Kolluru Krishan is Graduate in Electrical Engineering from I.I.T. Kharagpur, Class of 1972. He has held top management positions in Energy & Infrastructure majors, as Founder Managing Director of Ansaldo Energia’s Indian JVC, Vice President of Dodsal & General Manager of Voltas. Thereafter, He Founded multiple Clean Tech companies, including Malavalli Power Plant (which commissioned the world’s 1st low density crop residues fired power plant & delivered the world’s 1st Gold Standard CER’s), CVC India Infrastructure & CVC Biorefineries. He is actively engaged in creating eco-system for Green Economy with focus on Sustainable Energy & Climate Change, in capacities of (a) Chairman Skills Council for Green Jobs (b) Chairman FICCI Committee on Climate Change (c) India Chair of BRICS Business Council Working Group on Energy & Green Economy (d) Member of B20 Task Force on Energy, Climate & Resource Efficiency. (e) Executive Committee Member of Karnataka State Bioenergy Development Board.

Mr. Saurabh Kumar is Executive Vice Chairperson, EESL Group. Under Mr. Kumar’s leadership, EESL has implemented the globally-lauded Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA) programme and Street Light National Programme (SLNP). Mr. Kumar and his team has also been successfully implementing several Demand Side Measures including agriculture, public buildings, and transformative initiatives like e-mobility, smart meters, trigeneration and decentralised solar power plants. Mr. Kumar has worked in various capacities in Income Tax Department, Ministry of Power, and Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE). On the completion of the GRIPS Young Leaders Program in 2006, Mr. Saurabh Kumar was appointed as Secretary of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) during 2007-2010, the nodal central body for promoting energy efficiency in India. Mr. Kumar is an Electrical Engineer from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur and Masters in Public Policy from National Graduate Institute of Policy Studies, Tokyo, Japan.

Dr Geoffrey Clements is Chairman of Commonwealth Infrastructure Partners. He is a specialist in renewable energy, with a focus on solar energy technologies. He has a PhD in Materials Science and Applied Physics from the University of Sussex. During his PhD research, he was mentored by Nobel Laureate and Cavendish Professor of Physics at Cambridge University, Prof Sir Nevill Mott, who conducted early ground-breaking research on the physics of photovoltaic solar in semiconductors. Geoffrey led the development of the Master Plan for Solar City Gandhinagar, Gujarat. He is a pioneer in organisational capacity building for infrastructure sectors, with a focus on India, and has conducted programmes for government and private sector organisations. He is Visiting Professor at leading business school SIBM Hyderabad and was a Visiting Professor at IMT Ghaziabad and IMT Hyderabad, and is a frequent speaker at conferences on topics including renewable energy, sustainable development and smart cities.

Gauri Singh is a career bureaucrat with an experience of over thirty years in policy formulation, implementation and policy advocacy in the field of renewable energy, sustainable development and livelihoods. She has worked at the federal level in the Government of India and in Madhya Pradesh. At the federal level, particularly in the field of new and renewable energy, she has vast experience of policy formulation, coordination, and international cooperation. Policy initiatives led by her include, the policy framework of National Solar Mission of India 2010, to build solar power capacities in India. More recently, she steered the rural development sector, in Madhya Pradesh. In this role she provided strategic guidance for planning and implementing large impact community led initiatives, for poverty reduction and sustainable development. She spearheaded the policy formulation, with a strong focus on climate resilience and adaptation, to support livelihoods of the existing self-help groups of 2 million poor women.

Sean Kidney is CEO of the Climate Bonds Initiative, an international NGO, working to mobilize global capital for climate action. Projects include a green bond definitions and certification scheme with $34 trillion of assets represented on its Board; working with the Chinese central bank on how to grow green bonds in China; market development programs in Brazil, Mexico, ASEAN and Africa; and market tracking services for the green bonds industry. He is a member of the European Commission's Platform on Sustainable Finance, and was a member of its predecessors, the 2017 EU High Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance and the EU Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance. He is also a member of green finance committees in China, India, Mexico and Khazakhstan. Sean is also a Professor in Practice at SOAS University of London.

Sameer Gupta is Chairman & Managing Director of Jakson Group – India’s leading “Distributed Energy, Solar and EPC solutions” company • A second generation entrepreneur, Sameer joined Jakson in the year 1991 and led its transformation from a small generator manufacturing company to a prominent Power Solution company. Sameer is supported by his brother Sundeep in managing Jakson group. • The business interests are across multiple lines of business which includes Generating Set manufacturing, Solar Module manufacturing, Solar off-grid products, Hybrid Solutions, Solar Roof tops, Solar land based EPC, Electrical EPC in areas of Substation, Transmission & Distribution and Defence solutions. • Jakson also has business interest in areas of Civil Infrastructure in India, Real Estate project in UK, Hospitality and Education. • Jakson has expanded its footprint across India and countries in South-East Asia, Middle-East and Africa. • Sameer is an active member of various industry associations and institutions. He has served as Chairman of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Northern Region and continues to be actively involved in various Councils & Committees of CII. • Sameer is deeply committed to CSR activities of Jakson across three pillars of education, environment and community services. The whole objective is to not only serve the society in a sustainable manner • Sameer is a graduate in Electronics Engineering from Pune University. He is an alumni of Harvard Business School. His interests include music, traveling and reading books on leadership & spirituality. • Sameer’s leadership purpose is to keep learning, invest in people and collaborate so as to build long enduring relationships on principals of trust and transparency. It’s important to him because he cares for people and he aspire to take responsibility of creating an institution for both his family and his family business.

Dr. Rashi Gupta, fondly known as “Batterywali of India”, is the pioneer of manufacturing of Advanced Lithium Batteries in India alongwith the “Worlds Smartest Lithium Battery”. She is the Founder & Managing Director of Vision Mechatronics Private Ltd, leading it towards a name to reckon for in the field of Robotics, Renewable Energy & Energy Storage. A Women Entrepreneur who has been fearless & ferocious in creating a brand for herself & the company in these male dominated fields. If one takes a closer look at the alchemy of this achiever, two distinct virtues pop up, besides perseverance & hard work. These are: pioneering spirit & willingness. Coupled with an impressive background, it was not therefore surprising that she became a prominent name in the Renewable Energy Sector of India and is featured as Asia’s Most Influential Women in Renewable Energy, 2020. She has been working on Gender Equality and Women Empowerment issues globally. She holds degrees of BE, MBA, LLM, & PhD to her title. She is a committee member of Bureau of Indian Standards for Batteries, Energy Storage and E-Mobility. She is also Member of International ElectroTechnical Commission. She is also a committee member of National Energy Storage Committee- FICCI, CleanTech Business Club- Chair of Task Force- Energy Storage & Smart Energy, Chairperson-Womens India CBC, CBC Vice Chair India.

Dr. Ram Prasad Dhital is one of the members of the electricity regulatory commission in Nepal. He is responsible for planning and monitoring, institutional development, regulatory and external affairs in the commission. He is also the spokesperson of the commission. Dr. Dhital has spent two decades working in the renewable energy sector on national and international levels, in executive, advisory and technical roles. He served as the Executive Director of Alternative Energy Promotion Center under the ministry of energy, water resources and irrigation overseeing operations, strategic and technical initiatives in Nepal. Dr. Dhital also worked as the Energy Advisor in Afghanistan for two years and Vanuatu in the south pacific for a year. He has been able to utilize the learning in the national level by reforming renewable energy subsidy policies, institutionalizing central renewable energy funds and mobilizing internal and external resources (annually USD 55 million) to realize the Nepal government’s target of clean cooking and lighting solution for all by 2022. He holds a Masters's and a Ph.D. degree in Renewable Energy Engineering. He has more than 15 research publications and conference papers written and presented at national and international platforms globally representing Nepal. He is also an APMG certified PPP professional.

Vivek Bhatia is MD & CEO of thyssenkrupp Industries India (tkII), focusing on EPC/EP projects/ equipment for Boilers/Power Plants, Mining, Cement, Sugar plants and services for these sectors such as asset management/O&M, revamps, spares and field services. With seven decades of operations, it is the largest thyssenkrupp Indian entity. Earlier, Vivek was CEO Asia Pacific at thyssenkrupp, based in Singapore, covering all group businesses in the region. Before thyssenkrupp, Vivek was with The Boston Consulting Group for several years. In 2013, he was awarded a BCG Olympics Gold Medal for high impact work. Earlier, he was a design engineer at EIL. Vivek is also a Non-Executive Director on the board of GMM Pfaudler. He has deep experience on wide range of areas as technology incubation, digitalization, strategy, growth, JVs/PMI/carve-outs, transformation amongst others. Vivek holds an MBA (IIMC), M. Tech. (Gold Medalist, IITD) and B.E. (with honors from University of Delhi).

Mr. Ramesh Ramachandran Nair is the Chief Executive Officer of Adani Solar, at Adani Enterprises Ltd. since April 2017. With more than 25 years of experience working with reputed organizations like Essar Steel, Sterlite Industries, BALCO and Jindal Stainless, he has been instrumental in changing the manufacturing landscape through institutionalizing business excellence & governance, and implementing successful turnaround strategies. Prior to joining Adani group, Mr. Nair served as the Chief Executive Officer and Whole Time Director of Bharat Aluminium Company Limited (BALCO) from June 2013 until March 2017. In over 11 years at Vedanta Group, he led multiple functions and assumed an overall leadership role at Sterlite Copper as its Chief Operating Officer from Oct 2008 to Nov 2011. Mr. Nair also served as an Executive Director and President of Jindal Stainless Limited from November 2011 to June 2013. Mr Nair is a member of the Governing Council of Indian Solar Manufacturing Association and is spearheading the cause of Domestic Manufacturing and Renewable development in the country.

Graduated in Computer Engineering at the University of Catania, Eng. Simone Massaro is recognized has a leading expert in industrial applications, computer graphics and renewable energy technologies. After working in the USA for 15 years on high profile software automation products used by NASA, Pentagon, Disney, Mercedes et al., he has moved back to Europe to bring his vision to reality designing advanced software technologies for critical infrastructures such as Energy, Telecommunication, Transportation and Healthcare. CEO of BaxEnergy, founder of the Free Mind Foundry International Cooperation Hub, Simone is also CEO of innovative successful start-ups such as IntelliSync and WiSNAM, operating in the sectors of Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity & Defence and IoT. Member of the Microsoft ISV Executive Board EMEA region and author of several patents on processes visualization of data, and books on A.I., Cybersecurity & Defence and Control Rooms technology.

Ranjit has extensive experience in Renewable Energy, Thermal Power and the O&G industry with specialities in Project Management, Business Development, Bidding, and Project Finance. Prior to Azure Power, Ranjit co-founded and served as the Chief Executive Officer of Ostro Energy where he spearheaded growth through a prudent renewable energy auction strategy entailing an equity investment of $280 million and a debt of about $900 million to build a 1100 MW renewables platform. Prior to Ostro, Ranjit co-founded Orange Renewable where he steered the capital raise of $65 mn equity and executed RE projects of 180 MW on BOO basis and developed a pipeline for another 350 MW. He has also served as founding CEO of Indiabulls Power, leading construction of over 5000 MW of Thermal Power projects. Prior to his, Ranjit worked at Schlumberger for 12 years in various field and management positions across various geographies. Ranjit holds a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai.

Shri Pradip Kumar Das, is the Chairman & Managing Director of IREDA since 06.05.2020. Mr. Das is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Cost Accountants of India and Associate Member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India. He also holds Post-Graduate Diploma in Management from Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar. Prior to joining the Company, he was Director (Finance) in India Tourism Development Corporation Ltd. (ITDC). Mr. Das has also worked with REC Ltd. (Rural Electrification Corporation), Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), Nuclear Power Corporation Ltd. (NPCL), Bharat Heavy Plate and Vessels Ltd. (BHPV), Kusum Products Ltd. and other organizations. In his career span of over 32 years he has vast experience in various positions in Finance, Banking, Accounts, Audit, etc. both in public as well as private sectors. Mr. Das has always leveraged technology and introduced various innovative financing schemes that reflects the unique relationship with each of the customers. With his focus on innovation, he has actively participated in the digitization process of the company including online offerings to the customers, enabling them to bank when, where, and how they want.

Mahua Acharya leads the Asian operations of CPI, while also supporting high-level strategic planning and further build-up of the organization globally. She is part-time with CPI – she also teaches at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad in an executive education program that she co-founded. Mahua has almost 20 years of international experience and knowledge of green finance, renewable energy, and carbon markets. For the last few years, Mahua was the Assistant Director-General of 29-country intergovernmental agency the Global Green Growth Institute, Seoul, where she established an investment division that worked across 16 countries and mobilized USD 500 million of financing commitments for 10 investment projects and funds. She was previously managing a $50 carbon credit investment fund investing in energy efficiency lighting to low income households – a scheme that later became the prototype for a large-scale replacement program in India. She has held roles in the World Bank, Washington DC and is one of the early pioneers of the carbon market. Mahua holds a Masters’ degree from Yale University. She often writes in international and Indian newspapers and is listed under 100 most mindful women in India.

Rajnikanth is the Managing Director of 3TIER R&D India Pvt Ltd, a Vaisala company, a global leader in weather and environmental observations. He is responsible for Vaisala's Renewable Energy business in India, Middle East and South East Asia. Prior to Vaisala, he has worked at Underwriters Laboratories (UL), where he was responsible for Renewable Energy business in Asia and Middle East region. He has 14 years of experience in the renewable energy consulting business and has played key role in development of regulations, standards and resource measurement systems for solar and wind energy. He is an Electrical Engineer with MBA in Marketing. He lives in Bangalore with his wife and two children.

