Africa Utility Week to highlight energy delivering issues

Shamal Sivasanker, power industry leader at Deloitte, who are the knowledge sponsors of the conference which will be taking place at Nasrec in Johannesburg from 21-24 May, says that the event will focus the attention of 5 000 attendees from 60 countries on the energy issues impacting on the potential growth of development, infrastructure and business in Africa.

"The economic growth in Africa has highlighted the infrastructure deficiencies that will require, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit, an investment of up to US$93bn in the power sector alone," Sivasanker says. "As leaders across the continent move to create investor friendly environments, it has become increasingly obvious that sustainable growth all desire can only be achieved through infrastructure growth driven by a strong energy sector.

Acquiring skills is a challenge

"Although it is realistic to expect that world-class energy facilities can be built to meet the varied infrastructure projects across Africa, the continent must also face the allied challenges of acquiring the correct skills for energy development projects. Acquiring the funds required to finance technologies that can vary from coal-burning power stations in the South to the establishment of world-class geothermal projects in East Africa adds to the concerns of leaders," he says.

Simultaneously with the conference, Deloitte will be conducting its Insomnia Index survey that will be polling those attending about the issues facing the African energy sector in the years ahead. "The Deloitte Insomnia Index has become well-known as a focused tool used in various industries to identify the challenges and issues that executives see as being of primary importance. Identifying the issues that keep managers awake at night, it is a tool that helps distill and identify key problem areas for future action," says Sivasanker.