Opening keynote session one – The journey of UAE’s water desalination sector and its success

Speaker:

• H.E. Yousif Ahmed Al Ali, Undersecretary for water, electricity & future energy affairs, Ministry of Energy & Infrastructure, United Arab Emirates

Opening panel: Reshaping MENA region’s vision for water security and sustainable development with desalination

• Looking at the long-term water opportunities to generate freshwater
• Implementing policies to reduce the wastage of water and increasing the production of water with latest desalination technologies
• Stressing on reduction of emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), associated with water desalination process by using renewable green energy
• Discussing the upcoming sustainable key projects in the region and the investment plans

Panelists:

• Eng. Khaled Al Qureshi – Chief Executive Officer, Saudi Water Partnership Company (SWPC), Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
• Dr. Hussein El-Atfy – Secretary General, Arab Water Council (AWC), Egypt
• Bruce Smith – Strategy and Planning Executive Director, Emirates Water and Electricity Company, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
• Senior Representative from Engie

Moderator:

• Dr. Hebah Abbas – Chief Specialist Electrical Engineer, Technical Advisor and Head of Sustainability Committee at Kuwait Water Association, Ministry of Education, Kuwait & Kuwait Water Association, Kuwait 

Industry expert presentation one: Offering a sustainable method/solution to increase supply of potable water in the MENA countries

• Discussing usage of smart water management systems to reduce waste from water-intensive industries
• Working on more renewable energy powered desalination
• Tapping on the only increasing natural resource i.e., wastewater which increase with growing population

Speaker:

• Dr. Hebah Abbas – Chief Specialist Electrical Engineer, Technical Advisor and Head of Sustainability Committee at Kuwait Water Association, Ministry of Education, Kuwait & Kuwait Water Association, Kuwait 

Panel discussion two: Application of digital solutions for res-driven desalination processes for site selection, energy prediction, desalination process selection, and parameter optimization

• Unleashing artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) for energy optimisation in the desalination processes for efficient production of freshwater and reduction of cost
• Improving the desalination infra with advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) which has large number of sensors deployed on them to produce a huge and voluminous apt data
• Building intelligent asset management systems into the processes like micro-metering, geo-spatial system (GIS), digital twin and SCADAs to integrate and organise generated data for real-time decision making
• Liberating and democratising data and making it more accessible with 5G by connecting millions of on-premise devices

Panelists:

• Abdullah Bhayo – Project Director, Worley & Jacobs Construction, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
• Dr. Hana’a Muheisen – Head of Research and Development Section, Water Authority of Jordan, Jordan
• Thomas Altmann – Executive Vice President – Innovation & New Technology, ACWA Power, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Moderator:

• Álvaro Solana Cruz – Regional Director Middle East and Asia, Abengoa, United Arab Emirates

Panel discussion three: Discussing the benefits and constraints associated with desalination technologies for agriculture, industrial, and other purposes

• Exploring new technologies that are essential to improve the availability and quality of water supplies for usage by different sectors
• Producing water at lower energy costs, reduced labour costs and civil works
• Emphasising on decreasing the cost by scaling up the capacity
• Treating moving water with pre-treatment methods and technologies

Panelists:

• Dr. Mohamed Dawoud – Advisor for Water Resources, Environment Quality, Abu Dhabi Environment Agency, United Arab Emirates
• Dr. Tarifa – Director General, International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA), United Arab Emirates
• Eng. Adel Yasin – Director General of Strategic Planning Directorate, Palestinian Water Authority, Palestine

Moderator:

• Corrado Sommariva – Chief Executive Officer, Sustainable Water and Power Consultants (SWPC), United Arab Emirates

Industry expert presentation two: Updates on the development of EWEC water expansion plans across the emirate
Speaker:

• Bruce Smith, Strategy and Planning Executive Director, Emirates Water and Electricity Company, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Fireside chat: Driving towards a sustainable desalination strategy for water scarce economies

• Role of desalination in an increasingly water scarce economy for long term freshwater supply
• Controlling the negative environmental impacts like CO2 and greenhouse emissions
• Discussing new and smart technology that will help in reducing the high-cost processes involved

Speakers:

• Imteyaz Ahmad – Managing Director – Power and Water, Future Water and Power Consulting, United Arab Emirates

• Ahmed Abd El Hady Mohamed Badr – Chief of Water and Wastewater Quality Complaints Sector in General Department for Quality and Environmental Affairs, Holding Company for Water & Wastewater (HCWW), Egypt

Panel discussion four: Market drivers for increased adoption of desalination technologies in the non-conventional water resources category

• Discussing the alternative desalination technology like solvent extraction method, capacitive deionization of saltwater
• Exploring the increase in the investments of solar energy sector for effective cost reduction
• Growing interest in hydroponic agriculture to drive adoption of desalination
• Lowering of oxygen content in water

Panelist:

• Abdel Moneim Mohamed Elrefai – Director of Management Ministry of Scientific Research Academy of scientific, Egypt & Bank Misr
• Refaat Bani Khalaf – Director, Water Authority of Jordan, Jordan
• Senior Representative from GS Inima

Moderator:

• Julio De La Rosa Jurado – ME Managing Director, Acciona Agua, United Arab Emirates

Closing panel: Discussing next wave of growth opportunities in the field of desalination

• Driving adoption of desalination due to growing interest of hydroponic agriculture in the MENA region
• Steering wind energy-based desalination due to developments in renewable energy storage
• Reviewing the emerging desalination technologies in the field of financial solutions and investments

Panelist:

• Roberto Mangano – Managing Director, ILF Consulting Engineers, United Arab Emirates
• Nadia M. Abdel Salam Eshra – Head of Hydropower Unit, Ministry of Water Resources, Egypt & National Water Research Center, Egypt
• Aftab Raza – CEO, FynValue – Energy, Utilities and Finance Consulting and Senior Advisor Regulatory Affairs at Department of Energy, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Moderator:

• Luay Khdeir – Regional Water Market Director, Atkins Global, United Arab Emirates

Industry expert presentation four: Financial and legal feasibility of a desalination project

• Learning financing of desalination projects under the legal framework of the region
• Exploring procurement and risk allocation solutions under the expert guidance of the local authorities
• Discussing risks associated with the development and management of desalination infrastructure

Speaker:

• Corrado Sommariva – Chief Executive Officer, Sustainable Water and Power Consultants (SWPC), United Arab Emirates