Dr. Arul in his current role is responsible for identifying and piloting new technologies in the broader power segment for Tata Power including manufacturing technologies in solar, Storage, BIPV, Energy Efficiency, Hydrogen Generation etc. Until July this year Dr. Arul was the Chief Operating Officer for Tata Power Solar. He has been involved in the EPC of more than 2 GWp of EPC projects and few hundred MWp of rooftop projects. He was also leading the cell and module manufacturing facility in Tata Power Solar. Dr.Arul established a unique module mounting structure business in Tata International and introduced new foundation concepts and materials in Indian market in the 2010 timeframe. Prior to that he was at Applied Materials in the United States focused on equipment and process development upto 32nm technology nodes. He has a B. Tech degree from IIT Madras and Masters and Ph. D from Cornell University. He has more than 40 patents and several publications.

Prof. Arun Kumar currently working as Professor of HRED, IIT Roorkee, held MNRE Chair Professor from 2013to 18 and headed department of Hydro and Renewable energy IIT Roorkee from 1998 to 2011 and served on Board of NHPC Ltd, Govt of India PSU for hydropower during 2015-2019 as independent director. His research areas are Hydropower Development, Environmental Management of Water Bodies, Energy Economics and Policy. Prof. Kumar has over 39 years of experience in the field of Hydropower and environmental management of river and lakes. He served CLA for Hydropower on SRREN for IPCC. Prof. Kumar had received various awards and recognitions from CBIP, Institution of Engineers and Hydro Power Association. Currently he in Vice President of Federation of Indian small hydropower. He is Bachelors in civil engineering and PhD in hydropower from IIT Roorkee, Masters in Civil Engineering from IISc Bengaluru and Hydropower Diploma studies from NTH, Trondheim.

Vaishali Nigam Sinha is the Chief Sustainability and CSR Officer at ReNew Power, one of India’s largest renewable energy companies and Founding Chair, ReNew Foundation. A keen advocate of climate change, sustainable development and gender parity, Vaishali is striving to create a socio-economic order characterized by deeper sensitivity towards environmental issues and more empowered women. She Chairs the UN Global Compact Network India’s Gender Committee, South Asian Women In Energy– a body set up under USISPF to promote diversity and gender equity in energy sector and CII’s Indian Women Network. She is a regular speaker at forums like the Climate Week NYC, Clinton Global Initiative, and events organized by WEF and UN agencies. Vaishali has been listed amongst India’s 100 most important PR professionals, Asia’s Most Influential Women in Renewable Energy and India’s Top 25 Impactful CSR leaders. She is an alumnus of Harvard Business School, Columbia University (SIPA) and Hindu College.

Dr. M. M. Tripathi is Professor with Delhi Technological University. He holds the position of Director Internal Quality Assurance Cell and Coordinator Intellectual Property Rights Cell at DTU. Dr. Tripathi has 26 years of experience with organizations of National/ International repute. He has worked as research scientist with Institute for Plasma Research (IPR), Gandhinagar and Center for Electronics Design & Technology of India. As Joint Director of National Institute of Electronics & Information Technology HQ, Delhi he has worked on various projects such as Digitization and Biometric capture of usual residents of India (NPR), development of manpower in IECT Skills, ICT based Skill Testing and Certification framework and creation of IT Literacy framework in the Country. He has published more than 125 research papers and written 3 books. His Research interests are Artificial Intelligence and IOT applications in Smart Grid and forecasting of renewable energy.

Juzer Vasi has been with the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay since 1981, where he is currently an Emeritus Professor. He has worked in the areas of microelectronics and photovoltaics. He was the Founding Principal Investigator of the “National Centre for Photovoltaic Research and Education” (NCPRE), set up by MNRE at IIT Bombay. NCPRE has been involved in R&D in various aspects of solar photovoltaics since 2010. Juzer Vasi was an Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices during 1997-2003. He is a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering, and a Fellow of IEEE. He received Lifetime Contributions Awards from IIT Bombay in 2013 and from INAE in 2018. He has a B.Tech. degree in Electrical Engineering from IIT Bombay, and a Ph.D. from The Johns Hopkins University.

Neerav Nanavaty has over 20 years of experience in the energy sector across North America and India. He joined ENGIE in 2001 and is currently the CEO and Country manager for ENGIE India. In his current role, he leads all of Engie’s activities across India across the renewables and energy services verticals. Previously, he led Business Development, Construction and Operations for Engie’s renewables activities in India. Prior to moving to India in 2014, Neerav spent 14 years with ENGIE in the United States, helping build and manage their North American power and gas business. He has been in various commercial and operational roles in the wholesale and retail energy business across regulated and deregulated markets in the US, Canada and Mexico – including Operations, Strategy/M&A, Finance, Business Development, Trading, and Asset Management. Prior to joining ENGIE, Neerav spent 3 years with Enron in the US and Singapore in their Power and Gas Origination and Business Development functions. Neerav is an electronics engineer from NIT Surathkal (Karnataka) and has an MBA in Finance/Strategy from Duke University, USA.

Since April 01, 2019, Mr Robert Klaffus is responsible as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for the global Digital Grid business at Siemens Smart Infrastructure. Robert holds a degree in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the Technische Universität Berlin and ESCP Europe. He also holds an Executive MBA with Corporate Finance specialization from IE Business School. Robert has collected lots of experiences over years in the whole energy sector with a focus on power distribution and energy automation.

Ewa Malicka, Msc, graduated in 1997 from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland. She is a President of the Polish Association for Small Hydropower Development (TRMEW) – the organization which groups together small hydropower plants owners and investors as well as equipment and service providers. She represents Polish SHP sector in course of consulting procedures, develops positions, recommendations to decision makers and comments to acts of law. She also represents TRMEW on the international arena – formerly in the European Small Hydropower Association (ESHA) and subsequently in the European Renewable Energies Federation (EREF). She is an author of chapters on Poland n the World Small Hydropower Development Reports (2016 and 2019) and numerous publications in professional media. She is also professionally active in a family company running SHP plants.

Dr Arunabha Ghosh is the founder-CEO of the Council on Energy, Environment and Water since 2010, and has led CEEW to the top ranks as one of Asia’s leading policy research institutions and among the world’s 20 best climate think-tanks. He has been involved in the design of the International Solar Alliance and is a founding board member of the Clean Energy Access Network. Co-author/editor of four books and with experience in 45 countries, he previously worked at Princeton, Oxford, UNDP (New York), and WTO (Geneva). In 2018, Dr Ghosh was nominated to the UN’s Committee for Development Policy. In 2020, the Government of India appointed him Co-Chair of the energy, environment and climate change track for India’s forthcoming Science, Technology and Innovation Policy. He is co-Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Clean Air and is a member of the international high-level panel of the Environment of Peace initiative. His 2019 TED Talk on air quality (Mission 80-80-80) has crossed 225,000 views.

Prabhajit, as the Managing Director & CEO of PXIL since May 2018, has actively led its turnaround and consistent growth. He is charting out the development trajectory for PXIL in the Indian power market and at the same time playing a key role in shaping the power markets of the future for the country. With around two decades of experience in organizations like PTC India Ltd, Larsen & Toubro, IPCL and PXIL as well, Prabhajit brings a deep and varied experience in the power sector spanning across power generation, distribution, trading as well as development of power markets in the country.

Kanika is a policy specialist, working at the intersection of India’s two revolutions: in renewable energy and in financial markets. She manages The Council’s work on renewable energy policy,markets, finance, and socio-economic benefits. Her current responsibilities include analysing financial risks affecting renewable energy investments in India, decoding market dynamics, managing The Council’s periodic surveys on renewable energy jobs, and convening a high-level working group on renewable energy finance (comprising investors, developers and manufacturers). She is actively engaged with private and public enterprises within and outside India to design and develop new financial de-risking instruments and new financial institutions, such as green banks. Her research has been used within government, by electricity regulators, and by international agencies and strategic philanthropies. She is actively engaged in the Council's initiative, Women in Sustainability. Prior to CEEW, Kanika worked at the REN21 Secretariat in Paris, and was one of the authors of the Global Status Report on Renewable Energy. She holds an M.Sc. in Economics and Development Economics.

S.K. Soonee Presently Advisor POSOCO ,Former and Founder Chief Executive Officer ,Power System Operation Corporation Ltd. Shri Soonee has first hand four decades of experience of Power System Operation of various Regional Grids of India and has worked extensively towards Integration of Grids leading to the formation of the National Grid and now SAARC Grid. He specializes in Power System Operation, Planning, Commercial, Settlement, Restoration and entire gamut of Power Pooling and Governance. Other areas of interest include Electricity Markets, Open Access, Regulatory affairs besides expertise in Load Despatch Technology, integration of Renewable Energy including REC Mechanism, Transmission Pricing and development of Ancillary Services. Shri S K Soonee is a Life Fellow of Institution of Engineers (India) , Fellow of IEEE, Distinguished Alumnus IIT Kharagpur, Distinguished Member CIGRE , Fellow INAE , Foriegn Member NAE , USA . He has represented India on the CIGRE Study Committee C2 on Power System Operation and the CIGRE Study Committee C5 on Electricity Markets and Regulation.

Equipped with a degree from BITS Pilani in mechanical engineering and an Advance Management Programme (AMP) from Harvard Business School, Shishir started his professional journey as a trainee engineer in Thermax. Shishir led the Cooling and Heating Business of Thermax and transitioned to the role of CEO of SKF India in 2009. From 2nd April 2018, Shishir has taken over as CEO and MD of Praj Industries Ltd., a Pune based Industrial Biotech major. Shishir’s journey includes Business management of high technology market leader organisations – both India headquartered as well as publicly quoted MNC subsidiary, Strategic management of business serving a wide cross section of industrial and Automotive segments, Energy and environmental solutions (Projects and services in fields of alternative and conventional energy generation for industrial and commercial applications), Global Business management with international multi location manufacturing, establishment and Management of International subsidiaries. Shishir was also named as one of the 'most valuable CEOs' of India by Business world magazine in the year 2013 and listed amongst ‘India’s Top 100 CEOs in 2013’ by Business Today magazine. CURRENTLY, he is: • Co-Chairman, CII National Task Force on Bioenergy 2020-21 • Member, Governing Board of The Council of EU Chambers of Commerce in India • Member, Academic Council of Navarachna University

Charlie Donovan is Executive Director of the Centre for Climate Finance and Investment at Imperial College Business School and Academic Director of the MSc Climate Change, Management and Finance. He is a Professor of Practice in the Department of Finance. In his corporate career, Charlie was most recently Head of Structuring and Valuation for Global Power at BP plc. He was part of the strategy team that launched BP Alternative Energy with an $8 billion funding commitment. Charlie began his career as an Energy Policy Analyst with the US Environmental Protection Agency during the Clinton Administration. Professor Donovan holds a bachelor degree in Psychology from the University of Washington, graduated from the MBA program at Vanderbilt University, and completed a Doctorate in Management at IE Business School. He is the editor and co-author of Renewable Energy Finance: Powering the Future, now in its 2nd edition.

Tulsi Tanti is Chairman and Managing Director of Suzlon Group, an Indian MNC and a prominent player in the global renewable energy sector. A visionary and a world renowned expert on clean energy, he is passionate about championing the cause of affordable and sustainable energy to tackle the paradigm of economic growth and climate change. He conceptualized end-to-end solutions model creating realistic avenues for businesses and envisioned importance of R&D to optimize available wind resources & minimize LCoE. Suzlon has become global conglomerate under his able leadership and emerged as a prominent player in global renewable energy market. He is also the Chairman of Indian Wind Turbine Manufacturers Association (IWTMA) and also active member of various CEO Forums. He is credited with the establishment of the renewable market in India and has been conferred with numerous awards including ‘Champion of the Earth’ by the United Nations, ‘Entrepreneur of the Year 2006 by Ernst & Young, ‘Hero of the Environment’ by TIME magazine and many more.

Dr Moustapha Kamal Gueye is Coordinator, Green Jobs Programme, at the International Labour Organization (ILO), working to promote positive employment outcomes of policies on climate change, green economy and sustainable development. Previously, he served as Head, Green Economy Advisory Services at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and as a Senior Programme Manager at the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development in Geneva. Earlier, he spent twelve years across Asia working at the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) in Japan. He currently serves in the Steering Group of the Green Economy Coalition and the Advisory Committee of GEO for Business. Kamal holds a Ph.D. from Nagoya University, Japan; DEA and LL.M from Dakar University; and Executive Certificates from the World Bank Institute; Columbia University; Foundation for Advanced Studies on International Development, Japan; and Integrated Research and Action for Development, India. He speaks Wolof, French, English, and Japanese.

Rajesh Kumar Mediratta has over 32 years of experience in apex organizations of the India’s power sector. He has worked with IEX since inception and played key role developing power markets in the country. Many first to his credit as key resource: Implementing Energy Settlement Systems, Implementing intra-State ABT in Gujarat and first power exchange in the country. He has worked in power system and all aspects of exchange business. He has to his credit several papers on power markets, renewable markets, commercial mechanism, power system operation and settlement systems and on deregulation of power sector presented at international and national conferences. Mr. Mediratta holds a bachelor’s degree of mechanical engineering (Gold Medallist) and MBA in Finance. He is currently holding the position of Director(Strategy) in IEX and Director at IGX.

Praveer Sinha is the CEO & Managing Director of The Tata Power Company Limited (TPC, Mumbai), India’s largest integrated power utility. The Company has its presence in all the segments of power sector viz. Fuel & logistics, Generation, Transmission, Distribution and Trading. It is one of the largest renewable energy companies in India and has developed the country’s first 4000 MW Ultra Mega Power Project at Mundra (Gujarat) based on super-critical technology.

Mr. Sinha has nearly 34 years of experience in Generation and Distribution sector. He has been responsible for developing and setting up Greenfield and Brownfield Power plants in India and abroad. Prior to becoming the CEO & Managing Director of The Tata Power Company Limited, he has served as the CEO&MD of Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (TPDDL), a Public Private Partnership (JV) of Tata Power and Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi from April’2012 to April’2018.

