00:08I'm in the company of the Senior Vice-President Transmission of Siemens Energy. Hi.
00:14Hi. Welcome. We are finally here in Paris. What are you most excited about this Paris Session 2022?
00:23Of course, after years of virtual meetings, it's really great to see person face by face and to discuss really
00:31in person with colleagues about the energy transition and sustainable grids.
00:37That's for me the most exciting point in the Siegfried this year.
00:41As you just mentioned, one of the main topics this year is the energy transition. How does your company address
00:48climate change and all the issues that we know now?
00:52Yeah, for us, the motto of this year is definitely bringing and taking renewables further and making transition greener.
01:05So for us, definitely that means, especially regarding the products I'm responsible for, switch gears, that we are coming up
01:13with our eco-friendly blue portfolio.
01:18So avoiding the use of climate hostile F-gases and replacing it by natural gases without any harm for climate,
01:28for environment or human beings.
01:31Talking about products, which are the products that you are especially promoting this year at Paris Session?
01:38Of course, first our newest development regarding this product family, our blue portfolio, using as an isolating gas natural gases
01:50with a global warming potential smaller than one and vacuum interrupters as a switching device.
01:59Of course, during the past years, we have developed different designs of this 145 kV rated voltage technology.
02:09So we came up with live tank circuit breakers with gas insulated switch gears and also with dead tank circuit
02:17breakers.
02:18We have put them in the net. We have now gathered experience of several hundreds of circuit breakers, circuit breaker
02:26panels in service.
02:27And we are now focusing on the next step on the 420 kV rated voltage level.
02:35So first step is for us introducing gas insulated lines with natural gases inside as insulating medium.
02:45So first applications, for example, are substations in Scotland, where we are avoiding already the use of three tons of
02:54SF6
02:55and replacing it by natural gases. So that means we are avoiding 75,000 tons of CO2 equivalent already.
03:07And in addition, of course, we are showing at our booths the newest developments in 420 kV eco-friendly GIS.
03:16There we show that regarding live tank circuit breakers, for example, we can realize really the same dimension as in
03:25SF6.
03:26And for GIS, we are showing that we will be smaller already than our second latest design in SF6.
03:35And this, of course, without any harm for environmental health and safety.
03:41Thank you for those insights and have a great session.
03:44Thank you very much.
03:55I'm pleased to welcome the Deputy Chair of the Australian National Committee. Hi.
04:00Hi, how are you?
04:02So how long have you been involved in CIGRE as Deputy Chair of your National Committee?
04:07Yeah. So I was definitely Chair only a short time now. I was elected last year, but I've been with
04:12CIGRE and on the board of CIGRE Australia for over eight years.
04:15Okay. What does CIGRE represent for you professionally and personally?
04:20Yeah. So for me, it's all about the network of experts around the world. I've been involved with CIGRE now
04:28since I was at the start of my career.
04:31Okay. So almost 30 years. And the people I met in the first few years, I've stayed in contact with
04:37that whole time. So it's an ongoing network that's really important.
04:40Talking about the Australian National Committee, what are the main activities right now?
04:45Yeah. So we're a little bit unique in that we mirror all of the 16 study committees. We have a
04:51local panel for each of the 16 study committees.
04:53And that allows us to have a good Australian representation into the work that's going on internationally. And we have
05:01members active on about 50% of all the working groups and really get a lot out of then getting
05:07a good contribution flowing each way, both from Australia internationally and back taking the learnings internationally back into Australia.
05:14So that's served us really well across time. And we really enjoy the collaboration and we're really looking forward to
05:21hosting the symposium in September next year.
05:25So we really want to see everyone come out to Cairns and have a really great time. And I look
05:29forward to meeting everyone in September next year.
05:32Coming back to Paris Session. We know that Paris Session take the lead on energy transition subject. Could you give
05:39us more details on how the Australian National Committee is dealing with climate change and all the challenges that are
05:47going with it?
05:48Yeah. So quite a lot. First and foremost, when we were looking at the Cairns symposium, a lot of the
05:53preferential subjects all tackle that energy transition in some way or another, because it is a unifying theme now around
06:00the world.
06:01And I think even from the opening session here, it became quite obvious that no one's quite got all of
06:06the answers.
06:07And so collaborating and learning from each other is the only way we'll get there in the time constraints that
06:13are imposed.
06:14So I think that's really a theme that's unifying us at the moment. And it's really good to see that
06:21coming together from many different angles across the 16 study committees.
06:24Of course. Thank you for coming by and have a great session.
06:27Thank you very much.
09:14I'm honored to welcome the general secretary of a committee that gathers not one country, but 15, the West African
09:22Committee. Hi and welcome.
09:23Good morning.
09:25Your committee has been inaugurated in 2020. What are your main goals?
09:31I know our committee, the National Committee of West Africa, was created by the West African Power Pool, our organization,
09:42which itself was created by the head of state of ECOWAS, Economic Community of West Africa.
