Over 2,330 power sector stakeholders from 72 countries travelled to Cape Town in March this year to participate in the POWER-GEN Africa and DistribuTECH Africa, co-located at the Cape Town International Convention Centre for the first time.

The events, Africa's premier power sector conferences and exhibition, saw vendors, enterprises, public sector and academics benefiting from networking and business discussions over two days from 17 – 19 March 2014. Hundreds of guests attended the plenary sessions, Eskom reception and VIP gala dinner alongside the event, with the most popular conference sessions including POWER-GEN Africa's Capacity building, Training & Development; Project Case Studies and Renewable Energy Policy and Finance sessions, and DistribuTECH Africa's Smart Metering, Data Intelligence and Business Operations sessions.

The overwhelming majority of attendees at both conferences rated session content as satisfactory to excellent, with 65% calling for even more content on business strategy and policy/regulation in future. "With visitors and exhibitors reporting successful business leads as a result of their attendance, and positive feedback to guide the formation of future conference agendas, the stage is set for an even bigger paired event next year," says Nigel Blackaby, Director of Conferences at event organiser PennWell International Power Group in the UK.

Blackaby says delegate surveys at the 2014 events found that 96% of attendees rated the exhibition as satisfactory to very good, 90% found the event successful in terms of sales and future business and 88% of exhibitors said POWER-GEN Africa and DistribuTECH Africa fulfilled expectations. 36% of attendees were from power generation companies or utilities, and 31% were OEMs or vendors; with 38% having final purchasing authority and 29% having the authority to recommend purchasing.

POWER-GEN Africa and DistribuTECH Africa will return to the Cape Town International Conference Centre from 15 – 17 July 2015, under the banner ‘Emerging Opportunities in the world's fastest-growing continent'. To secure exhibition space, or for more information about this event, please go to www.powergenafrica.com or www.distributechafrica.com or contact Andrew Evans at email: AndrewE@Pennwell.com.