Mr. Sinha is also a strong votary of usage of technology and hence TATA Power-DDL has been a front runner in innovating and adopting several world class technologies. Apart from ensuring operational excellence, Mr. Sinha is extremely passionate towards the inclusive growth of the society and has implemented numerous sustainability programs focusing on women empowerment, skill development for youth and children, which has resulted in the multifold increase in the number of beneficiaries.

Educational Qualification

• Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical) from Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh in 1984.
• Master in Business Law from National Law University, Bangalore in 1999-2002.
• A Research Scholar at Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi.
• A visiting Research Associate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, USA.
• A distinguished Visiting Scholar at the Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Science, Ryerson University, Canada.

Hitesh Doshi has over 30 years of experience in the engineering industry. He started his career in 1989 soon after his graduation by establishing a hardware process control instrument trading company and moved into the manufacturing of process control instruments, gas station equipment, and industrial valves. Under his leadership WAAREE has received various recognition awards and accolades, he formed WAAREE Energies Ltd. in 2007 initiating its foray in Renewable Energy, and has taken several initiatives to accelerate the company's top-line and bottom-line growth. His vision and strategic business leadership are instrumental in establishing WAAREE Energies in a leadership position in the solar industry. He looks after the overall business strategy of the Company and International Business Development coupled with expansion projects of the Company. He is the founder secretary of Instrumentation Expert Club and President of Jain Education and Empowerment Trust (JEET) and is a patron member of the Jain International Trade Organization (JITO) and an active philanthropist

Dr Amit Jain is a Fulbright Scholar at NREL, USA, Chevening Fellow at King’s College, London, and has Ph.D. in solar energy. He works with the World Bank and leads a $2 billion renewable portfolio in India, Bangladesh, and the Maldives. It includes REWA and Charanka solar park, inaugurated by Hon. PM Shri Narendra Modi. The REWA project has received the World Bank Group President Award for innovation and excellence and included in the Prime Minister's book 'A Book of Innovation: New Beginnings'. Amit’s previous assignments include the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Clinton Foundation. Amit has authored two books on climate change policy and waste to energy and has several international peer-reviewed journal publications. His hobbies include scuba diving and badminton.

Rajiv Mishra, Managing Director, CLP India Mr. Rajiv Mishra is responsible for running CLP's business in India. He joined the CLP Group in 2002 and has over 20 years’ of experience in the power industry, both in India and internationally, mostly involved in project financing, investment appraisal, finance and accounting and general management. Before assuming the role of Managing Director of CLP India, Rajiv has held a variety of senior positions in the Power Industry viz. Deputy Managing Director/Chief Financial Officer of BLCP Power in Thailand, Finance Director of PowerGen India and Finance Director of LG Energy in Seoul, South Korea. Rajiv has successfully transformed CLP India from a single-asset and project management company to a fully-grown organisation with presence across conventional and renewables sources of energy, as well as a small transmission business He holds a Bachelors degree in Chemical Engineering (first class distinction) from BIT, Sindri and an MBA degree from the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, and is an Advanced Management Program Graduate from the Harvard Business School, Boston. Rajiv has also served as the Chairman of Association of Power Producers, a grouping of nearly 90% of India’s Private Power Generators and is the Co-Chairman for the Confederation of Indian Industry, together with one of India’s largest Industry body representing both the Public and Private sectors. Through these, he plays an active role in making representations on issues concerning companies in the Power Sector in India.

Before founding CDP India in 2012, Daman has spent over three decades writing and researching on environment and development issues in India. He worked as an independent researcher and journalist primarily on environment and climate change issues, executing projects for ERM UK, Worldwatch Institute, The Climate Group, Bureau of Energy Efficiency among others. Prior to his consultancy assignments, he headed the Research and Mission Programme Division of the National Geographic Channel in India for five years. He started his career as a journalist and has worked with major national dailies like The Times of India, The Pioneer, Business Standard, and The Indian Express.

Dr. Sunita Satyapal is the Director for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office within the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and is responsible for $150 million per year in hydrogen and fuel cell R&D. She has two and a half decades of experience across industry, academia and government, including at United Technologies managing research and business development, and as a visiting professor. She is also the current Chair of the International Partnership for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells in the Economy, a partnership among over 18 countries to accelerate progress in hydrogen. She received her Ph.D. from Columbia University and did postdoctoral work in Applied and Engineering Physics at Cornell University. She has numerous publications, including in Scientific American, 10 patents, and a number of recognitions including a Presidential Rank Award.

Ben Backwell is a leading commentator and strategist in the renewable energy sector. Prior to joining GWEC, he was a Managing Director at FTI Consulting, one of the world’s largest advisory firms, advising companies in the clean energy sector on strategy, communications, and government affairs, including work on a number of major M&A transactions. Previously, Ben worked as a journalist and analyst for 20 years, covering energy policy and markets around the world. He helped design the SolutionWind campaign for the European Wind Energy Association (now WindEurope) ahead of COP21 in 2015, before joining FTI Consulting. He has taken part in the work of a number of industry organizations, including the board of GWEC, the IRENA Business and Investor Group, the IEA’s Renewable Energy Industry Advisory Board, Solar Power Europe, and others. Ben is the author of two books on the wind industry as well as a number of reports and white papers on power markets and policy frameworks. His book Wind Power, the struggle for control of a new global industry,” has been described as the “definitive” story of the global wind industry. He holds an MSc in Political Science from the Institute of Latin American Studies, University of London and speaks Spanish and Portuguese as well as his native English.

Cecile Martin-Phipps is currently Director Strategy and Communication in the International Solar Alliance. She was previously working in the French solar street lighting company, Sunna Design, as Project manager International funding institutions. From 2007 to 2016 she was Project manager International projects and partnerships with international funding institutions at the French Agency for Environment and Energy Management (ADEME). Previously she was a deputy advisor (parliamentary issues, international affairs) to Ministers Serge Lepeltier and Nelly Ollin (in charge of ecology and sustainable development). She graduated in Public Administration and International Studies from the Paris Institute of Political Sciences ( Sciences-Po ) in 2003. She got a certificate on Financing and Deploying Clean Energy from Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and Yale School of Management in 2020.

Vandana Gombar is an Editor at BloombergNEF, tracking the exciting transition of the energy and mobility sectors globally. She believes the energy miracle is in the quiet dazzle of the sun, and is fascinated by everything solar. With well over a 100 gigawatts of new solar installations expected globally this year, and in the next few years, there is no other power source that matches this scale of build.

Brief Profile Dr. Sushanta K. Chatterjee Dr. Chatterjee is presently Chief (Regulatory Affairs) with Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC). He has long experience of dealing with power sector reforms, especially, Regulatory Reforms since its inception in 1998. He was actively involved in formulation of the Electricity Act, 2003. Dr. Chatterjee has been a post doctoral research fellow at Harvard Kennedy School, USA. He has a PhD in Management and MBA in Finance. He co-authored “The Electricity sector in India: Policy and Regulation” (Oxford University Press (OUP), 2012), and authored “S.K. Chatterjee’s Commentary on the Electricity Laws of India” (Delhi Law House, 2006). He has published papers on renewable/REC (World Bank 2013 and NREL 2016). He completed research work as Principal Investigator on the topic “Meeting the Renewable Revolution: A Roadmap for Electricity Market Design in India” at International Growth Centre (IGC), London School of Economics, UK (2017). Dr. Chatterjee’s present academic and professional pursuits involve specialization in public policy and regulation with focus on renewable and market design. He has been instrumental in conceptualisation of the CERC staff discussion papers on real time market, day ahead market design, ancillary services framework, grid integration of renewable, renewable energy certificate mechanism. He is/has been a Member of various Government Committees. He is/has been a guest faculty for various academic, research and training institutions like PMI, NPTI, IIM(A), IIT(K), UPES, IIT (Roorkee), TERI, MIT (USA), LSE (UK), Florence School of Regulation (FSR).

Ms. Vandana Bhatnagar is the Chief Program Officer at the National Skill Development Corporation (India). As part of the leadership team she provides strategic oversight for programs and knowledge management functions at NSDC. She leads teams working on occupational standards, digital skilling, industry partnerships, monitoring, research and analytics. Vandana has over 29 years of professional experience in the development and financial sectors. She has worked with Standard Chartered Bank, The World Bank, IDFC and TERI. Prior to joining NSDC, Vandana worked at the World Bank as Senior Institutional Development Specialist in the Water Global Practice, where she led several sector strategy and policy level engagements at the national, state and local levels. She is an alumnus of Indian Institute of Management (Calcutta) and St. Stephens College in Delhi University.

Dr. Bernhard Ernst is deputy head of the department Energy Storage at Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Economics and Energy System Technology (IEE). In parallel he works as consultant in the field of grid integration of renewable energy and energy markets. Prior to this he was the director of the department Grid Integration at SMA Solar Technology AG, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of PV power converters. Before joining SMA he was manager of the Front Office System Planning at the German TSO Amprion GmbH. He holds a degree of electrical engineering and a Ph.D. on the topic of wind power forecasting from the University of Kassel, Germany. Dr. Ernst is chairman of the IEC SC 8A “Grid Integrationof Large-capacity Renewable Energy (RE) Generation” and has published several papers about grid integration of renewable energy source and forecasting.

Dr. Priyantha D C Wijayatunga holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from Sri Lanka and a PhD in Power Economics from Imperial College London where he was a Beit Scientific Research Fellow. He joined the Asian Development Bank in 2008 and currently the Director, South Asia Energy Division. He has contributed extensively in energy sector policy and regulatory activities over 25 years and has co-authored over 75 publications. He was the founder Director General of the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka and was a lead author of the Sri Lanka Energy Policies and Strategies and the Sri Lanka Initial National Communication on Climate Change. He served as a Senior Professor of Electrical Engineering and the Chairman of South Asia Forum for Infrastructure Regulation. He is a Member of Institute of Engineering Technology (IET), London, a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka. He is also a Senior Member of the Institution of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE).

Ajay Mathur is the Director General of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), New Delhi, and a member of the Indian Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change. He earlier headed the Indian Bureau of Energy Efficiency, and was responsible for mainstreaming energy efficiency through initiatives such as the Star Labeling programme for appliances, the Energy Conservation Building Code, and the Perform, Achieve & Trade programme for energy-intensive industries. He was a leading climate change negotiator, and was the Indian spokesperson at the Paris climate negotiations. He served as the interim Director of the Green Climate Fund during its foundational period. At TERI, he has spearheaded the move to accelerate action towards a low-carbon and cleaner economy through the adoption of renewable energy in the Indian electricity sector, enhancing efficiency in buildings and industry, and promoting environmental quality through recycling of material wastes and biotechnology-based solutions. He co-chairs the global Energy Transitions Commission; and is also co-chair of one of the climate initiatives of the One Planet Summit. Dr Mathur received a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the (then) University of Roorkee, and Masters and PhD degrees from the University of Illinois. He has also received the Distinguished Alumnus Awards from both his alma maters. He was appointed a Chevalier de l’Ordre national du Merite by the President of France in recognition of his outstanding commitment to the preservation of the environment and coping with energy-related challenges.

Civil Engineering Graduate from NIT Allahabad and Post Graduation from NIT Kurukshetra (1987). Presently working as Senior Vice President in Greenko. Around 34 years of experience in Energy Sector wherein specialised 28 years in Hydro and 6 years in Hybrid Renewable Energy Sector including Pumped storage Projects. Have discrete distinction of equally working in Government & Private sector i.e. 17 Years each, which includes 16 Years at Senior Management positions. Hands on Concept to Commissioning experience of around 20 Hydro Projects & equal number of Solar & Wind Projects spread across 15 states i.e. varying from Challenging Himalayan to Deccan Plateau conditions and Constrained time lines. Presently working on two Worlds First and Largest Integrated Renewable Energy with Storage projects (IRESP) 5 GW each where Pumped Storage component is around 1.2 GW each.

Tanya Singhal is the Founder and Director of SolarArise. SolarArise is a unique Solar PV asset management firm that owns & operates large-scale grid-connected solar projects. In 2010, after spending years at Strategy Consulting at the Boston Consulting Group and working across sectors, she decided something was needed to be done to make clean solar energy an affordable reality in India. Thus started her entrepreneurial journey and SolarArise was borne. Tanya, together with her co-founders, has raised over Rs 400 Cr of equity from marquee investors and Rs 800 Cr of debt. SolarArise has successfully built and operating sustainable solar PV plants of across remote villages in India – Beed, Maharashtra , Gadwal, Telangana & Koppal, Karnataka. Her goal is to move India to a low-carbon development path, away from fossil fuels. Tanya holds a Bachelor in Technology degree from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, and Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden

Shri Jatindra Nath Swain is the Additional Secretary in Government of India and currently holding the post of Managing Director of the Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited (SECI), which is a Government of India Enterprise set up in 2011 for implementation of National Solar Mission. Before joining SECI, Shri Swain worked as Joint Secretary, Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) Government of India. Shri Swain joined SECI as the Managing Director in August, 2017 and since then he has been spearheading the schemes to develop renewable energy projects in India through various schemes of the Ministry. Under his leadership, SECI has been able to develop about 5 GW of solar and wind projects each and is currently in the process of auctioning 30 GW of solar & wind projects in next 2 years. Shri Swain is an IAS officer of 1988 Batch, Tamil Nadu Cadre and has held various key positions in the State of Tamil Nadu: these include Principal Secretary in Department of Food & Cooperation and Department of Public & General Administration, Registrar, Cooperative Societies, Commissioner of Land Administration, Commissioner of Revenue Administration & Disaster Management, Commissioner Technical Education, Commissioner Watershed & Soil Conservation and Collector in the districts of Perambalur and Paudukkottai. Shri Jatindra Nath Swain holds a Master’s Degree in Economics from Delhi School of Economics, New Delhi and a Master’s degree in International Development Studies from Graduate Institute of Policy Studies, Tokyo, Japan.