09:50And the goal, our goal was to really, our aim was to tackle, to solve the energy problems of our
10:01region.
10:01You know, the West Africa region we have now. We are undergoing electricity problems since many years.
10:11And the electrification rate of the region is very low. And also, service of electricity is very poor.
10:21A lot of load shedding. And the West African Power Pool has been settled by the head of state to
10:28tackle this problem.
10:29And tackling this problem, we need really to, apart from the investment, we need to have quality human resources, qualified
10:41human resources.
10:42And we think by joining the CIGRI, so we will have access to the huge knowledge and huge library of
10:54CIGRI.
10:54And give this access to our people, the staff of utilities, members of WAP, but also to the students of
11:05the region, to the universities of the region.
11:09So to increase our knowledge in the electricity sector, so to strengthen our capacity in solving these problems.
11:17This is why we join the CIGRI.
11:20West Africa counts around 400 million of people. You mentioned the disparity of electrical distribution. How? So what is the
11:29rate of electrical?
11:31The rate of electrical? The rate of electrical is about 50-52%. And the distribution of this rate is very
11:43poor.
11:45Some countries have less than 30%. Some others have more than 80%. So it is not equally distributed.
11:56But generally, I mean, the general rate, access rate to electricity is very poor.
12:02You already have interconnected the continental countries. Tell us more about it.
12:08Yes. Really, one point of the reason is also that some countries have a huge source of electricity, but don't
12:16have money to leverage this source of electricity.
12:19And other countries doesn't have this kind of source. So we want to connect, to electrically connect all the countries,
12:29set electricity market within the country so that to make electricity flow from the country that have the means to
12:37those who don't have commercial, it will be based on market, I mean commercial trade.
12:43So by doing so, we need interconnections. And we started interconnecting the countries many years ago. We are going to
12:53finish this interconnection.
12:55And indeed, among the countries, the 14 inland countries, only one is remaining. This is Guinea-Bissau. And the work
13:05ongoing should be end, should finish by the end of this year.
13:09So by the end of this year, we will have 14 countries fully interconnected so that we can trade fully
13:16within the region.
13:18Regarding your challenges, your objectives, how Paris session can be a game changer for you, an accelerator for you?
13:25Yeah.
13:26Yeah. This session, as we started going through it, we can see that our people can come here and have
13:36the knowledge of SIGRI, participate in the technical committee, technical group.
13:43And also, we intend to organize meetings in our region. In this meeting, we will have to address our own
13:52problem, which may really be very different from the problem of France, for instance, or even Germany.
14:00Of course.
14:00But we have problems that may solve some of our issues. So we want to take stock of this session,
14:07having contact with SIGRI people and then organize meetings in our region.
14:12Thank you, Mr. Kies. Thank you for coming by.
14:15You're welcome, Madame.
14:29I'm in the company of Dr. Mohamed Rashwan, SIGRI Medal 2022. Congratulations. Hi.
14:36Merci. Thank you.
14:37First of all, what does this medal represent for you?
14:41It is certainly a great honor. There is no doubt about it. You join a group of people that are
14:48distinguished in their field. I'm certainly thankful and honored that I was even nominated, but it's certainly appreciated. Yeah.
14:58What are the benefits, according to you, to be a member of SIGRI?
15:03SIGRI is an incredible organization. There is no doubt about it. You join SIGRI without really knowing many things when
15:14you're a young engineer.
15:15But to tell you the truth, it is an organization where you work with peers, people that are in your
15:23field, the top in your field. You're working with them. You're producing technical documents that are the top in the
15:31area.
15:31But more important is help. If you ever have a problem, it's amazing how many people will actually come forward
15:40and extend their hand to help you. And the biggest thing, in my opinion, are friendships, too.
15:47You create many friendships that last your lifetime. Nice. What are the importance, according to you, to this kind of
15:57event, to Paris session, to be here by being a member of SIGRI?
16:01Oh, it's incredible. You know, we've been two years for virtual meetings, e-meetings, and so on. And sure, it
16:11works. Nobody's saying it doesn't work. It does work. But you miss the face-to-face contact.
16:18Of course. You miss meeting the people and even just having face-to-face discussions. And you miss even just
16:28the social interaction with your peers. And there is nothing like meeting people face-to-face.
16:36What could you say, like a last word to the young generation that is maybe still hesitating to join SIGRI?
16:43I've been there. I actually came to SIGRI in 1982. And you are hesitant. You don't know what to expect.
16:53But once you're in, if you join and you work and consider it like a career, you work in SIGRI,
17:02you meet the people, you work with them, it's a great experience.
17:07And also, I honestly believe it's good for their career. It is absolutely great for their career. Meeting people in
17:14your field opens up doors to you.
17:17A lifetime story.
17:19Absolutely.
17:19Thank you for being here.
17:21Thank you so much for interviewing me.
