The utilities sector is going through an immense transformation and keeping pace with technological advancements is important to ensure profitability, competitiveness and adequate decarbonisation efforts. The Technical Conference of the World Utilities Congress offers utilities industry professionals unprecedented access to the latest industry knowledge and research findings, technical expertise, new project developments, state of the art technologies and industry best practices.
The conference programme is created through the call for papers that is open for abstract submissions to all companies operating within power, water and gas utilities as well as district cooling. All submitted abstracts will go through an unbiased two-stage review and evaluation process by the Technical Committee, composed of the utilities industry experts. Successful authors will be invited to speak at the conference.
The conference covers the entire value chain of power, water and gas utilities as well as district cooling, and includes power generation, transmission and distribution, water management, water sewage and customer engagement.

NUCLEAR ENERGY

GAS TO POWER TECHNOLOGIES AND OPERATIONS

RENEWABLE ENERGY GENERATION TECHNOLOGIES AND OPERATIONS

HYDROGEN AND AMMONIA IN THE POWER AND WATER INDUSTRIES

TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION INNOVATION AND ENERGY STORAGE

SMART METERS, SMART CITIES AND CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT

UNINTERRUPTED POWER SUPPLY (UPS), ONSITE POWER AND CRITICAL BACKUP POWER

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

POWER AND WATER FINANCE, REGULATIONS AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT

HEALTH, SAFETY AND SECURITY IN THE POWER, WATER AND GAS UTILITIES

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY AND DECARBONISATION IN THE UTILITIES INDUSTRY

OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE AND UTILITIES ASSET MAINTENANCE

WATER SUPPLY, MANAGEMENT AND IRRIGATION SYSTEMS

WATER DESALINATION

WASTEWATER TREATMENT AND RECYCLING

GAS AS UTILITY

DISTRICT COOLING
- Monday 08 May 2023 Day - 1
- Tuesday 09 May 2023 Day - 2
- Wednesday 10 May 2023 Day - 3

Session 1: Innovations in the nuclear industry
Nathan Paterson, Senior Programme Lead – Supply Chain, World Nuclear Association, UK
Herve De Tremiolles, International Development Manager, EDF DIPNN, France
NUWARD safety approach and licensing objectives for international deployment
Jan Van Der Lee
Director of Nuclear Export Technologies
EDF Nuward, France
Overview of EPRI’s research in engineering and construction of new nuclear power plants
Hasan Charkas
Principal Project Manager, Advanced Nuclear Technology (ANT)
Electric Power Research Institute, USA
Lessons learned in advanced plant security management
Faisal Mousa Ibrahim Al Bousi
Information and Cyber Security Director
Nawah Energy Company, UAE
Hydrogen production with Small Modular Reactors – a study on system dynamics and suitable technologies
Eero Karola
Research Scientist
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Finland

Session 2: Hydrogen’s emerging influence in the power and water sector
Antonio Valentin Diaz, Head of Projects Delivery, EDF Renewables Middle East, UAE
Khalid Oumejjoud , Managing Director, PSM Thomassen Gulf, UAE
Pathways to a UAE-based green hydrogen economy
Krishiv Gandhi
R&D Engineer
Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), UAE
The role of gas-turbines in a net-zero energy system
Cristopher Sagar
Chief Engineer
Atkins, UAE
The current state and future role of hydrogen in power generation
Patrik Farkas
General Manager, Market Development – Middle East & Asia
Wärtsilä, UAE

Session 3: Gas as an enabler to deliver net-zero
Milton Dasgupta, Business Development Manager, Wärtsilä Energy, UAE
Marco Cioffi, Service Marketing Manager, Ansaldo Energia, Italy
An opportunity to decarbonise gas turbine power plants and offer grid scale energy storage to enable renewables
Jeffrey Benoit
Vice President, Clean Energy Solutions
PSM – a Hanwha Company, USA
Hydrogen integration into gas power plants
Jihad Aoun
Regional Sales Manager
MAN Energy Solutions Middle East, UAE
Hydrogen-fired gas power plants: experience from a risk control perspective
Andreas Fabricius
Senior Risk Control Consultant
AON Global Risk Consulting, Canada
Export of hydrogen and ammonia
Secil Torun
Vice President - Engineering and Technical Project Management
ENGIE, UAE