Ambuj Sagar is the Vipula and Mahesh Chaturvedi Professor of Policy Studies and the founding Head of the School of Public Policy at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. Ambuj’s interests broadly lie at the intersection of technology and development. His recent work has focused on innovation policy for meeting sustainability and inclusivity challenges, energy innovation policy and strategies (in areas such as biofuels, clean cookstoves, coal power, automobiles, and institutional mechanisms such as climate innovation centers), climate change policy and politics, capacity development, and higher education policy. Ambuj has been on numerous national and international expert groups and also has been consultant/advisor to various Indian Govt. agencies as well as many multilateral and bilateral agencies. Ambuj did his undergraduate studies in Mechanical Engineering at IIT Delhi. He subsequently received an M.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Michigan and then an M.S. in Materials Science, a Ph.D. in Polymer Science, and an M.S. in Technology and Policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Dr Abhishek KUMAR is the Head of the Solar Systems Technology Group at SERIS – Singapore’s national institute for applied solar energy research. His focus includes high-performance PV system design, emerging Floating PV technology, real-time PV data monitoring and analysis. In past 11 years of his career, Dr Kumar has gained widespread experience in the whole value chain of PV – starting from high-volume advanced manufacturing processes in microelectronics, development of high-efficiency industrial Si wafer solar cells, techno-economic cost model of cell and module factory, and now downstream PV systems technology. He holds a Masters in Engineering from National University of Singapore (NUS), and PhD in Physics of photovoltaics from the University of Cambridge, UK.

Prof. V. Ramgopal Rao is currently the Director, IIT Delhi. Prof. Rao was earlier P. K. Kelkar Chair Professor for Nanotechnology in the Department of Electrical Engineering and as the Chief Investigator for the Centre of Excellence in Nanoelectronics project at IIT Bombay. Dr. Rao has over 450 research publications in the area of nano-scale devices & Nanoelectronics and is an inventor on 45 patents and patent applications, which include 17 issued US patents. Dr. Rao is a Fellow of IEEE, a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering, the Indian Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, and the Indian National Science Academy. Prof. Rao has received many awards and honours including Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize in Engineering Sciences, the Infosys Prize, the Swarnajayanti Fellowship award from DST, J.C.Bose National Fellowship, Prof. C.N.R.Rao National Nanoscience award and VASVIK Award. For more details of Prof. Rao, visit: http://www.ee.iitb.ac.in/~rrao/.

Pratik Agarwal is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Sterlite Power Transmission Limited, a leading energy-infrastructure company with operations in India and Brazil. Pratik is a whole-time director at Sterlite Power and is also a non-executive director at Sterlite Technologies Limited and Sterlite Investment Managers Ltd. Previously, he has held directorship positions in Sterlite Ports, Vizag General Cargo Berth Ltd, and Sterlite Networks Limited. Pratik believes in the incredible opportunity of bringing uninterrupted power to the last 1 billion people in the world. He also believes that with proactive investment in transmission and distribution infrastructure, including inter-continental grids, the energy industry can reduce greenhouse gases and eventually help reverse climate change. Sterlite Power focuses its strategy around this core purpose. Under his leadership, Sterlite Power has grown from a USD 150mn project in 2010 to developing 23 projects across India & Brazil, worth USD 5.6bn. In 2017 Sterlite spun-out its Indian operating assets into a yield platform called IndiGrid – India’s first power sector Invit (Infrastructure Investment Trust). IndiGrid, was subsequently acquired by a consortium of Infrastructure funds and co-investors. Pratik has pioneered the use of cutting-edge technologies in the design, engineering and construction of transmission systems, including the use of heli-crane technology, for the first time in Asia. In 2019, Sterlite Power won the coveted International Project Management Association Gold award (highest honor) in the mega-projects category, and also the Standard & Poor Global Platts Energy Award for Construction Project of the year. In 2018, Pratik was awarded the Economic Times 40 under 40 award, which recognizes young business leaders under the age of forty. Pratik is the chairman of sub-committee on Power Transmission at the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), co-chair of the committee on Infrastructure and Real Estate at IMC Chamber of Commerce and Industry, member of the Indian advisory board of the India Brazil Chamber of Commerce (IBCC) and the current President of Electric Power Transmission Association (EPTA) of India. He has a Bachelor of Science degree from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA degree from the London Business School.

Basant Jain heads Mahindra Susten, the ‘Cleantech’ arm of Mahindra Group. He is B.Tech. (Electronics) from MITS, Gwalior and has a PG Diploma from ICFAI. He has over 22 years of experience at Aditya Birla Group, Raymond, Vedanta, GVK and Mahindra Group among others. Mr. Jain joined Mahindra in 2005 in Infrastructure Sector as DGM – Special Projects and later became VP – Business Development at Mahindra Lifespaces. Since 2012, Mr. Jain has been with Susten, a leading player in Indian Solar sector, with 2.6+GWp commissioned capacity and 1.7+GWp under execution. Susten’s services include Turnkey EPC – Utility & Rooftop Solar, Solar Hybrid Solutions, Solar Water Pump and Asset Management & Analytics. Under his leadership, Susten has built a portfolio of 1.5 GWp of Solar Assets, with a target of 2.5GWp by 2022. Mr. Jain leads a team of 1100+, who are driven by and committed to providing state-of-the-art solutions in Solar.

Mr. Ganesh Srinivasan is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited. The company is a Public Private Partnership (Joint Venture) between Tata Power and the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi, supplying electricity to a populace of over 7 million in North Delhi. He brings with him two decades of experience in areas like power utility, infrastructure (cement, steel), automotive, product development & manufacturing. He spearheaded strategy, operations, transformation & organizational development in his preceding roles. In his previous stint, Mr. Srinivasan was the Chief – Transmission & Distribution, Tata Power, Mumbai and has also served there as the Head Strategy & Corporate Planning Division. He has been with Tata Power since September 2012. Mr. Srinivasan started his career with Cummins Inc. and has also worked with McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm. He is a regular speaker at the industry forums and seminars where he champions the cause of developing ‘Utilities of the Future’ with sustainability and strategic planning at the core. He is a B Tech from IIT Madras, an MBA from The Indian School of Business and holds a Masters degree in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University, USA.

Gilan is based in India and leads the South Asia & ASEAN regions for GE Onshore Wind since 2018.

Prior to this role, Gilan was the Business Development (M&A) leader globally for GE Renewable Energy. There he helped dene the inorganic growth strategy for the business and successfully negotiated a number of transactions including the acquisition of LM Wind Power for €1.5B in April 2017 from DH Private Equity.

Gilan started his career in energy and infrastructure consultancy London Economics International in Boston and during that time he helped setup Ampersand Energy Partners, a private-equity rm focused on renewables. He then joined Roland Berger Strategy Consultants in their energy & utilities practice in Paris advising IPPs & global utilities. In April 2012, he joined Alstom as Strategy & M&A Director for the Renewable Power division and played an integral part in the integration team on the GE-Alstom merger.

Gilan holds a bachelor’s degree from North eastern University, Boston and an MBA from HEC, Paris.

Vibhu Kaushik Director, T&D Business Strategy Southern California Edison Southern California Edison (SCE), the largest subsidiary of Edison International (NYSE: EIX), is the primary electricity supply company for much of Southern California, USA. It provides 15 million people with electricity across a service territory of approximately 50,000 square miles. As the Director of Transmission and Distribution (T&D) Business Strategy organization at SCE, Vibhu leads the preparation of the annual strategic plan, financial operating plans for over $5 billion of annual T&D budgets. He also leads regulatory management functions, T&D’s organizational performance management, and a T&D transformation office to manage key strategic initiatives. In his last role as the Director of Grid Technology and Modernization at SCE, Vibhu led SCE’s strategic roadmap for grid modernization, and served as SCE’s leader in applied research and grid modernization, leading industry groups and external stakeholders on industry initiatives, research activities, standards, and cooperative projects. He also led SCE’s technical efforts in the deployment of emerging technologies including key integrated pilot demonstration projects. Previously, Vibhu held several roles within SCE including Principal Manager of Asset Management and Generation Strategy group where he was responsible for driving the major maintenance and capital investment decisions and maximize the returns for the company’s hydroelectric, natural gas, energy storage, and solar power plants; Vibhu originated SCE’s award-winning hybrid (battery + gas) enhance gas turbines projects. Vibhu was recognized by the Public Utilities Fortnightly magazine with the “Top Forty Innovators” award in 2017. Prior to joining SCE in 2011, Vibhu worked with Manitoba Hydro in Canada where he managed operations planning at the Manitoba Hydro’s grid control center. Vibhu earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, India, and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Manitoba, Canada, and a master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of California, Los Angeles – Anderson School of Management. He is also a registered professional engineer.

Prof. Solanki has been referred to as “Solar Man of India” by Times of India, The Hindu and India Today. Some people also call him “Solar Gandhi”. Prof. Solanki was born in a small village called Nemit in the Khargone district of Madhya Pradesh. His primary school had just one classroom and a teacher at that time. Having studied in the light of the kerosene lamp himself, Prof. Solanki is now committed to providing clean light to all. He received his Ph.D. from IMEC (Ketholik University) Leuven, Belgium, a leading R&D and innovation hub in micro and nano-electronics. Known for his remarkable work in the field of Solar, Prof. Solanki is an educator, innovator, researcher, entrepreneur, and author. He had led major solar projects at Indian Institute of Technology Bombay including the National Centre for Photovoltaic Research and Education (NCPRE) and the Solar Urja through Localization for Sustainability (SoULS) Initiative. He has established best labs in the country. Prof. Solanki has reached to 7.5 million families with the solar lamp. Following Gandhian ideals, he has coined the word ‘Energy Swaraj’. His Energy Swaraj Movement is a stepping stone towards energy access, energy sustainability, and climate change mitigation. In order to establish Energy Swaraj across the globe, he has founded the Energy Swaraj Foundation, which is a not-for-profit organization. Prof. Solanki has published over 100 research papers in reputed international journals. He has 4 US patents to his credit with several more under review. He was recently awarded Jury Choice Award in the “Outstanding Green Activist” category and many other awards to their credit. He has recently founded the Energy Swaraj Foundation to establish Energy Swaraj across the globe, wherein energy is generated and consumed by locals. He has recently authored Energy Swaraj: My Experiments with Solar Truth, based on his life events.

Dr. Rajit Gadh is a Professor at the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science at UCLA, and the Founding Director of UCLA Smart Grid Energy Research Center (SMERC) and Wireless Internet for Mobile Enterprise Consortium (WINMEC) Dr. Gadh’s interests include Smart Grid, Micro Grids, Electric Vehicle to Grid Integration, Electric Vehicle and Autonomous Vehicles, Smart Transportation, AI and machine learning in EV and AV management. He has over 200 papers in journals, conferences proceedings, and, 5 patents granted. He has a Doctorate degree from Carnegie Mellon University, a Masters from Cornell University and a Bachelor's degree from IIT Kanpur. He has taught as a visiting researcher at UC Berkeley, been a professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison, and done his sabbatical at Stanford University. He has won awards from NSF (CAREER award), SAE (Ralph Teetor award), IEEE (WTS), ASME (Kodak Best Technical Paper), AT&T (Industrial ecology fellow award), etc.

Pinaki Bhattacharya is the Co-Founder, MD & CEO of Amp Energy India, a leading renewable energy player in India. With a portfolio of 1GW+ across 15 states, Amp Energy India is committed to providing renewable energy solutions and driving responsible growth while building a balanced portfolio of C&I and utility customers. Pinaki Bhattacharyya has 21 years+ of experience in India, US and Europe across PE, business incubation, leadership, operating and financing roles in the renewable energy. Prior to Amp, Pinaki was the CFO of Sterlite Power, India’s leading transmission player. Additionally, he was the founding team member and CFO of one of the largest renewable IPPs in India (Sembcorp Green Infra) and also the founding team member of the first renewable energy project equity fund in US, New Energy Capital. He has managed the largest and most diversified renewable energy private equity portfolio of USD 300M for IDFC Private Equity. He has worked across the value chain in both renewable and thermal power generation at ALSTOM and Shell-Bechtel venture, Intergen. He is an MBA from Cornell University and B.E. from Delhi College of Engineering.

A Mechanical Engineer and MBA by training, Anindya Chowdhury has been an energy sector professional for over thirty years. Anindya has been with Shell for twenty two years and has been involved in several energy developments in India – one of which Hazira LNG is now an operational business. Earlier in his career with Shell, Anindya was crossposted to the headquarters in London where he was involved in mega project developments and strategy in the Middle East and South Asia. On return to India, Anindya was tasked with governance and strategy related to Shell’s Gas & Power business in India and other new business developments. In previous roles, Anindya was responsible for business development for Shell Global Solutions’ commercial services focusing on Indian National Oil Companies and later on leading Gas and LNG business development in India for Shell. Since November, 2016 Anindya has been tasked with managing the Energy Transitions Programme for Shell in India.During the course of his career, Anindya has acquired rich learnings by experiencing firsthand, business development in the evolving economic environment of the energy sector in a growing economy. Anindya has previously worked with leading international consulting firms and energy companies in India.

Mahesh is President and CEO of GE South Asia, responsible for leading GE’s presence across India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. He focuses on enabling GE to win, building stakeholder relationships, understanding market dynamics, supporting development and execution of business strategies, developing talent and managing enterprise risks. Before this, Mahesh led GE’s Onshore Wind Energy business for Greater Asia Pacific region and enabled record profitable growth in China, Japan and India. Since 2000, Mahesh has held increasingly responsible assignments within GE’s Healthcare, Power and Renewable Energy businesses in manufacturing, supply chain, quality, lean, six sigma, sales, projects, services and business management. During GE career, Mahesh has lived in India, USA and China. Before GE, Mahesh worked 12 years with Philips Electronics N.V. He is on Board of Directors GE Power India Ltd., US-India Business Council, US-India Strategic Partnership Forum and CII National Council.

