Macau, 18 October 2018

The “2018 Energy Procurement Supply Conference”, organized by the Energy Procurement Supply Association (EPSA) and co-organized by Companhia de Electricidade de Macau S.A. (CEM), was held in Macau a few days ago. While public utilities from Asia-Pacific were invited to discuss and share experience on supply chain management, the Association had also invited the Rector of University of Macau, Professor Song Yonghua, as keynote speaker to share his thoughts on the evolution of electricity supply and its outlook, as well as some examples of AI application.

Energy is closely related to the daily life of human beings, the operation and development of the society. The economic growth and the advent of intelligent generation not only increase the demand for energy, but also demonstrate the importance of stability of energy supply, and thus bringing new challenges and opportunities to the procurement professionals of public utilities worldwide in terms of supply chain management. These include selection of capable suppliers, coping with fluctuation of exchange rates as well as maintaining sustainability and corporate responsibilities, etc. CEM highlighted and discussed the challenges and responses to the dramatic change in Macau’s energy demand over the past two decades, as well as the difficulties brought by severe weather in recent years and the mitigation measures. Moreover, the participants also discussed and shared experience on innovative supplier management model and e-procurement system.

Through the sharing of cases and solutions, discussions on their experience in supply chain management and exchange of other related information during the Conference, the participants are able to gain greater visibility of industry practices and a wider range of information to seize opportunities more accurately, so that costs, procurement time and risks can be reduced to form a solid foundation to support the operation of their organizations more efficiently.