Paul Mulvaney, executive director of innovation at ESB and world-renowned futurist and political scientist, Sohail Inayatullah at the launch of the ‘ESB Powering Potential Expo’ in Merrion Square. Image via Andres Poveda Photography
ESB’s consultancy division, ESB International, has won €64m in contracts to work in countries including Saudi Arabia and Ghana.
The company made the announcement at its Powering Potential Expo, which looks at the world’s future development of clean energies and smart cities,
The electricity provider confirmed the signing of a €12m contract in Ghana; a contract with the World Bank in Zambia and Zanzibar; a €17m contract that will be signed in Saudi Arabia next week, and a contract under negotiation with the Botswana government for €35m.
The ESB’s technology and energy expo in Merrion Square, Dublin, at which the news was announced, will be taking place across 10-11 June from 12pm-5pm and will attempt to explore the future landscape of energy, telecoms and the electrification of transport in terms of smart cities.
In terms of its national future, however, ESB revealed earlier this week to Siliconrepublic.com its plans to launch Metro Express, an exclusive high-capacity dark-fibre route in Dublin for business-to-business networks that will give increased protection to data centres.
Meanwhile, much of the discussion at the event’s launch focused on the future of energy creation and also how it will be used.
Energy generation will move from large networks to homes
Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Alex White, said that the likes of renewable energy technologies are advancing at such a pace that we may not even know what will change the fabric of our society.
“Technologies that are yet to be invented will, no doubt, play a role in our energy transition, which means we must wisely balance the choice between acting and waiting,” Minister White said.
Keynote speaker, renowned futurist Sohail Inayatullah, also added his thoughts on what the future home might look like, suggesting the way we consume energy in 15 years’ time will see us move away from our total dependency to a nationwide energy grid, among other predictions.
“By 2030, most houses will produce energy; bio-monitoring devices will track our food and exercise habits, determining our health insurance rates in real time; an ‘Asian Union’ will have been created, and 50pc of kitchens in OECD nations will produce meals through 3D printing,” Inayatullah predicted.
Glowing green globe image via Shutterstock