Mohinder Gulati has worked with the United Nations Sustainable Energy for All as Chief Operating Officer from its inception until 2015 and before that with the World Bank for twenty years, his latest assignment was as Adviser (Energy). As Sector Leader (Sustainable Development) for South East Europe, he managed policy dialogue, project development and implementation, and partnership with key development partners and external relations. As Program Leader in East Asia and Pacific, he managed large cross-border private sector hydro projects and creation of regional electricity market. In South Asia he led World Bank-funded power sector restructuring and reform program in several Indian states (Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa), enactment of new laws and regulation, creation of new regulatory institutions, and construction of power generation, transmission, and distribution projects. He is a graduate in Management (Harvard and Delhi University), Physics (Delhi University), and Associate of Indian Institute of Bankers.

Paolo Frankl is Head of the Renewable Energy Division at the International Energy Agency (IEA), which he joined in 2007. Dr. Frankl leads the IEA’s work on renewables, providing analysis and advice on policies, markets and technologies to 30 Member and eight Association countries. A physicist by training, Dr. Frankl holds a Ph.D in energy and environmental technologies from the University of Rome and has been post-doc Marie Curie research fellow at INSEAD business school in Fontainebleau, France. Dr. Frankl has 30 years of experience working on renewable energy systems and markets, life cycle assessment and eco-labeling.

Prof. Dr. Oliver Lüdtke, who has a doctorate in engineering, has been COO Bioethanol/Biomethane at VERBIO AG since May 2011. His responsibilities include R&D, production and project development in the bioethanol and biomethane segment. He is also in charge of data protection, controlling and risk management.

Mr. Wigand is an Associate Director at the global energy consultancy Guidehouse (formerly Navigant/Ecofys). He is an expert on energy procurement and power sector reform, coordinating the energy procurement activities of GH’s offices in Europe and the Middle East. He has advised development institutions (USAID, EBRD, GIZ, Energy Community), the EU, governments and investors on renewable energy auctions in more than 20 countries. Previously, Mr. Wigand was a Senior Analyst Regulation & Markets for the investor group Desertec Industrial Initiative. He holds an MSc in International Political Economy from the London School of Economics. As auctions experts of the USAID Scaling-Up Renewable Energy program and the Partnership to Advance Clean Energy Deployment 2.0, he has worked with the MNRE and authored the report “System-friendly Competitive Renewable Energy Procurement in India”.

Rahul Munjal is the Chairman and Managing Director of Hero Future Energies (HFE) Pvt. Ltd. The company which came into existence in the year 2012, is the first ever initiative of Hero Group to foray into generation and distribution of renewables. He represents the third generation in the Munjal family headed by Dr. Brijmohan Lall Munjal. Under the competent leadership of Rahul, HFE has crafted a niche in the renewable energy landscape nationally. Since its inception, the professionally managed work culture at HFE, has inspired the team to stay committed and deliver quality service on time, year-on-year. Being a visionary, he brings in a host of contemporary business ideas to the table that are a perfect fusion of both his professional expertise and his sensitivity towards societal concerns. Rahul has been involved at every stage of evolution of HFE: from conceptualization of the competencies and skill sets of his team, to hiring, to ensuring a complete process dependent veritable challenge for continuous business excellence and social and cultural initiatives that have largely contributed to the enrichment and empowerment of employees. Rahul graduated in Economics from the University of Rochester, USA. What gives him an edge over others is the rich business heritage and acumen that he has inherited due to his active involvement in family businesses. He was involved in Honda Motorcycles, USA and Hindustan Levers Ltd, India, prior to taking the entrepreneurial plunge. He has been awarded ‘GLOBAL EXCELLENCE AWARD – 2014’ in renewable energy by Energy and Environment Foundation (EEF) and national awards for excellence as Renewable Energy Leader & Entrepreneur of the Year 2015 by World CSR Congress.

Nick Dunlop established the New York-based network of legislators, Parliamentarians for Global Action. He organised the Six Nation Peace Initiative, which brought together the Presidents and Prime Ministers of Argentina, Greece, India, Mexico, Sweden, and Tanzania, with support from Pope John Paul II, to help end the Cold War. Nick launched the EarthAction Network in 1992, linking 2000 citizen groups in 160 countries, and through an EarthAction campaign persuaded the U.S. Senate to ratify the UN Convention on Desertification. After organising a campaign on climate change with actor Leonardo DiCaprio, he established the Climate Parliament, a global network of legislators which has mobilised more than $1 billion in public support for renewable energy. Nick Dunlop was a co-recipient of the first Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace and Development, awarded by the President of India. He is a citizen of New Zealand, South Africa and Ireland, and lives in the UK.

Christian Breyer is Professor for Solar Economy at LUT University, Finland. His major expertise is the integrated research of technological and economic characteristics of renewable energy systems specialising in energy system modeling for 100% renewable energy, on a local but also global scale. His team published the most studies on 100% renewable energy for countries or major regions globally. Energy system transition studies are carried out in full hourly and high geo-spatial resolution. Publications cover integrated sector analyses with power, heat, transport, desalination, industry and negative CO2 emission options. Carbon capture and utilisation as part of comprehensive Power-to-X investigations is a core research field for his team. He published more than 300 scientific papers, thereof more than 100 in scientific journals. He worked previously for Reiner Lemoine Institut, Berlin, and Q-Cells (now: Hanwha Q Cells). He is member of ETIP PV, IEA-PVPS, scientific committee of the EU PVSEC and IRES, scientific advisory board of CO2 Value Europe, academic council of Global Alliance Powerfuels, chairman for renewable energy at the Energy Watch Group, reviewer for the IPCC and a co-founder of the Desertec Foundation. His academic background is general business, physics and energy systems engineering and a PhD in electrical engineering. He communicates in Twitter @ChristianOnRE.

Anita M. George is Executive Vice-President and Deputy Head of CDPQ Global. She fills a key role in developing CDPQ’s activities in its three priority international areas: the United States/Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific. She actively participates in positioning CDPQ internationally, as well as developing and executing its globalization strategy. In addition to her role managing the international offices, Ms. George contributes to diversifying the portfolio by taking a holistic view in approaching the various markets. She sits on CDPQ’s Investment-Risk Committee. Ms. George joined CDPQ in April 2016 as Managing Director, South Asia. She was then appointed as Executive Vice-President, Growth Markets and prior to her current role was Executive Vice-President and Head of Strategic Partnerships, Growth Markets. She has extensive knowledge of several of these markets, in addition to possessing a strong ability to develop and strengthen enduring and quality partnerships. She has a strong track record in managing infrastructure investment portfolios on a global scale. Prior to joining CDPQ, she was Senior Director of the World Bank’s Energy and Extractive Industries Global Practice. She also held the positions of Director, Infrastructure and Natural Resources of the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, and Head of Siemens Financial Services in India. Her various roles have led her to work in several regions of the world, including Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. Ms. George holds a BA in Economics and Spanish from Smith College, in Massachusetts, and a Masters in Economics and an MBA in Finance from Boston University.

Dr. Jyoti Parikh is Executive Director of IRADe, New Delhi. She was a Member of the Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change –India and is a recipient of Nobel Peace Prize awarded to IPCC authors in 2007. She has served as energy consultant to the World Bank, the U.S. Department of Energy, EEC, Brussels and UN agencies such as UNIDO, FAO, UNU, UNESCO and so on. She worked as an advisor to various ministries for the Gov. of India. She has held national and international appointments, which includes the Technical Advisory Committee for Energy Trust Funds Programmes of the World Bank; Scientific & Technical Advisory Panel to Global Environment Facility. She was on the Board of directors of IREDA. She obtained Ph.D. from University of Maryland, College Park (967). She has guided 12 Ph.D. theses and given lectures in more than 40 countries around the world. Her publications include many areas ranging energy access, renewable energy, women empowerment, gender and poverty alleviation, energy modelling, energy economics, local and global issues of energy and power systems, environment and climate change problems of the developing countries.

A business leader and a visionary, Mr. Gyanesh Chaudhary is the driving force behind Vikram Solar. Focused to serve the community and bring change, Mr. Chaudhary has successfully led Vikram Solar, a world-renowned PV module manufacturing and EPC solutions provider, to become a name synonymous with quality and performance. Mr. Chaudhary has completed OPM program- Business Transformation and Strategy from Harvard Business School; he is a Business graduate from the University of Wales, UK; holds a Diploma in Marketing and International Trade from the University of Boston; and International Business from Harvard Business School, USA.With a firm belief in the need for businesses working towards solving environmental and energy scarcity issues, Mr. Chaudhary has carefully built Vikram Solar to support national and global green energy revolution, while giving back to the community at the same time.

Lt Col Monish Ahuja (Retd) is the Managing Director of Punjab Renewable Energy Systems Private Limited (PRESPL). He is an alumnus of the prestigious National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla, Pune (Dec 1991 – Dec 1994) Education Proficiency: – Post Graduate (M.Tech) in Nuclear Technology from Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (2006). – Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) in Mechanical Engineering from JNU (2002) – Bachelor of Science (B.Sc) from JNU (1994). In a short span with the understanding of the Biomass IPPs and Biomass Supply Chain Management, he set up the first of its kind in India, biomass fuel aggregation and supply company Punjab Renewable Energy Systems Private Limited (PRESPL). The company has grown from a start up to INR 360 Million Turnover Company in 7 x Years’ time and having closed its Series A PE investment from Zurich based Impact PE- responsAbility in 2013. This has big force multiplier to support biomass IPPs, process industry boilers, cogeneration plants, bio-refinery industry using agri-residues feedstock and other industry using biomass as a feedstock. Series B funded by Neev Fund & Shell Ventures B. V. in Year 2019 Lt Col Monish Ahuja (Retd) is known in the Biomass fraternity as a dedicated and knowledgeable leader. He has been advocating the barriers faced by Biomass based Project Developers at various seminars and forums and has been instrumental in impressing MNRE (Ministry of New and Renewable Energy Sources, India) towards the cause of biomass-based industry in India. Lt Col Monish Ahuja (Retd) has been recognized with several eminent awards. Few of them are as follows: a) 2013- Recognized with the “Biomass Energy Man of the Year Award” by Renewable World, part of Fortune Media Group. b) 2014- “Udyog Ratan Award” by Institute of Economic Studies, New Delhi for work in the rural parts of the country, which is a direct impact on the rural economy and is making a sizeable impact in many parts of the country. c) 2015- – PRESPL has been awarded as “Most Innovative Company in Renewable Sector” by Power Today Magazine and the selection has been done by PricewaterHouseCoopers. – “Best Paper Award” at International Conference on Innovations & IPR organized by Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA) at New Delhi. – “Best Poster Award” in Brussels Sustainability Development Summit in Brussels, Belgium. d) 2016- Leading RE Manufacturers – Held by UBM Group, Biomass Category under Renewable Energy India Awards 2016 selection by Ernst & Young. e) 2017- “50 Most Impactful Green Leaders (Global Listing)” by World Sustainability Congress a Not-For-Profit Organization advocating Sustainable Leadership received on 18 Feb 2017. f) 2018 – Excellence in Bio Energy – Renewable Energy India Awards 2018 at UBM Event. g) 2019 – Awarded with the Global award – The National Mission Innovation Champions – India announced in Vancouver, Canada. Lt Col Monish Ahuja (Retd) is member of following committees: a. Chair-person of the FICCI Bio-Energy Committee for the year 2018-19. b. Member of Bio-Energy Sub-Committee constituted by Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE), Govt. of India under the Chairmanship of Secretary, MNRE. c. Member of CII Committee of Bio-Energy d. On invitation from United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), he has been the ‘MENTOR’ for the National Training Workshop GCIP-India 2016. e. Member of the working group on rice straw utilization at International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), HQ at Philippines and working on a programme funded by DFID UK for looking at ways of rice straw utilization globally. He is spearheading the biomass movement in India with his ongoing efforts of harnessing the agro residue potential in India.

Divya Sharma is the Executive Director at Climate Group’s India office. A thought leader, researcher, academician she comes with experience spanning nearly two decade operating throughout India and internationally within sustainable urban development and climate resilience space. Divya comes with a Doctorate in urban climate resilience and a Master’s in urban development planning. She has extensively worked with national, state and municipal governments in India and abroad; regional, national and international development agencies and foundations and international research community and academia. She has been on some prestigious advisory positions on international and national networks for sustainable development and climate change internationally and at national level.

Rupam Raja is Market Director for Fluence in Asia Pacific Region. Fluence, a joint venture of Siemens and AES is the market leader for grid connected, MW scale battery storage with over 2100 MW projects developed or under development in 22 countries around the world. In his role, Rupam is responsible for market development of battery storage in the region. He has successfully developed a portfolio of over 500MWs of grid connected battery storage projects in SE Asia providing regulation reserve services to the national grid. In India, Rupam is associated with the 10MW 1 hour battery storage project developed by AES, Mitsubishi and Tata Power DDL in Delhi where Fluence is the technology provider. Prior to Fluence, Rupam worked with an international environmental risk consultancy and before that he was developing renewable energy portfolios for a private equity group for a global IPP. Rupam is based in Gurgaon, Haryana.

Susan Ferguson joined UN Women in 2017 as the UN Women Representative in Papua New Guinea, after a long career in international development. She has lived and worked in South Africa, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea, where she has lived for 12 years. Susan has experience in working with grass roots development agencies; establishing and managing social services; working within Local, State and Federal Government in Australia on social policy and social programmes. Her diverse career is spanned by the themes of gender equality and social justice. Susan is a development practitioner and is proud to have been part of UN Women, working to achieve the mandate of equality for women and girls in different countries. Susan, a national of Australia, has a Master’s degree of International and Community Development and has 4 girls. She wants them to grow up in a just world where their contributions are valued and respected.

