Staying Power

A Siemens 220kv gas insulated switchgear substation in Qatar.
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Dietmar Siersdorfer, CEO of the energy sector cluster for Siemens in the Middle East, talks to Utilities Middle East about business in the region.

Siemens employees in the region can harbour unusual ambitions. Apart from dealing with pesky journalists, members of the company’s communications department are busy searching Saudi Arabia for a seventy year old oil-fired generator.

The first piece of power generation equipment to be sold by Siemens in the Middle East, the machine is – as the PR team proudly points out - apparently still in operation. The time has now come to repurchase this veteran of its trade and retire it to a museum, they feel.

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The ageing generator serves as not only to produce power, but also to testify to the length of Siemens’ presence in the region: the company has been active here for over 100 of its 160 years in existence.

As CEO of the energy sector cluster in the Middle East, Dietmar Siersdorfer does thus not only have his fair share of responsibility to deal with, he is also part of a long tradition.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Siersdorfer firmly believes in the benefits of a long term approach in a part of a world where a high emphasis is placed on trust.

“We have a long term presence here, and that also entails long term relations with the leaders of companies and with governments in the region,” he says.

“I think that’s a key essential in order to move forward with the business, because a lot is based on trust. Of course you must have the right price, and yes, you have to have the right technology but you must also have good relationships with people, otherwise you don’t get the business.”

Through constant dialogue, customers are informed about the latest technologies, educated as to their uses, and given a heads up as to future developments. Faced with the need to rapidly expand their power generation capacities, governments and utilities appreciate being kept in the loop about new technologies.

“We tell them about things that are far ahead of us today, about the technological developments that will happen in the next three to four years, to guide their nation in the right direction.”