Six people leading the development of independent power projects (IPPs) in the region are: Ghaleb Maabreh, Abdulla Saif al-Nuaimi, Fareed al-Yagout, Bert Kleinveld, Amer al-Swaha and Adel al-Roumi
Ghaleb Maabreh
Position: Managing director, National Electric Power Company (Nepco), Jordan
Biography: Ghaleb Maabreh was appointed managing director of Nepco in January 2010. Prior to this, he was commissioner of Jordan’s Electricity Regulatory Commission for more than four years. Having advised the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources on the successful completion of two independent power projects (IPPs), Maabreh has the experience for the upcoming Zarqa IPP scheme, that will be the first to be tendered by Nepco. Maabreh was a member of the Technical Working Group that restructured Jordan’s electricity sector. He previously worked in the planning department of the country’s Central Electricity Generating Company. He began his career at state-owned Jordan Electricity Authority. Maabreh has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and a master’s degree in systems engineering, and a doctorate in computer and control engineering.
Contact Tel: (+962) 5858 6156
Abdulla Saif al-Nuaimi
Position: Director of privatisation, Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority (Adwea)
Biography: Abdulla Saif al-Nuaimi joined Adwea in January 1999. He has worked on a host of independent water and power projects (IWPPs) as head of Adwea’s privatisation department, including Taweelah A2, Taweelah A1, Shuweihat S1, Umm al-Nar, Taweelah B, Fujairah and Fujairah F2. He now heads the team working on the Shuweihat S2 scheme and proposals from prospective developers are currently being assessed. In 1997, Al-Nuaimi was seconded to the privatisation committee for the water and electricity sector in Abu Dhabi, where he worked as the director for IWPPs. He graduated in 1992 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration in management from the UAE University. After completing several postgraduate courses in the US, he worked at state-owned Abu Dhabi Investment Authority as a senior analyst from 1992-97.
Contact Tel: (+971) 2694 3611
Fareed al-Yagout
Position: President, National Power Company (NPC), Saudi Arabia
Biography: Fareed al-Yagout has more than 25 years of experience working in Saudi Arabia’s power and desalination sector. He worked with state-owned Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) and Saline Water Conversion Corporation before joining NPC as president in 2003. Al-Yagout is a board member of both Jubail Energy Company and Industrial Gases Company, as well as a technical adviser for Al-Zamil Group Holding Company.
He has IPP and IWPP experience from his work with SEC, up to the financing of the kingdom’s seventh IPP. Al-Yagout graduated from King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals with a bachelor’s degree in applied mechanical engineering and an executive master’s in business administration in 2005. He has also enrolled for a doctorate programme at the University of Science & Technology in Malaysia.
Contact Tel: (+966) 3847 3232
Bert Kleinveld
Position: Director of special projects, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa)
Biography: Bert Kleinveld joined Dewa in 2009 and is leading the development of Dubai’s first IWPP. Dewa is currently in the process of selecting a team of financial, legal and technical advisers to work on the scheme. Kleinveld has more than 30 years’ experience in the energy, renewables, power and oil and gas-related industries. Kleinveld was previously managing director of Kema Consultants from 2007-09. Prior to that, he worked as an independent consultant for 13 years advising companies including the US’ Enron Corporation, UK/Dutch Shell, France’s Total, Russia’s Gazprom, and Canada’s SNC-Lavalin. Kleinveld studied mining and petroleum engineering at Tulsa University in the US and mechanical engineering at the University of Utrecht & Apeldoorn in the Netherlands. He has a master’s in business administration from Henley College in the UK.
Contact Tel:+(971) 4324 4444
Amer al-Swaha
Position: Head of the IPP programme, Saudi Electricity Company (SEC)
Biography: Amer al-Swaha took up his current position as head of Saudi Arabia’s IPP programme in 2007 and reports to the chief executive officer of the country’s power provider, SEC. Saudi Arabia has a long history of developing IPPs and IWPPs. It is currently in the process of developing the Riyadh PP11 project in collaboration with its preferred bidder. Al-Swaha joined the SEC in 1981 as a senior engineer, and has worked in a number of positions within the organisation until his promotion as a senior vice-president in 2002. Since 2003, he has worked in strategic planning, and the restructuring of SEC. Prior to these roles, he worked in system planning, system operations, IT, contracting, material managements and general services. Al-Swaha has a degree in electrical engineering and received his doctorate in 1977, from the UK’s University of Manchester.
Contact Tel: (+966) 1461 9006
Adel al-Roumi
Position: Director general, Partnerships Technical Bureau (PTB), Kuwait
Biography: Kuwait’s first IWPP will be managed by the PTB, which is headed by Adel al-Roumi. The PTB was formed in 2008 to implement public-private partnership schemes in Kuwait. Besides power and water projects, the PTB will also be in charge of upcoming transport and infrastructure projects. Prior to joining the PTB, Al-Roumi worked for the UK-based Kuwait Investment Office, which is a unit of state-owned Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA). Previously,
Al-Roumi was chief executive officer of Kuwait’s Small Projects Development Company and managing director of the New Projects Department at KIA. Advisers for Kuwait’s $2bn IWPP project have been selected and interested parties have been invited to bid on the scheme. The plant will have a capacity of 1,500MW and 100 million gallons a day of desalinated water.
Contact Tel: (+965) 2496 5980
You might also like...
Contractors complete 25% of Neom spine tunnels
23 April 2024
Egypt private-to-private renewable scheme takes off
23 April 2024
Cayan Group to build Hilton hotel at Neom
23 April 2024
Kuwaiti environmental project ahead of schedule
23 April 2024
A MEED Subscription...
Subscribe or upgrade your current MEED.com package to support your strategic planning with the MENA region’s best source of business information. Proceed to our online shop below to find out more about the features in each package.
