Al Masaood Power Division: technology integration in the Middle East

Al Masaood Power Division currently represents three main brands in power generation (Mtu, Volvo Penta and Leroy Somer, the latter for alternators) in the UAE and in Bahrain. At Middle East Energy 2020, the Al Masaood booth hosted Volvo Penta newest genset engines. We’ll talk about them later on. In the meantime, let’s get to know the company located in the Middle East, by the words of Sales Manager Walid Ibrahim.

How’s the approach of Al Masaood to customers?

We study the customer’s requirements based on the products and solutions we have in our portfolio, covering power generation from almost 70 kVa until almost 4,000 kVa. We take care of different types of applications, either standby or continuous application or rather prime power operations.

VOLVO PENTA AT MIDDLE EAST ENERGY 2020

As for the segments, data centers and hospitals, hotels, shopping malls, governmental, defense applications. Out of power generation, we deal with marine propulsion systems as well as industrial applications or defense-specific propulsion applications.

UAE and Bahrein. What are the main requirements and what’s been changing in the last few years, in terms of fuel consumption, emission standards, efficiency required by customers and so on?

UAE and Bahrein have a good and reliable distribution network. Generally speaking, customers would like to have a continuous design or prime design for standby applications. Talking about fuel consumption, it is not a major factor, for two basic reasons: most applications are standby, so the gensets are not running for many hours; then, the price of diesel and fuel here is not as high as in Europe or in North America. Some of the major drivers are reliability, capital cost and aftersales support in the region.

We have different components, different brands and systems in our portfolio: not only gensets but also fuel systems, ventilation and cooling systems, components for exhaust and emissions requirements. It’s not only a matter of having premium brands, but it is also a matter of integrating these products together.

KRISTIAN VEKAS (VOLVO PENTA) TALKS ABOUT STAGE V GENSET ENGINES IN RIMINI

Then, we have to meet our customers’ requirements, especially in a country like this with high temperatures and humidity, all factors that need to be considered when studying and designing a genset system. We see every day all these challenges. We invest a lot in the competences of our team and also in aftersales support. This is a major pillar here. Another key aspect deals with spare parts availability.

According to your experience, do you see any possibility for hybrid systems in the near future in this region?

Hybrid is connected to microgrids, which are used for remote areas, where there’s not power distribution or there are severe weather conditions, like storms for example. It is not typical of our territory; however, we try to find the value of having micro or minigrids, or rather smart grids. We are having some discussions with some of our customers, but we think it could take time.