Inaugural GridWeek Asia to be held as part of ELECRAMA 2012

Clasma Events and IEEMA (Indian Electrical & Electronics Manufacturing Association) announced today that the inaugural GridWeek Asia conference will take place from Jan, 16-18, 2012 in Mumbai, India, in conjunction with ELECRAMA 2012. A global extension of the annual GridWeek conference held in Washington, DC, each year, this event underscores the growing importance of India as an evolving Smart Grid marketplace. ELECRAMA is one of the world’s largest electricity – focused trade shows, with an anticipated 100,000 attendees and 1,000 exhibitors.

GridWeek Asia will offer two full days of conference and plenary tracks, plus one day of interaction with ELECRAMA exhibitors and attendees, with the key objective of fostering interaction between Indian Smart Grid stakeholders and Smart Grid leaders and visionaries from around the world.

"GridWeek Asia will be the most influential international gathering of Smart Grid players in Asia," said Anto Budiardjo, President and CEO of Clasma Events, the organizer of GridWeek conferences. "Given the rapid growth of India, and the opportunities they have to build a Smart Grid infrastructure from the ground-up, there’s no better time for a meeting of Smart Grid minds in India."

India is experiencing rapid growth in gross domestic product (GDP), with an expected growth rate of 8.6 percent in 2011*, which is fueling the need for rapid infrastructure development. India’s total installed generation capacity is approximately 167,278 megawatts (MW), and the country requires an additional 90,000 MW of generation capacity in the next seven years with the corresponding investment expected at well over $300 billion (USD) in the transmission and distribution (T&D) network. Additionally, India expects to generate 35 gigawatts of power through renewable energy sources, requiring investments up to $55 billion by 2015.

"It’s clear that a smarter electrical infrastructure is necessary in India, as we build out our T&D grid to support increased demand and our renewable energy goals," said an IEEMA spokesperson. "We are thrilled that ELECRAMA will be host to the first GridWeek Asia and are confident that this gathering of the greatest minds in Smart Grid will be a tremendous learning opportunity for the India Smart Grid community."