind and hydro), industries (hydrogen, metals and mining, oil and gas, food and beverage, etc.), transportation, and infrastructure (including data centers).
Some of the latest projects that we have in the region are the Saudi-Egypt interconnection, where we supplied three HVDC converter stations, enabling up to 3,000 MW of power multi-terminal interconnection between Saudi Arabia and Egypt and the first-of-its-kind sub-sea power transmission network in the MENA region advancing a sustainable energy future for Abu Dhabi with the transfer of cleaner and more efficient power from onshore to power ADNOC’s offshore production.
Hitachi Energy employs around 40,000 employees in 90 countries with a proven track record and installed base in more than 140 countries. In the MEA region alone, we have more than 1,500 people available, and we cover the entire market including the HVDC projects. We have our local teams involved in front-end sales, engineering, execution, etc.
How is Hitachi Energy positioned to support the energy transition that is taking place in industries across the region and across the globe?
As you may know, the power grid is very important for each country. Electricity will be the backbone of the entire energy system that is vital for societal progress. Hitachi Energy is championing the urgency and the pace of change needed to reach Net Zero where our pioneering technologies and solutions are helping to accelerate the carbon-neutral future.
In the transport sector, if you want to reduce CO2 emissions, you will need to transform cars and buses into utilizing the electrical infrastructure. If you need to reduce the emissions from conventional power plants, you need to integrate large-scale renewable energy.
We are developing and deploying technologies that are needed to help make the world’s energy system more sustainable, flexible, and secure, such as - pioneering innovative solutions needed to integrate renewables at scale and applying intelligence of digitalization.
Present in over 90 countries, we are close to our customers to serve them efficiently, be it service, or spare parts we can immediately act as required.
Please tell us about your company’s future prospects in terms of service offerings and collaboration.
Electricity will be the backbone of the entire energy system and the urgency of the energy transition requires us to collaborate and innovate across stakeholders and sectors, and the good news is that we can act now.
To achieve a carbon-neutral energy system by 2050, we want to put forward an urgent call to accelerate the power system ramp-up. Technology is available now, but to reach a carbon-neutral future, we need new ways of doing things and especially from a partnership perspective – education, research, technology implementation, business models, investments, and political/regulatory framework.
There are some fundamental technological areas for this great evolution of the power system that are enabling the energy transition, which are sustainable products and solutions, power electronics and digitalization.
Also read: Hitachi Energy Providing “Crucial Link” to Germany’s Energy Transition