Ramesh Kymal is Advisor Wind Energy in Adani Green Energy Ltd which is one of the largest Renewable Energy Companies in the world, with a vision to grow the company profitably through atmanirbhar policy and to lead the world in Renewable Energy installations across several geographies. Ramesh Kymal was the Chairman & Managing Director of Siemens Gamesa India and established its presence in India in the year 2009. Since then Mr. Kymal piloted the company’s growth successfully by commissioning over 7000 MW of wind power, and over 400 MW of solar power projects across the country and led a team of over 3000 people. Mr. Kymal is a Mechanical Engineer with specialization in Operations Research, Statistical Quality Control and has pursued higher management studies at INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France. He has over 25 years of experience in the renewable energy industry, casting his leadership traits across multi – national renewable energy corporations thus bringing out continuous growth in India’s renewable energy business. Owing to his treasured experience, today he holds responsible and reputed positions in renewable energy associations in pursuit of promoting the sector by increasing business and investment opportunities. Mr. Ramesh Kymal was the Chairman of CII National Committee for Wind and Biomass. Prior to this he was the Chairman of CII Tamil Nadu State Council for the year 2016-17 and he was holding the position of Vice-Chairman of CII Tamil Nadu State Council for the year 2015-16. He has also been the Chairman of Renewable Energy Council of CII Godrej Green Business Centre since 2003. Apart from this, he is the founding circle member of the prestigious Brookings Institution – an American centrist think tank and Indian federation of Green Energy. He is on the Board of Shakthi Sustainable Energy foundation to promote and make India as a world leader in renewable energy sector by facilitating the formulation of consistent renewable energy policies and innovative financing mechanisms. He is the recipient of the Solar Society of India Award in 2005 for ‘Business Leadership in Wind Power’. Apart from his strong commitment towards environment, he also brings out a persistent social commitment towards various philanthropic activities concentrated in the areas of education and social upliftment of girl children.

Mr Anurag Mishra serves as the Energy Team Leader at USAID/India, leading programs to deliver on the Asia EDGE initiative of the Indo-Pacific vision of the Govt of United States. He has experience in implementing or managing projects/grant programs funded by several multilateral donors and bilateral agencies including GIZ, FCO/DFID, EU, World Bank and ADB

Varun Sivaram believes that slowing climate change will require accelerating clean energy innovation, a goal he has pursued from the corporate, academic and public sectors. Most recently, as chief technology officer of ReNew Power, he led research and development for a multibillion-dollar company recognized as India’s largest producer of renewable energy as well as its most innovative energy company. A widely published scientist and innovation scholar, Sivaram is a senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, serves on the boards of Stanford University’s energy and environment institutes and created the course “Clean Energy Innovation” as a Georgetown University professor to train the next generation of energy leaders. He has also shaped government policies supportive of innovation as the director of the energy and climate program at the Council on Foreign Relations and as a senior energy advisor to the Los Angeles mayor and New York governor’s office. He serves as one of the 25 advisors to the UN COP26 climate conference in 2021; on the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council for the Energy Transition; as senior fellow at the Aspen Institute, ITIF and Energy for Growth; and on the board of Peridot Acquisition Corp. (NYSE:PDAC.U) and as an advisor to Camus Energy, Glint Solar and Radia, Inc. TIME Magazine named him one of its “100 Next most influential people in the world,” and PV Magazine called him “the Hamilton of the Solar Industry.” His books include “Taming the Sun: Innovations to Harness Solar Energy and Power the Planet” — which The Economist called “prescient” — and “Digital Decarbonization: Promoting Digital Innovations to Advance Clean Energy Systems.” His newest book, “Energizing America: A Roadmap to Launch a National Energy Innovation Mission,” was endorsed by John Kerry as “a plan to make the United States the world leader in clean energy innovation.” Bill Gates praised his essay in Foreign Affairs as “one of the best arguments I’ve read for why the US should invest in a clean energy revolution.” A Rhodes and Truman Scholar, Sivaram holds a PhD in condensed matter physics from Oxford University and undergraduate degrees from Stanford University.

Shri K Sreekant is the Chairman & Managing Director of Power Grid Corporation of India Limited – a ’Maharatna’ company under the Ministry of Power since August 2019. Prior to this, He was Director (Finance) in POWERGRID since September 2016. During his career spanning ~35 years, he has experience in the Power sector in Long-Term Financial Planning, Investment Appraisals, formulation of Capital Budgets, Resource Mobilization from domestic and international markets, Corporate Accounts, Commercial, Regulatory Affairs, and Enterprise Resource Planning.

A 1991 batch Indian Administrative Service officer, Manu Srivastava holds B.Tech. and M.Tech. degrees in Electrical Engineering from IIT Delhi. Out of the 29 years of experience, Manu has worked for 14 years in energy sector and has lead path-breaking innovative projects in the field of Solar energy. His 750 MW Rewa Project has proved to be an inflection point in the history of Solar energy in India: it was the first project in the country to break grid parity; it is the only project in the country supplying power to an institutional customer – today Delhi Metro is running on this project. The project has been awarded World Bank Group’s President’s Award. The project has had the privilege of being recently inaugurated by the Prime Minister of India. Singapore Management University has developed a Case Study on Rewa Solar Project for their ‘Growing Infrastructure’ programme from the 2021 session. Solar Rooftop projects under the RESCO mode with the landmark tariff of below 2US cents/unit have established a new way of setting up solar rooftop projects in the country; this has enabled solar rooftops to be set up without any capital investment by the beneficiaries, they being colleges, health institutions, government buildings and lately MSMEs; the model is even being followed in Ghana & Guinea in West Africa. Prior to renewable energy, he steered the State of Madhya Pradesh in India to 24×7 power supply as Chairperson of all utilities of the State & MD of MP Power Management Company. He was primarily responsible for power procurement and maintaining energy supply. Before that, he worked in Government of India and looked after natural gas in Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas: distribution within the country, gas pipeline infrastructure, city gas programmes, international LNG contracts and transnational pipelines. Manu is passionate about theatre and international politics, apart from studying energy dynamics in the country.

Mahesh Kolli – President & Jt. MD Greenko Group Greenko is one of India’s leading renewable energy companies with over $8.5 billion in asset base operating 6.4 GW of energy assets across 15 states in the country. Mahesh Kolli, a young & dynamic first-generation serial entrepreneur. After graduating in Mechanical Engineering, he has successfully founded and developed multiple businesses in Information Technology, Environmental Technologies, Clean Energy and Urban Infrastructure sectors over the last decade. His entrepreneurial journey started with an environmental solutions company focused on technology transfer from developed markets to India. Mahesh believes in creating infrastructure that has a lasting social impact while contributing to the growing demands of India as a nation and has always strived to contribute to the growth of the country thorough establishing such businesses. Mahesh made his mark in the Indian Energy Sector by co-founding Greenko Group, a focused clean energy company along with Mr. Anil Chalamalasetty in 2006. Greenko is India’s leading Integrated Power Player & is replacing fossil fuel dependency with digitized, decentralized & decarbonized energy solutions. Mahesh is a keen participant and panelist in various investor forums and interacts with regulatory authorities and policy makers to ensure the development of the clean energy sector in India. In Feb 2019 the CEO club India awarded Mahesh with the “Unicorn Award ” for Greenko, for its exponential growth in ten years of operation to become the largest clean energy company operating in India . Outside of work, Mahesh stays in close touch with his roots and contributes towards the development of skilled individuals who can play a constructive role in India’s future.

Mr. Ravi Singh is the Secretary-General and Chief Executive Officer of World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) India. Prior to his present responsibility, he worked with two international banks before moving to pursue the larger cause of conservation. His abiding interest in the conservation of nature led to his association with several conservation organisations like WWF and Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS). As head of WWF – India he contributes to conserve biodiversity, promote sustainability and provide leadership to the organization while working on key facets of nature conservation. A keen sportsman, a trekker, and traveller, a historian and reader, his varied interests and hobbies are linked with his core interest in nature and conservation.

Amitabh Tandon, a business Graduate from Delhi University, has over 30 years’ experience in various project implementation from software development, telecom services, Biomass-renewable energy and biotechnology project. Having keen interest in agriculture and attracted to the clean energy initiatives in the country motivated him to diversify and set up Transtech Green Power P. ltd in the year 2008, he is promoter and Managing Director of this company, which is operating a 12 mw Biomass based power plant in Rajasthan. During the last 10 to 12 years, he has gained rich experience in Bioenergy Renewable power operations. He is the founder member and Secretary of Indian Biomass Power Association (IBPA) a non-profit organization of Biomass Power developers in the country. This organization was formed primarily because the Biomass sector was facing various barriers and challenges, which needed Policy, Regulatory and technical improvement. He was on Task force of MNRE and CERC set up on Bio- energy. He is on the governing council of Sardar Swaran Singh Institute of Bio-energy (SSNIBE), Kapurthala- an autonomous institute of Bio energy run by Government of India. Doing innovating and new things have always been an interest and this motivated to venture into biotechnology initiative of using Co2 from Biomass emission for Algae Biomass Production. The process has migrated from R&D, demonstration to around 4000 sq meters of raceway ponds producing Spirulina- richest source of Vegan protein in technical collaboration with TERI and Sabran Bio-entrii at Sanchore. He firmly believes that Bioenergy can provide a solution to energy access, and various spin off benefits and opportunity to the rural sector.

Sunil Jain assumed the role of CEO and ED at Hero Future Energies (HFE) in the year 2013. He has over three decades of experience in the entire aspect of business in automotive, infrastructure & cleantech and manufacturing industry. He specializes in creating new businesses and taking the start-ups to scale. He assumed the role of Chief Operating Officer (COO) in a start-up renewable energy development company, GREEN INFRA, a company incubated by IDFC PE. Under his able leadership, Green Infra successfully executed projects in renewable energy and developed several businesses across wind, solar PV and small hydro. Sunil has been involved in introducing new concepts of power selling in the Indian renewable sector especially wind. His passion about sustainability has been a major influencing factor in his life. He has been actively advocating for stable and meaningful policies to promote the cause of green energy. Sunil has spearheaded the HFE team in their determinations towards making HFE one of the largest IPP in India, in a short time span. He is the President of Wind Independent Power Producers Association (WIPPA), a pan India association representing all the leading IPP’s in the country. He is also member of CII Renewable Energy Committee. He has been awarded Excellence Award in the year 2012 for his contribution to renewable energy and sustainability by “Energy and Environment Foundation”. His academic research paper on “Sustainability and Renewable Consumption Obligation” has been presented at forums of international repute.

Shri S.K.G. Rahate is an IAS officer (JH:1990) posted as Additional Secretary, Ministry of Power, Government of India and and has handled Transmission sector in the Ministry besides Thermal and Hydro. Shri Rahate is an engineering graduate, B.E. (Instrumentation & Control) from College of Engineering, Pune, and has a varied experience in various capacities spanning 29 years in the State and Central Government in different sectors including infrastructure and regulatory.

Shri Gurdeep Singh is the Chairman & Managing Director of NTPC Ltd. He also holds additional charge of Chairman, Damodar Valley Corporation. He is also currently the co-chair for the Stewardship Board for the platform of Energy and Materials, World Economic Forum (WEF). He graduated in mechanical engineering from NIT Kurukshetra and has undergone Management Education Program from IIM-Ahmedabad. He has an illustrious career spanning over three decades in the power sector. He has worked at CXO/Senior positions in Indian companies as well as in multi-national companies. Prior to joining NTPC, he was Managing Director of Gujarat State Electricity Company Limited(GSECL). His visionary leadership transformed GSECL and made the company highly cost-competitive and forward looking.

Parag Sharma is the Founder and CEO of O2 Power, a renewable energy platform. Set up in November 2019, O2 Power has raised 500 million USD from global investors, EQT and Temasek to develop and execute utility-scale renewable energy projects in India, including large-scale wind and solar projects. Within a year, O2 Power has become one of the fastest-growing renewable companies in India having bagged three solar projects with a cumulative capacity of 980 MW. Before starting O2 Power, Parag was Chief Operating Officer at ReNew Power, India’s leading renewable energy IPP, for 8 years. He was instrumental in setting up 5 GW of wind and solar capacity at ReNew. Parag has spent about 23 years in the power sector. Parag is an MBA from IIT Delhi, LLB from Delhi University, and Electrical Engineering from AMU. He is a passionate long-distance marathon runner.

Shri Indu Shekhar Chaturvedi (IAS) has assumed the charge as Secretary in the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India. Prior to this appointment, he was serving as Additional Chief Secretary and Additional Secretary (Climate Change Department) at the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of Jharkhand. Shri Chaturvedi is a 1987 batch IAS officer and belongs to the Jharkhand cadre. Shri Chaturvedi is B.Tech in Electrical Engineering from IIT- Kanpur and holds a P.G. in International Development from Harvard University (USA). He has also worked as Joint Secretary or equivalent in PMO, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry Of Finance. He has extensive experience of working in other departments like the erstwhile Planning Commission (now NITI Aayog), Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions. Shri Chaturvedi has also undergone training in Financial Management, Community Mobilisation & Participatory Management Techniques.

Mr Challa Sreenivasulu Setty has taken charge as Managing Director of State Bank of India, with effect from 20th January 2020 and from 1st April 2020, he is looking after Retail & Digital Banking. Currently, he is also holding additional charge of Stressed Assets vertical.
A Bachelor of Science in Agriculture and also, a Certified Associate of Indian Institute of Bankers, he started his career with State Bank of India in 1988 as a Probationary Officer. Across a career spanning over three decades, he has gained rich experience in Corporate Credit, Retail banking, and banking in developed markets.
Prior to taking over charge as MD, Mr Setty was heading the Stressed Asset Resolution Group of the Bank, in his capacity as Deputy Managing Director, where he was responsible for resolving the stressed assets portfolio of the Bank, across the country, in different sectors such as Power, Infra, Auto, Telecom, etc.
Mr Setty has held key assignments in State Bank of India including Chief General Manager and General Manager in Corporate Accounts Group, Deputy General Manager in Commercial Branch, Indore, and VP & Head (syndications) in SBI, New York Branch.

