Elecrama Middle East director Heba al-Mansoori says there are tremendous opportunities to be explored.

By Peter Alagos
Business Reporter

India’s leading manufacturing association in the fields of electrical and electronics is keen on tapping Qatar as a potential market for solar and renewable energy even as the country plans to roll-out programmes to develop and promote alternative energy sources.
According to Elecrama Middle East director Heba al-Mansoori, Qatar’s utility plans include many renewable energy projects. “With an increasingly demanding population and spiralling rates of power consumption, there are tremendous opportunities to be explored. The need for sustainable and renewable sources of energy is more acute than ever before,” al-Mansoori told Gulf Times yesterday.
She added: “This is compounded by the emergence of Qatar as a key Gulf country in the general progress of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) region. Resources must keep up with the pace of the rapidly unfolding socio-economic events in Qatar.”
Al-Mansoori was in Qatar for a networking event as part of a GCC roadshow to entice key industry players and stakeholders in the country to join Elecrama 2016, slated on February 13, 2016 at the Bangalore International Exhibition and Convention Centre in India.
She said Elecrama 2016, organised by the Indian Electrical & Electronics Manufacturers’ Association (IEEMA), will focus on technology, best practices, new systems, and the latest trends in the future of electricity, both from technology and a socio-economic point of view. “The event also features unique buyer-seller interactive forums, as well as tutorials and informative sessions with global experts, which can benefit delegates immensely,” said al-Mansoori, who added that more than 50 industry players from Qatar’s private and government sectors attended the one-day networking event at the Grand Hyatt Hotel yesterday.
She said Elecrama 2016 provides a “key gateway” for regional electricity sector stakeholders to engage with India’s growing power transmission and distribution industry.
“Trade and cultural ties between India and Qatar have been flourishing since ancient times and continue to do so, with bilateral trade between the two countries reaching $16.7bn in 2012-2013. And the fresh business generating potential offered by a mega trade event such as Elecrama presents many opportunities to increase that further,” she noted.
Al-Mansoori said recent research estimates that India is currently the third largest producer of electricity in the world and is expected to add 700GW of capacity by 2030. The electrical industry in India is expected to be valued at $250bn by 2030, she added.
“Driven by huge investments in power infrastructure to keep pace with the country’s rapid economic development, the electricity sector in India offers immense potential for trade, business generation, profitable partnership opportunities, as well as a forum for technology transfer and technical tie-ups for power sector players from the region,” al-Mansoori stressed.
During the two-day Power Qatar Summit, an official from the Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) said the corporation hopes that before 2040, “at least 50% of the total share of renewable energy generated in the country would be from solar and other options.”