Session 4: Essential guide to water desalination
Ali Abbas Yousif Sani, Projects Engineer, Sharjah Electricity, Water and Gas Authority (SEWA), UAE
Yacine Addad, Associate Professor, Nuclear Engineering, Khalifa University, UAE
An innovative power cycle for an advanced desalination system integrated with renewable energy sources
Orazio Alberto Terracciano
R&D Design Engineer
Baker Hughes, Italy
New techniques to improve the quality of the feed water in reverse osmosis units
Mohamed Yakan
Technology General Manager
The Egyptian Petrochemicals Holding Company (Echem), Egypt
Fabrication of gelatin membrane incorporated with cellulose nanocrystals for removal of heavy metal ions from Industrial effluent
Prof John Kabuba Tshillenge
Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering Department
Vaal University of Technology, South Africa
Sea water reverse osmosis (SWRO) application toward sustainability and ground resources conservation
Mohammed Al Qarni
Plant Engineer
Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia

Session 5: Next-generation developments in transmission and distribution
Anes Dallagi, Abu Dhabi Manager Power System & Transmission Engineering, EDF CIST, UAE
Serhan Ozten, Business Development and Technical Support Director, Danfoss, UAE
Connecting the world to drive renewable energy efficiency
Nicolas Chamollet
Project Manager
EDF CIST-INGEUM, France
Maintaining and enhancing resiliency through the green energy transition
Ansari Aadil Shahzad
Associate R&D Engineer
Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), UAE
AGT and LCE joint venture’s redox flow battery technology for long duration energy storage
Speaker TBC
Senior Representative
Ansaldo Green Tec, Italy
Utilization of energy storage techniques to enable high renewable energy integration in the power grid, meanwhile reducing total system cost
Avanthika Satheesh
Director- Emerging Technologies- Middle East North Africa
CES, India

Session 6: Best practice in asset integrity and maintenance
Rui de Sousa, Principal Industry Advisor, SAP, UAE
Leak detection: synergy with SAR analytics and the way forward
Christopher Gaggo
President
Water Vision Technology, UAE
Improving asset integrity and energy efficiency
Clara Boisserand
Chief Business Officer
Metroscope, France
A gradient boosting machine learning-based classification of alarms and events in switching stations complete power plants
Zahi Mohamed Osman Mohamed
Assitant Electrical Engineer
Al Ain Distribution Company, UAE
New asset management strategies safeguarding the energy system in times of global crises
Dr. Gero Bieser
Chief Solution Expert - IBU Utilities
SAP, Germany

Session 7: IoT deployment in utilities
Saqib Mahmood, Director: Digital Transformation, National Water Company, Saudi Arabia
Slawomir Klimowicz, Industry Executive Value Advisor, SAP, UAE
AI-enabled asset integrity solutions to enable performance and continuity of service
Giampietro Sana
SVP, Digital Transformation
Injazat, UAE
NetCreate, the future of utility master planning
Andy Taylor
Digital Transformation Director
Atkins, UK
Identification of meter faults using machine learning algorithms
Emel Gülcan
Senior Information Systems Specialist
Enerjisa, Turkey
P2P trading of RTPV energy on blockchain platform
Reji Kumar Pillai
President
India Smart Grid Forum, India
Reena Suri
Executive Director
India Smart Grid Forum, India

Session 8: Next-gen developments in renewable energy applications
Giriraj Rathore, Senior Business Development Manager, Wärtsilä Energy, UAE
Lina Hijazi, Proposal Manager, Masdar, UAE
Impact of a virtual synchronous generator function on energy storage systems for off-grid island operations.
Fernando D. Niggli
Strategic Business Development Manager
DEIF A/S, Denmark
Jacob Danielsen
Product Manager Hybrid & Wind
DEIF A/S, Denmark
Net-zero carbon emission - an asset monitoring & optimization solution (AMOS) roadmap
Vineet Kumar
President
50 Hertz Limited, India
Hybrid machine learning forecasting for grid-connected solar power plant
Ameera Almarzooqi
Power Network Protection Engineer
TRANSCO, UAE
An adjustable machine learning gradient boosting-based controller for PV applications
Zahi Mohamed Osman Mohamed
Assitant Electrical Engineer
Al Ain Distribution Company, UAE