Mani Khurana is a Senior Energy Specialist with the World Bank. Working for over thirteen years in World Bank and leading investment projects and analytical activities across energy sector value chain. She has been leading the Bank ‘s power sector engagement in various states in India. The engagements include financing of the critical power infrastructure and providing technical assistance to improve the operational efficiency and financial sustainability of the power sector utilities. She is also leading the solar rooftop project which provides access to finance at concessional rates to solar rooftop developers. She has co-authored many World Bank studies including a study on Financial performance of India ‘s power sector: Beyond Crisis. The book assessed the situation of India power sector 10 years after the landmark Electricity Act 2003. She has been recognized as one of Asia’s Most Influential Women in Renewable Energy. She has a Master’s in Business Administration from Indian School of Business and holds a master’s degree in Economics from Delhi School of Economics.

Amitabh Kant is presently CEO of National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog). He is a member of the Indian Administrative Service, IAS (Kerala Cadre: 1980 batch). He is the author of Branding India-An Incredible Story and has edited “The Path Ahead- Transformative Ideas for India”. Kant has been a key driver of the “Make in India”, Startup India, “Incredible India” and God’s Own Country” initiatives that positioned India and Kerala State as leading manufacturing and tourism destinations. These campaigns have won several international awards and embraced a host of activities – infrastructure development, product enhancement, private-public partnership and positioning and branding based on extensive market research. Amitabh Kant has been the Chairman & CEO of the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (DMICDC). The Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) is being developed by the Government of India as a global manufacturing and investment destination supported by world class infrastructure and enabling policy framework. The DMIC project is aimed at the development of futuristic, smart industrial cities in India which will converge and integrate next generation technologies across sectors. The DMIC cities will address not merely the urbanization requirements of India, but with manufacturing as the main economic base, will also contribute significantly to the economic growth of India. In his capacity as Secretary (Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion) Govt. of India, he vigorously drove the Ease of Doing Business initiative and ranking of States on outcome parameters. These initiatives have led to India making a quantum jump in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Index and enabled Indian States to compete in the spirit of competitive federalism. He is the Chairman of the Committee to implement Digital Payment in India. Mr. Kant has been the recipient of Economic Times Policy Change Agent of the Year Award, the Bloomberg TV Personality of the year Award, the NDTV Administrator of the year Award and the Distinguished Fellowship of the Institute of Directors. He is the recipient of One Globe Award-2016 for leadership in Transforming Governance for the 21st Century. He is also the recipient of Sir Edmund Hillary Fellowship awarded by the Prime Minister of New Zealand. He is a Member of the Steering Board of “Shaping the Future of Production Systems” of World Economic Forum. He is also the recipient of Golden Peacock Award for Leadership in Economic Transformation-2017. Amitabh Kant has worked as CEO, Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Corporation, CMD – ITDC, Joint Secretary – Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, Secretary – Tourism, Government of Kerala, Managing Director, Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation, District Collector, Kozikhode and Managing Director, Matsyafed. During his tenure in Kerala he structured the Calicut Airport as a private sector project based on User’s Free and developed the BSES Power Project and Mattanchery Bridge under Private Public Partnership. He was also responsible for introducing new technology (fiberglass crafts and outboard motor) in the fisheries sector and launching beach level auctions which substantially enhanced returns to traditional fishermen. Amitabh Kant did his schooling from Modern School, Delhi, graduation in Economics (Hons) from St. Stephens, Delhi University and M.A from Jawaharlal Nehru University. He is a Chevening Scholar. He has also undertaken a mid-term course with John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmadabad.

Senior member of the Corporate Management Council at Amara Raja Group. Joined Amara Raja Group in 1992 and has been part of the Group’s growth story for well over 27 years. Held various positions in the organization in the areas of Business leadership, Strategic Planning, New business development initiatives, Technology development, Project Management etc. National Council member in CII. Chaired various sub-committees on electric mobility Obtained B. Tech Degree in Chemical Engineering from SVU college of Engineering, Tirupati and M. Tech in Chemical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai. Active proponent of adoption of new and emerging technologies in the field of renewable energy and alternative battery chemistries.

Shri Jayant Parimal is an ExIAS Officer of 1989 batch. He has done his B.E in Electrical in 1988 from MNIT, Allahabad, CFA in 2002 from ICFAI, Hyderabad, Masters of International Law & Economics in 2004 from World Trade Institute, Bern and LL.B in 2007 from Gujarat University. During his long and illustrious career in Indian Administrative Service, Shri Parimal has worked in various capacities with Government of Gujarat and Government of India, till 2006. Shri Jayant Parimal joined Adani Group as Chief Executive Officer (Renewable energy) looking after Group’s entire Renewable Business and now he is Advisor to Chairman. Before joining Adani Group, he was with Reliance Industries Limited, as President.

Alex joined the IHA as Head of Research & Policy in August 2020. Alex has extensive experience in low carbon and international energy policy. Prior to joining IHA he was Head of Contracts for Difference (CfD) Policy, the UK Government’s flagship renewable electricity deployment scheme, at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. His policy responsibilities included designing the most appropriate rules to deliver competitive auctions and assessing how best to mitigate the impact of intermittent renewables on the electricity system. He also led the setting of parameters for the 2019 CfD auction, which secured nearly 6GW of new renewable generation capacity at record low prices. His previous experience included leading the UK’s engagement with multi-national civil nuclear bodies at the UN, OECD and G7, designing a major component of the regulatory framework for smart meters in Britain and developing policy to support the rollout of onshore wind whilst at RenewableUK. He holds an MSc in Climate Change and an MA in International Political Economy.

Abhishek Bansal is a Director with Actis where he is responsible for originating and managing energy investments in Asia. He has close to 15 years of investing experience in energy and infrastructure sectors in growth markets. Abhishek was instrumental in setting up Ostro Energy which Actis’ first renewable platform in the Indian market and was responsible for managing the investment until exit. He is currently managing Actis’ Sprng investment in India and serves as its board member. Prior to joining Actis, Abhishek worked with the International Finance Corporation in India where he focused on equity, project finance and corporate debt transactions in diverse sectors with a focus on power sector.

Mr K V S Baba is the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Power System Operation Corporation Limited (POSOCO), having diversified experience of about 34 years in the power sector. He has experience of working in the areas of Power System Planning and Design of EHV Transmission system, Power System Analysis, Corporate Planning and Project Management in NTPC and POWERGRID, in addition to System Operation, Market operation aspects in POSOCO. He has been actively associated with large scale integration of Renewable Energy, bringing in Frequency controls, the introduction of Ancillaries, encourage flexibility, the introduction of various Electricity Market products to bring in dynamism such as Real-Time Market etc. He has been very active in collaborative efforts with State Load Despatch Centres through Forum of Load Dispatchers (FOLD) and knowledge dissemination across all the stakeholders. He has co-authored several technical papers on various topics in the electricity sector. He is the Chairman of the Indian National Study Committee of CIGRE SC C2

Venkat Venkataraman is the CTO and EVP of Engineering at Bloom Energy. He leads the development of clean, highly efficient and low cost Bloom Energy Servers to generate clean power onsite using natural gas, biogas and hydrogen as feedstock. During his 17 years tenure at Bloom, he led the company through many technological breakthroughs bringing Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) technology from early stages of development to a matured state enabling deployment of highly efficient commercial systems deployed across the world reducing greenhouse gas emissions signficantly. Over the years, Venkat has assembled, led and mentored a very strong team of engineers and innovators around the world in the areas of fuel cell stack technology, system integration and power electronics, who have made tremendous strides in that time, solving the key technical challenges that had previously prevented the commercialization of SOFC technologies. Venkat’s recent focus has been on the use of Solid Oxide technology for hydrogen production and power generation to accelerate “hydrogen economy”. Besides managing the technology at Bloom Energy, he manages IT organization.

Amit leads the Clean Energy vertical within the Advisory line of service in PwC India. Amit is graduate in electrical engineering, holds an MBA degree and has more than 28 years of experience in executing clean energy projects. He has been assisting policy makers at central and state level in drafting of policy measures and program management for Renewable energy, Energy efficiency, Electric vehicles and battery storage. Amit has designed and managed line of credit from multilateral/bilateral funding agencies like JICA, KFW, World Bank and Asian Development Bank for RE in India. Amit has also prepared business plan for several public and private sector companies for their proposed investments in clean energy. Amit has worked on the Detailed Project Report for some of the largest solar parks and projects in India like Leh (5000 MW), Kargil (2500 MW), Pavagada (2000 MW), Bhadla (1000 MW), etc. He has also advised states on assessing needs for storage at transmission level for better grid management and effective injection of renewable energy within the grid. He is a professional of international repute and has experience of executing a number of assignments in different geographies of the world such as India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Thailand, Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, France, Belgium, UK, Tanzania, South Africa, Maldives, etc.

Dr John Murton was appointed as the UK’s COP26 Envoy in November 2019. Most recently, he served as Her Majesty’s Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of Congo and Central African Republic. John has considerable professional experience, notably in Africa and Asia. His previous appointments have included Deputy High Commissioner at the British High Commission in Nairobi, UK Permanent Representative to the UN in Kenya, UK High Commissioner to Mauritius and Ambassador to Madagascar. In London, he was Head of the Foreign Ministry department dealing with the UK’s relations with East and South East Asia and Australasia, and has also completed previous postings in Japan and at NATO Headquarters. Before joining the UK Government, John worked in Zimbabwe and researched his PhD in Kenya.

Dr Stephen Wyatt, Research and Innovation Director, Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult Stephen joined ORE Catapult in December 2013 and is responsible for its portfolio of emerging technology activity. He leads a research team focusing on the development of next generation technologies and oversees the Catapults work in identifying and supporting disruptive technology start-ups. Stephen holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Ph.D in Materials Science, he is passionate about sustainability and addressing climate change.

Alan is a main board member and EVP of Global Sales at Smarter Grid Solutions. He is educated as an electrical engineer and blends his technical background with twenty plus years of experience in consulting, advisory, business management and corporate development. Prior to Smarter Grid Solutions, Alan enjoyed a career with PwC, Qinetiq and as an Entrepreneur in Residence at the University of Strathclyde. Smarter Grid Solutions develops and delivers DER management and control software to deliver a net zero energy system. Our products deliver solutions to a range of customers and applications including: DER owners and operators seeking to enable flexibility and monetise DER assets; Distribution Utilities seeking to reliably adopt DER flexibility into their operations; and Communities seeking to implement microgrids and resiliency solutions using DER.

Based in Perth, Western Australia, Vinod leads Power Ledger’s global Business Development and Sales teams. Vinod has over 20 years of global experience in traditional and renewable, new energy technologies and markets. Vinod is a thought leader and an energy sector specialist with strategy, policy, commercial & business development experience across the supply chain, and a focus on orderly decarbonisation and transformation of energy markets through the integration of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) and new technology to positively impact Paris Climate Goals. Vinod is leveraging his extensive work experience in the Australian and global energy sector to connect with stakeholders across power and business domains, as well as across various third party providers, to support the delivery of Power Ledger’s blockchain offering for energy trading, flexibilities trading and environmental commodities trading, building new propositions and global partnerships. As the Head of Global Business Development Vinod has led the global expansion of Power Ledger applications and taken this pioneering WA innovation to global markets, forming partnerships with some of the largest global utilities, governments, electricity regulators, energy policy makers and renewable energy developers. Equally important, Vinod has been contributing to policy settings for Renewable Energy (RE) in some of the emerging markets. This has resulted in projects and partnerships in 10 countries including the US, France, Austria, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, India, Italy, Australia and most recently in Chile. Vinod has shared his thoughts and presented extensively on Blockchain Energy Use Cases at various energy forums around the world, including UNESCO, Paris, the US Congressional Blockchain Caucus at the Capitol Hill including a keynote speaker at various global events in the USA, the UK, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, India, Australia and New Zealand. Most recently, Vinod was General Manager Retail at Perth Energy (2007 – 2016) where he successfully grew the energy sales portfolio turnover to more than $300 million in a short period. Previous roles include managing engineering, technical sales and business development for General Electric Company’s joint venture with Wipro in India. Vinod holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical and Electronics and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Western Australia. He also participated at the Executive Leadership Program at University of California, Berkley, USA.

Kunal Upadhyay is the Co-Founder of Bharat Fund and CIIE.CO at IIM Ahmedabad which back startups across deep-tech and inclusive technologies. Prior to this, Kunal led Infuse Ventures which is India’s first cleantech focussed incubation and venture fund – backed by MNRE, BP, IFC, among others. Kunal is also an advisor to Asian Development Bank to invest in climate tech innovations. He is an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad and BTech from IIT Madras, and was recently awarded Forty under 40 by Economic Times.

