OREANDA-NEWS. Paul van Son will be the RWE Country Chair for RWE for energy projects in the MENA/Turkey region from January 2015.

Originally from the Netherlands, Paul van Son will be based at RWE in Dubai. His focus there will be on extending the contact network with governments and private sector companies in the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey, as well as driving the development of energy projects in the areas of renewables and smart technologies in particular. This increased involvement in the region will be a key component of international business development for RWE. Paul van Son will report directly to the CEO of RWE AG.

Paul van Son

Paul van Son will bring his outstanding skills and expertise to the role. He has been the CEO of Dii GmbH since 2009. Dii, which is supported by an international industrial consortium, was founded with the aim of driving the expansion of renewables in the MENA region as well as market integration with Europe. Renewables had played only a minor role in the Middle East and North Africa before Dii's involvement. Since then, around 70 projects have been implemented or are in development. Dii's work in opinion leadership, studies of fundamental issues and development of specific country strategies during this time has actively helped to push the expansion of renewables in the MENA region. This pioneer phase is now complete and Dii is currently focusing on future requirements. The initiative will be continued as a consulting company from 2015 by partners ACWA Power (Saudi Arabia), SGCC (China) and RWE.

Paul van Son has over 35 years of experience in various management and leadership roles in the international energy industry, including positions at Siemens AG, SEP/TenneT and KEMA Consulting. Paul worked for the former Essent from 1998 to 2008, where his responsibilities included expanding its wholesale business, developing its "green electricity" business and Essent's market entry in Germany.