The Iran war has done little to cool energy demand despite the conflict snarling up global supply chains, Mitsubishi Power's chief executive for Europe, the Middle East and Africa has said.
“It is quite the opposite. I would say things have accelerated,” Javier Cavada told The National.
Mitsubishi Power is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsubushi Heavy Industries and aims to lead the energy transition towards decarbonisation. The company has a presence in more than 30 countries including the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Mr Cavada said Mitsubishi Power had seen an increase in demand, contract signings and negotiated bookings since the war began on February 28, a development he described as “a very clear signal … that this conflict will end at some point, hopefully very soon”.
“And the business will only be bigger. And what they want is to increase the certainty,” he said.
Mitsubishi Power has been in Saudi Arabia for 60 years. In October, it opened a facility in Dammam to assemble a heavy-duty gas turbine, seen as a landmark step towards the kingdom's Vision 2030 targets to reduce emissions and support Saudi talent.
In January, it secured an order to supply M701JAC gas turbines for a power and desalination project in Qatar which will be operational in 2028. It also has a large services workshop in the UAE.
“What we are doing is increasing the investment in the region, in the local community and in the local capabilities we have in these countries,” he said.
Another factor leading to this increase in demand for energy is AI, which Mr Cavada referred to as the “new kid on the block”.
McKinsey estimates that global spending on data centres could surpass $7 trillion by 2030. AWS, Microsoft, Google, Meta and Oracle – the so-called hyperscalers who are leading the AI buildout – are projected to lead more than $1 trillion in global AI investment this year.
These hyperscalers have been teaming up with Gulf-based companies in recent years as the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar seek to position the region as an AI powerhouse.
The UAE has been investing heavily in AI and digital infrastructure while also attracting global partners such as Microsoft through its Stargate UAE project – alongside G42 – which will cost an estimated $1.5 billion. Saudi Arabia has its own AI ambitions, hosting more than 60 operational data centres in the kingdom since the launch of Vision 2030.
However, UN researchers warned in June that data centres were expected to consume twice as much power and water by 2030, driven by the surge in AI demand. The UN report found data centres consumed 448 terawatt hours of electricity globally and 4.5 trillion litres of water in 2025.
“AI is the biggest eater of reliable electricity that we have ever seen,” Mr Cavada said. “You require more thermal capacity, more nuclear capacity, more storage capacity.”
Mr Cavada said the energy demand driven by data centres and the stress that placed on electrical grids further strengthened the case for a diverse mix of resources including wind, solar, gas and renewables. All of these are needed to complete the puzzle, he said.
“That's what we call energy security – not relying on one single source and on one single party or one single technology,” Mr Cavada said.
He also believes that the recent investment powering the AI boom will soon touch every aspect of modern life.
“I believe that we are powering the future of society while powering AI,” Mr Cavada said.
While the Iran conflict remains a near-term focus, he said the company was looking at investments in the long term that would support decarbonisation work and ease some of the challenges the nascent technology posed.
He highlighted the Gulf, which he said was making “unprecedented” investment in gas while also moving ahead with implementing solar, wind, storage and sometimes nuclear energy to transition to a more flexible grid.
The challenge, he said, was balancing that growth with the stress it was placing on supply chains and the need to acquire the talent to manage these investments when they were up and running.
“The opportunities have the shadow next to them, and the challenges have their brightness next to them as well,” Mr Cavada said. “So it's not it's not black and white. It's pretty colourful today.”
