Jameel Bin Abdullah Almolhem CEO of STC and a number of the company’s executives made a final field operational preview to the company’s Haj services, the company said Saturday. Inspection included the entire marketing, sales and technical operation, through visiting the Pilgrims’ City at King Abdul Aziz Airport in Jeddah, to ensure the promptness of sales services, and particularly mobile services that befit roaming visitors, such as prepaid jawal and mobile broadband “quick net” presented in record time and reduced prices that satisfy pilgrims from all over the world. The tour included Makkah, Mina and Arafat, to closely see the network’s coverage for the train track, tunnels and Mina towers; Almolhem, and for the first time at the holy sites, inspected the 4G LTE service, the latest telecommunications technology in the world, which STC recently was the first to launch it through a bundle of services that will allow pilgrims to benefit from downloading data in high speeds.
Schneider Electric, the global specialist in energy management, reinforced its commitment to the ‘green cause’ through extending its support to the Saudi Green Buildings Forum, an initiative that encourages the adoption of sustainable practices for buildings in Saudi Arabia. Organized by MEED business intelligence, the inaugural edition of the Saudi Green Building Forum was held recently in Riyadh. Christophe Campagne, country president, Schneider Electric-Saudi Arabia addressed the forum at a session titled “Integrated solutions for green buildings.” Schneider Electric’s participation follows the launch of its latest offering, EcoStruxure, which unites its wide-spectrum expertise in power, data centers, processes and machines, building control, as well as physical security to deploy intelligent energy management solutions. Through the provision of lucid and comprehensive reference architectures across key environments and applications, Schneider Electric endeavors to reduce inefficiencies and make energy waste identifiable and avoidable. The company has also taken major strides by launching an e-learning website Energy University to provide the latest information and professional training on Energy Efficiency concepts and best practice. Jawad Ali, VP, building business, Schneider Electric, said: “As the global leader in energy management, Schneider Electric understands the need to support and nurture the changing attitude toward sustainable development through events such as this forum.”
Emaar Properties PJSC, the global property developer of iconic projects, Saturday announced the launch of its new wholly-owned subsidiary, Dawahi Development, a next-generation developer of “value housing” projects within full-service community developments. Dawahi Development will function as a separate entity with a dedicated management team and professional staff members focused on value housing projects across the Arab world. Led by its vision to become the region’s leading developer of integrated communities that meet the aspirations of Arab youth and their families, Dawahi Development will develop “value homes” at attractive price points in key emerging markets across the MENA region, while also creating robust employment and business opportunities for the local population. Dawahi Development will principally address the burgeoning demand for value housing in the region. The current housing shortage in some of the fastest growing cities in the Middle East alone is estimated at over 5 million units. To address the demand, Arab governments have announced investments of over $150 billion in middle-income housing projects. Mohamed Alabbar, chairman, Emaar Properties, said: Emaar Properties has set a solid track record in the successful development and timely delivery of real estate projects across the Arab world. While Emaar will continue to focus on the “affordable luxury” real estate sector, Dawahi Development aims to provide management, master development design incubation and program management to develop “value housing” projects across the wider MENA region.
At a time when the Saudi Arabian economy is set to make a mark on the global economic map, the shipping and logistics industry can create further value by facilitating growth management, which is quite critical, Syed Muhammad Ali, GM trade and marketing, Mercantile Shipping Agencies Ltd., agent for Maersk Line, said while speaking at the PetroChem Arabia conference in Dammam recently. He shared with the audience changing requirements of Saudi exporters who are now looking for higher stability, increased transparency and visibility, furthermore reliability and ease of business in their supply chain. He mentioned factors such as the government’s modern outlook and growth plan, Jeddah port’s ideal location in the trade route between the West and the East, huge investments in projects, port expansion and new terminals and the planned land bridge positively influence the development of container traffic in Saudi Arabia. The container size & type imbalance worsens, as the explosive growth in exports will increase demand for containers, which the imports will most likely not be able to match. This could be tackled by increasing the utilization of non-operating reefer containers for export requirements particularly to the destinations that require refrigerated containers. Saudi Arabia has moved up fairly quickly from the 62nd position to the 13th place globally in creating a good business environment as per the World Bank survey. Likewise, Saudi Ports should soon become world-class entities with high reputation.
SunPower Corp. on Saturday launched the SunPower C7 Tracker, a solar photovoltaic tracking system that concentrates the sun’s power seven times to achieve the lowest levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) for utility-scale solar power plants available today. The C7 Tracker combines single-axis tracking technology with rows of parabolic mirrors, reflecting light onto 22.8 percent efficient SunPower Maxeon solar cells, which are the world’s most efficient commercially available solar cells. Using mirrors to reduce the number of solar cells required to generate electricity lowers the LCOE by up to 20 percent compared to competing technologies. For example, a 400-megawatt C7 Tracker power plant requires less than 70 megawatts of SunPower solar cells. The C7 Tracker includes modular solar cell receivers allowing for future performance upgrades. Additionally, the SunPower advanced Tracker Monitoring and Control System (TMAC) provides wireless control of the power plant for increased operating efficiency and reduced maintenance cost. SunPower can rapidly deploy regional manufacturing of the system, supporting local job creation. “The SunPower C7 Tracker significantly increases SunPower’s effective manufacturing capacity, delivers bankable technology with guaranteed performance and leverages a decade of experience in reliable tracking systems,” said SunPower CEO Tom Werner. “With more than 400 megawatts of power plants operating around the world by the end of this year, SunPower consistently delivers the most efficient and reliable solar technology on the market, and the greatest return on investment to our customers.” The C7 Tracker is ideal for regions with high solar irradiance through direct sunlight, including the US southwest and areas of the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia and Australia.