Session 9: The digital power plant of the future
Saleh Ghalib Sadiq Atatreh, Senior R&D Engineer, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), UAE
Hafez AlSayed, Managing Director GCC, BECKHOFF Automation , UAE
An asset performance tool using data analytics for Transco’s power transmission network
Balasubramanian Nainar
Senior Power Performance Engineer
Transco, UAE
‘Gas system of future’ – digital twin project?
Ninad Jagtap
Sr Management Consultant for Utilities
IBM Consulting, India
Biren Gandhi
Executive Partner & Global Industry CoE Leader-Energy & Resources
IMB Consulting, Germany
Leveraging smart grid data to support local authorities in their ecological transition
Francois Cordel
Data Science Manager
ENEDIS an EDF group entity, France
Maher Aboujaoude
Data Expert Consultant at Innovative Analytics
ENEDIS an EDF group entity, France
Emissions optimization for energy assets via sustainability-related digital solutions
Speaker TBC
Senior Representative
Baker Hughes, Italy

Session 10: Successful health and safety strategies for the utilties market
Nada Abubakr, Managing Director, Isle Utilities Middle East, UAE
Ian Rodgers, Product Manager Assessment Services – Digital Services, Xylem Inc., UAE
Human performance leadership - enhancing managers and team performance
Edward Smith
Managing Director
Inspirational Development Group Middle East, UAE
Process safety management transformation in the power & utility sector (UAE)
Ahmad Alhonjol
Principal
dss+, UAE
Explosion effects and physical security protection
Dr. Mohamad Zineddin
Security Expert
Nawah Energy, UAE
Assessing the impact risk of gathering new sour gas wells with original sweet ones: a field case study
Mohamed Abouhashem
Asset Integrity Engineer
Belayim Petroleum Company (Petrobel), Egypt

Session 11: Part 1: Decarbonisation of utilities (case studies)
Maha Ayed, Regional Director Climate Technology Solutions, Baker Hughes, UAE
Mohamed Taha Sayed, Automation Leader, Enppi, Egypt
The use of microgrids to provide high availability and low carbon power and cooling to data centres
Phil Reid
Head of Energy Transition
RED Engineering Design, UK
Insights on practices to deliver emission reductions within Abu Dhabi electricity sector
Dr. Ahmed Taha
Specialist - Electrical Network Performance
Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC), UAE
Important design and operation factors effecting the feasibility of post combustion carbon dioxide capture from point sources of emissions to atmosphere.
Ahmed Aboudheir
President
Aboudheir Consulting, Canada
Route maps for the decarbonisation of industry to reach net zero
Julie Gilmour
Decarbonisation Consultant
Atkins, UK

Session 12: The future of district cooling
Antonio Di Cecca, Chief Operating Officer, Tabreed , UAE
Christophe Dedet, Senior BD Manager, ENGIE, UAE
Most chillers are operating above their design efficiency. Re-retro-commissioning can solve this overlooked problem
Dan Mizesko
President
Dalkia/U.S. Chiller Services, USA
Swiss CO2 technology providing affordable, reliable and green energy district heating and cooling services
Tobias Koch
CEO
DUNE-Invest DMCC, UAE (presenting on behalf of ExerGo)
Big data analysis and intelligent reporting in district cooling plants
Suheil Samara
Senior Manager (Automation and Digital)
SNC-Lavalin, UAE
Impact of using VFD on district cooling plants
Mohamed Firas Al Sof
Senior Performance Engineer
Tabreed, UAE

Session 13: Smart utility solutions for smart cities
Nader Al Zoubi, Power & Grid - T&D Vice President , Schneider Electric , UAE
Nada Abubakr, Managing Director, Isle Utilities Middle East, UAE
The effect of metering on load/ loss reduction and customer satisfaction
Sani Abubakar Garba
Regional Manager
Yola Electricity Distribution Company, Nigeria
Using data science to optimise meter asset management: a case study in 2 large utilities
Ian Rodgers
Client Solutions Architect
Xylem, UAE
A framework for estimating EV load and managing peak demand through controlled charging behaviour on electricity distribution networks
Dr. Satish Balantrapu
Principal Consultant – Energy & Utilities
Infosys, India
Surya Srinivas Chavali
Senior Industry Principal – Energy & Utilities
Infosys, India
Leveraging smart grid data to reduce non technical losses
Véronique Verrier
Data Scientist
ENEDIS an EDF group Entity, France

