Africa will play an increasingly important role in the broader global energy industry over the next several decades; hence, global consulting, engineering, procurement and construction company Black & Veatch’s decision to again participate in this year’s Power-Gen Africa (PGA) event.

The platform will complement the company’s 50-year record of successfully planning and completing reliable energy, water and telecommunications infrastructure projects throughout the African continent, says Black & Veatch VP and project director Dave Leligdon.

He tells Engineering News that events such as PGA provide not only a good avenue to engage with global clients and business partners but also a platform to interact with suppliers and promote an organisation’s brand through thought-leadership activities such as presentations and discussion panels. He adds that, to some degree, such events can also further the recruitment of local talent.

“For 100 years, we have been working collaboratively with clients, business partners and our supply chain to identify and deploy predictable, competitive engineering, construction and operations solutions; we plan to do that for many more years to come.”

Leligdon says participating in PGA will create opportunities for Black & Veatch to identify client needs, enabling the company to advise clients on the best available solutions. “We apply proven solutions, supported by global best practices, to ensure system reliability and prosperity.”

He says Black & Veatch’s 10 000-strong global workforce is driven by its ability to bring about long-term change through each successful project.

Leligdon says the African power sector as a whole benefits from PGA, as the event helps to advance the sector by bringing the best and brightest minds in the industry together in one location as a unified network to address critical infrastructure needs. “Such environments can lead to the discovery of new markets and create opportunities to further power sector growth.”

Meanwhile, Leligdon says PGA also supports the spirit of Black & Veatch’s skills and knowledge transfer programme, which enables the company to train Africa’s workforce, providing engineering and other skills for the region’s long-term success.

He adds that the company is looking forward to sharing its “industry-leading” experiences at this year’s event – critical new power generation solutions and outage management, which include hydro and biomass facility development and execution, and the path to successful solar photovoltaic project installations.

“Last year, we had a strong crop of experts who collectively shared their project management, capacity-building and renewable- energy knowledge. Black & Veatch was named runner-up for the best paper presented at last year’s event. We will have five presenters at this year’s event,” he concludes.

PGA will run from July 15 to 17 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.