Power play

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Andrew Shaw, managing director, Ducab.

With a shortfall of power being experienced in the Middle East, Peter Ward looks into the state of the power generation sector by talking to four experts in different fields.

Power cabling: Andrew Shaw, MD, Ducab

How does Ducab supply the power generation sector?

We are making the full range you need for a power station. The instrumentation control, the LV and metering voltage power and also we are making the 132kv, the high voltage.

We have tended to focus in the past on low voltage and medium voltage power which you use a lot of in a power station. But we've just taken an order for 123kv for Abu Dhabi which isn't exactly for power generation.

We have got an increasing capacity for 132kv coming on next year which is again aimed at the power generation market but if you are looking actually at the power station, the main usage of the power cables there is a lot of instrumentation control, quite a lot of low voltage power and a fair chunk of medium voltage power.

Then the only area for the high voltage cable the 132kv, is the stuff that basically takes the power out of the power station and into the substation. So we are making pretty much the entire package of cables needed for power generation.

How much more difficult is it to produce the 132kv cables?

Technically, it's more demanding because you are working at higher levels of electrical stress and you have to be that bit more careful on the way you manufacture the cable, the materials you use, its tested at much higher levels so you are searching for faults.

It's a big step up from medium voltage to be doing 132kv so it's the next big step for us.

How big a part of your business is through power generation?

It's a relatively small proportion, because in terms of relative in terms of apartment blocks being built or medium voltage cable going in by the road for distribution, it's a small amount. We did the last Dewa power plant with Toshiba, that's completed now and we did a lot of cable for that.

The other thing we supplied on the Toshiba job was we also did all the accessories for the cables, the joints and the accessories which we tend not to feature as much as we should.

These are products that we buy in and we offer a range from the UK. It's quite significant though, you can't have the cables without the accessories. It's a relatively small percentage though.

Do you see a lot of work in the future for Ducab in power generation?

We only get to know about the power plants when they are announced by the utilities. But what we see the utilities doing is working really hard to get the distribution cabling in and the generation.

I think their main issue now is that demand has gone ahead of the generating capacity. For a power station there is a certain amount of cable just for the station. Where the real amount of cable comes in is the distribution.

So the activity of DEWA in which you see them installing distribution cables, that's 11kv cables, alongside the roads, out into the new areas, that's where the real demand comes from our point of view. As long as Dubai is growing and needing more power then Ducab is in the position to supply.

Renewable power: Steve Geiger, director of industries unit, Masdar

Which renewable power generation methods are most suited to the Middle East?

The Middle East is a big place, if you break it down to the UAE, the GCC or the Middle East you will get a slightly different answer. I think the most immediately obvious one is solar power given the amount of sunshine in the region.

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