Session 14: Power and water outlook (finance, regulations & project management)
Davide Felugo, UAE Branch Manager, Ansaldo Energia , UAE
Buket Guner, Investment Manager, EDF, UAE
Multi-criteria performance indices for electricity distribution utilities’ programs
Mohamed A. AlEmam
Manager, Business Development
EDF, Saudi Arabia
Key enablers of hybrid power plants in the GCC
Omar Hatoum
Financial and Market Analyst - Energy Business
Wärtsilä , UAE
Benefits of the role of a system integrator in the delivery of utility-scale projects
Mark Mooney
Engineering Consultant (Resident Engineer/Project Manager)
ESB International (ESBI), Bahrain
Impact of price reform and transition policies on utility sector emissions and cost of service in Saudi Arabia
David Omom
Senior Economist, Strategy & Markets Analysis
Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia
Akshay Sethi
Senior Analyst, Strategy & Markets
Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia

Session 15: Best practices for solar power generation
Harry Apostoleris, Postoctoral Researcher in Energy Systems Analysis, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), UAE
Using drone-powered & AI to reduce inspection costs in solar plants
Nikin Mohan James
Chief Operating Officer
FEDS-Drone Powered Solutions, UAE
Cost reduction in renewable energy: optimal strategies to achieve it
Mothana Bahjeat Qteishat
Senior Managing Director, MEA & APAC
Jinko Power
Battery storage: key enabler for large-scale integration of renewable energies
Dr. Matthias Vetter
Head of Department, Electrical Energy Storage
Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, Germany

Session 16: Industry perspectives on wastewater treatment and recycling.
Dr. Titia De Mis, Sustainability Manager, Abu Dhabi Sewerage Services Company (ADSSC), UAE
Novel wastewater treatment and recycling methods in the UAE
Muthana Shirzad
CEO
Protium Technologies, UK
Using agricultural and industrial waste as absorbents for reduction of organic and inorganic pollutants
Dr. Ahmed Abd El Hady Mohamed
Quality and Environmental in General Administration for Quality and Environmental Affairs
Holding Company for Water and Waste Water, Egypt
Insights into collecting, treating and disposing of recycled water: ADSSC case study
Dr. Fatima Hasan Abdulla Alhamedi
Senior Research Specialist
Abu Dhabi Quality & Conformity Council, UAE
Future-proofing wastewater treatment - a UK perspective
Dr. Amber Bullen
Associate Director - Asset Management
Atkins, UAE

Session 17: Part 2: Decarbonisation of utilities (case studies)
Majdi Hakem Al-Harbi , Power Generation Superintendent , Marafiq Power & Water Utility Company, Saudi Arabia
Anouska Khan, Energy Sustainability Consultant, Insight Plum, UAE
Decarbonising plants with hydrogen-ready power generation package, integrating high fuel-flex gas turbines
Gianluca Bartolini
Industrial Market Growth & Strategy Leader
Baker Hughes, Italy
Environmental impact assessments focused on the uses of treated wastewater
Dr. Fatima Hasan Abdulla Alhamedi
Senior Research Specialist
Abu Dhabi Quality & Conformity Council, UAE
Improving the customer journey with flexible services
Ludovic Lamberti
Strategic Partnership Manager
Schneider Electric, UAE
Mayank Sharma
X-to-Grid & DC Influence and Standards Manager
Schneider Electric, UAE
How advanced overhead line conductors are helping combat climate change
Djamel Zerari
Regional Manager
CTC Global, UAE
Steve Jackman
Senior Vice President
CTC Global

Session 18: Robust water conservation and management strategies
Sultan Khaled Alkendi, Application Marketing Manager, Borouge Pte. Ltd., UAE
Dr. Titia De Mis, Sustainability Manager, Abu Dhabi Sewerage Services Company (ADSSC), UAE
Asset management and optimisation: pressure transient monitoring
Ian Rodgers
Client Solutions Architect
Xylem, UAE
Resilience demands data: a proactive approach to utility water quality monitoring
SPEAKER
Senior Representative
LG Sonic, Netherlands
Assessing the impact of climate variability in Egypt on both surface water supply and sanitation systems efficiency
Dr. Ahmed Abd El Hady Mohamed
Quality and Environmental in General Administration for Quality and Environmental Affairs
Holding Company for Water and Waste Water, Egypt
Robotic leak detection and condition assessment of water pipelines
Moinak Banerjee
Cofounder and Head of Products
Solinas Integrity, India
- Monday 08 May 2023 Day - 1
- Tuesday 09 May 2023 Day - 2
- Wednesday 10 May 2023 Day - 3