Meagan Fallone | CEO & Director of Barefoot College International Meagan Fallone is the 2018 Hillary Institute Laureate for her Global Leadership in the areas of Climate Change, Poverty Reduction, Social Justice and Economic Empowerment of Women. She is a Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur and a 2020 winner of the Wise Award for innovation in Education. She is an entrepreneurial thinker who has successfully led for-profit and not-for profit organisations to scale with an approach grounded in design thinking. Meagan is the Founder of Step Up Advisers, a global south advisory firm working to architect bold systems partnerships towards scale and impact in the areas of Renewable Energy, Agriculture, Rural Technology and Women’s Financial Inclusion. Step up Advisers is dedicated to bringing together Communities, Government, Private Sector, Philanthropy, Multilaterals and world class Social Innovation organisations to co-create solutions that will be sustainable and replicable. For the last decade Meagan has been CEO and Director of India’s Barefoot College International, a Skoll Foundation Awardee organisation and now a committed Board member; she has led Barefoot College extensive portfolio of climate focused programs, including the 93 country Barefoot Women Solar Engineering Initiative, the building of 6 Barefoot Colleges in sub saharan Africa and the Pacific, the ENRICHE women’s agency program and a significant development of technology platform that cross the language and literacy barrier. Today, Barefoot College and its net zero community based renewable energy program led entirely by women has achieved a 62% self generated income and delivers 1.3 gigawatts of clean energy annually. Barefoot works deeply with a network of more than 136 partner civil society and fellow social entrepreneurial organisations, with philanthropy, private sector and Governments.

Born on 6 January, 1965 in Tandi village of Murahag panchayat of Seraj assembly constituency in Mandi district. His father's name was Jethu Ram and mother's name is Briku Devi. Thakur did his primary education from Kurani School and studied in High School Bagsyad near Thunag.

He completed his graduation from Vallabh Government College Mandi and did his MA from Punjab University. He is the youngest of three brothers. He has two sisters. During his college and University day he was the member of ABVP and in the year 1993 he fought his first election from Chachiot assembly constituency when he was 26 years of age.

In 1998 he won his election from Chachiot assembly constituency and has been MLA from Chachiot (which after delimitation is known as Seraj assembly constituency) since then. He is MLA for five consecutive terms. He remained State BJP President and was Cabinet Minister in previous BJP government. He has also remained as Vice Chairman, State Civil Supplies Corporation. He also remained as President of BharatiyaJantaYuvaMorcha.

He is married to Dr.Sadhna Singh from Jaipur and has two daughters.

Shri Vijay Rupani is the 16th Chief Minister of Gujarat. Born in Rangoon to RamniklalRupani on August 2nd 1956, he grew up in Rajkot. After completing his Graduation in Arts, he pursued LLB. He rose through the ranks, from being an ABVP activist to a Rajya Sabha Member, MLA, Cabinet Minister and then CM.

Known for his amiable personality and empathic attitude, CM Shri Vijay Rupani is a beloved leader of both, party and people. A longtimekaryakarta and a humble leader, his patience and perseverance makes him an exceptional leader. An ardent follower of the Indian democracy, CM Shri Vijay Rupani even endured imprisonment during the 1975 emergency.

He served as Chairman of Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Limited and spearheaded the memorable Tourism Campaign ‘Khushboo Gujarat Ki’ that established Gujarat as a prominent tourist destination. He was a member of the Rajya Sabha between 2006-2012 and played an active role in parliamentary committees on Water Resources, Food, Public Distribution and Public Utility. He served as the Chairman of Gujarat Municipal Finance Board in 2013. He won with a huge margin in assembly bye-election held in October, 2014. In the former Cabinet headed by CM Smt. Anandiben Patel, Shri Vijay Rupani served as Minister for Water Supply, Transport, Labour and Employment. On February 19, 2016, Shri Vijay Rupani replaced Shri R C Faldu as Gujarat State Party President.

Shri Vijay Rupani replaced Smt. Anandiben Patel as the CM in August 2016.

‘Will stay true to the pledge of SaunoSath, SaunoVikas’: CM Shri Vijay Rupani.

CM Shri Vijay Rupani follows the mantra of development for all and he has affirmed ‘The seat holds little priority. My pledge entails fulfilling the aspirations of people of Gujarat & serving them as a karyakarta in the truest sense’.

Keeping his promise of development for all; he took major initiatives during the first month of his Chief Ministership. CM Vijay Rupani has set four pillars of good governance, transparent, sensitive, decisive and progressive Government for balanced growth of Agriculture, Industries and Services that will ensure growth for all and fulfill aspirations of each class.

Mathieu Soulas began his career, in Total’s Refining Division. After holding various positions, including at the Provence and Normandy refineries in France, and in Brussels, Belgium, he was appointed Technical Manager of the Antwerp complex, one of the largest platforms in Europe.
As head of refining and petrochemical operations in the Benelux countries from 2009, he was responsible for the business aspects and trading activities of three major industrial complexes.
He moved to corporate headquarters in France in January 2013 and was appointed Executive Vice President for the geographical zone of the Indian Ocean and Vice President Supply and Logistic covering the whole Africa and Middle-East perimeter.
In 2017, he became Vice President in charge of the Lubricants Business Unit worldwide.
On August 16th 2019, he was appointed Senior Vice President Strategy & Climate for the Group Total.
Mathieu Soulas, 49, is a graduate of France's Ecole Polytechnique and IFP (Oil&Gas) engineering schools.
 

Rakesh is a global business leader and has been at the helm of operations as CEO and Director on board of multi-billion Corporations spanning across continents. The recent positions he has held are – Global President Energy Solution on Wartsila Corporation Board of Management, Helsinki, followed by CEO International Business and Member of Executive Group, Suzlon Energy, India. He is currently on the Board of Companies as Independent Director and engaged in consulting with Corporates & International Funds. Amongst others, he is member on Advisory Board of O2 Power Holding Company at Singapore (Temasek, Singapore & EQT, Sweden JV), launched in India a year back. He is also bootstrapping two start-ups in the space of tech enabled Holistic Wellness and Organization Performance Enhancement. Rakesh is alumni of IIT BHU & Oxford University. His passion lies in the wellness of people, corporate performance and greener & cleaner environment.

Dr Anoop Singh has about 20 years’ experience in academics and industry. Dr Singh founded the Centre for Energy Regulation (CER) at IIT Kanpur through a seed funding support from the Government of UK. He also founded the Energy Analytics Lab (EAL) which has been seed-funded by Indian Energy Exchange Ltd. through CSR funding. Dr. Singh regularly contributes regulatory and policy submissions to the relevant Ministries and the Electricity Regulatory Commissions (ERCs). He is currently a member of the State Advisory Committee for the Electricity Regulatory Commissions of Delhi (DERC) and Meghalaya (MSERC). His areas of interest include power sector reforms and regulation, power market development, energy/electricity pricing, renewable energy, smart grid, energy analytics, climate change, project financing and cross-border energy cooperation. He has several research papers and four books to his credit. He also worked earlier with Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission.

Prof. S Dasappa is a Chair of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Energy Research and faculty at the Centre for Sustainable Technologies Indian Institute of Science. He had his education at the Indian Institute of Science and obtained Masters and Ph. D degree from the faculty of engineering. His area of research has been solid, liquid, and gaseous fuel combustion science and technology. The work has resulted in the understanding of various processes occurring during gasification and answered several myths in the area of gasification. He has over 150 publications in various international and national journals, conferences and edited books, and 20 patents. Prof. Dasappa has been involved in technology transfer for bioenergy devices in India and abroad. He has been involved in several national and international projects. He has won several awards in Biomass energy – national and international and identified in the top 2 % of the Energy scientist in the world

Mr Sandeep Chandna is the Chief Sustainability Officer at Tech Mahindra. With more than 25 years of experience in leveraging strategic public affairs, corporate responsibility, sustainability, and communication principles to generate business and brand value, Sandeep has played a crucial role in implementing sustainable business practices at Tech Mahindra. Mr Chandna has been closely working with professionals across all levels of the enterprise (from Board of Directors to front lines), non-profit agencies, and leading Global policy makers to drive organizational innovation and enhance business resilience. He has spearheaded many Sustainability projects for Tech Mahindra such as the adoption of Low Emission Technology, implementing an internal Carbon Price, ensuring the approval of our Science Based Targets from SBTi, and advocating personal sustainability across the Organization.

Mr M B Rajesh Gowda is the Managing Director of Bengaluru Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM). Karnataka leads the country in renewable energy production and Bengaluru has many successful solar installations, the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Ltd (BESCOM). BESCOM has a target of generating 1200 MW electricity from rooftop solar panels by 2022. BESCOM has achieved only 140 MW from solar rooftop so far.

Mr Bhaskar Sarkar is the Chief Executive Officer at Tata Power Trading Company Ltd. He joined Tata Power in 2011 and held leadership roles in Business Excellence, Commerical, Strategy, Regulation. He also held the position of Chief Executive Officer of Maithon Power Limited. He has vast and varied experience in different organizations including Tata Teleservices, World Bank, Price Water House Coopers, CESC and NDPL (now Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited).

Mr S S Barpanda is the Director of Market Operation for POSOCO Power System Operation Corporation Limited (POSOCO), a PSU under the Ministry of Power. Prior to assuming charge as Director (Market Operation) in POSOCO, he was working as Executive Director in Northern Regional Load Despatch Centre of the same organization. With almost 34 years of rich and varied experience in Power Sector, he is specialized in handling crucial grid management and market operation functions.

Dr N Rajalakshmi is Senior Scientist and Team Leader at Centre for Fuel Cell Technology Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials. Her current fields of research interest include PEM Fuel Cell, Hydrogen Storage and Batteries. She has handled several scientific projects in Storage Technology. She has several patents and publications in this domain.

Mr Shrikant Madhav Vaidya heads the ‘Fortune 500’ energy company Indian Oil Corporation Ltd., which is India’s largest oil refiner and fuel retailer. Mr Vaidya has been with IndianOil for nearly 34 years now. A passionate refiner, he’s counted among the select technocrats in the Indian oil & gas industry, proficient in the full gamut of refinery-petrochemicals integration, which is the future format for the downstream business. Mr Vaidya thus brings to the table, his decade-long association with the world-class, Panipat Naphtha Cracker Complex, right from the drawing board stage, to commissioning and its turnaround as a key growth driver of the Company’s bottom-line. He was associated with the entire job spectrum, from technology selection, design, engineering, designing the value-added product slate, commissioning, stabilizing & profitability. A champion of clean & green fuels, Mr Vaidya, spearheaded the roll-out of the BS-6 grade transport fuels (conforming to Euro-6 emission norms) at IndianOil, well within the mandated timeline of April 1, 2020. Leapfrogging directly from BS-4 to BS-6 fuel era within operating refineries and ensuring its reach to the 27500 IOC fuel stations across India, was a stellar feat. Another highpoint for IndianOil on his watch was the quick formulation of BS-VI Winter grade Diesel for the high-altitude Himalayan region. A fuel that can withstand temperatures as low as -30°C eased the lives of the locals, who faced problems because of freezing of diesel fuel during harsh winters. Under his leadership, IndianOil is looking at fortifying its core strength and increasing petrochemicals intensity, while adding greener energy offerings, including renewables, for its large, diverse customer base. This customer focus was reflected in the timely supply of IMO-compliant, very low Sulphur marine fuel and setting up of projects related to biofuels and 2G/3G ethanol-blended fuels at IOC’s refineries. Mr S M Vaidya remains a firm votary of responsible growth and environmental stewardship for a better world. In an earlier stint as Refinery Head of Mathura Refinery, he pioneered the use of treated refinery effluent for 100% industrial use for conserving fresh river water. With future-ready business acumen and people-centric leadership style, Mr Vaidya is an ardent believer in the power of innovation, leveraging technology and harnessing the R&D prowess for the Corporation’s growth as an integrated energy major. Additional Responsibilities: Mr Vaidya is the Non-Executive Chairman of Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (a Subsidiary of IndianOil), Ratnagiri Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd., Indian Oiltanking Ltd. & Hindustan Urvarak & Rasayan Ltd. (Joint Venture Companies). He is also a Non-Executive Director on the Board of Petronet LNG Ltd. (a Joint Venture Company).

Vishal is co-founder of REConnect Energy – India’s largest Energy Analytics scaleup. Vishal has about 12 years of experience in energy markets with expertise in renewable energy policies, predictive analytics, restructured power markets and energy trading. His current role at REConnect Energy involves strategic business development, utility scale projects management, team building, growth hacking and everything else required to keep his organisation growing!

Akilur Rahman, CTO – Hitachi ABB Power Grids India, has more than 31 years of experience in research, R&D, technology management, engineering, business and product development in power and automation technologies for utilities and industries. With a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from IIT Kharagpur, Akilur has held various international and global roles in India, Germany and Switzerland. Was responsible for building up ABB’s global automation software product development in India. Led global engineering and cyber security in process automation, ABB corporate research center and country technology in India. In the CTO role, Akilur has been leading technologies in power, automation, robotics, analytics, AI-ML, Industry 4.0, Industrial IoT and digitalization. Applying them in utilities, industries and infrastructure with the concepts of smart electric grid, energy internet, smart factories, smart cities, sustainable electric mobility and digital enterprise. Akilur has been a speaker and panelist at various international and national conferences.

Mr Chintan Shah was born on 4th July, 1974 in the state of Gujarat. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from The MS University of Vadodara. Mr. Chintan Shah is currently working as Director (Technical) with M/s Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd. (IREDA) and handling different portfolios since 5th March, 2018 at IREDA. IREDA is primarily a Non-Banking Financial Company and the only dedicated financial institution for financing and promoting Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency and Conservation Projects in the country. As Director (Technical) he is responsible for achieving MOU Targets set with regard to Loan Sanctions, Disbursement, Gross Margin, Gross Sales, NPAs, Recovery from NPAs, Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainable Development, Research and Development etc. Also responsible for project appraisal, financing, policy formulation, planning and monitoring of Renewable Energy Projects of Wind, Small Hydro, Medium and Large Hydro, Biomass, Cogeneration, Solar Energy, Biogas, Waste to Energy and Energy Efficiency Projects etc. Prior to joining IREDA, he was serving as President with SUZLON Group of Companies. He started his career from TERI as Research Associate in the year 1996 and left TERI in 2001 He joined SUZLON as General Manager in the year 2001. He worked as President with SUZLON till February, 2018 before joining IREDA as Director (Technical). He is working in the renewable energy field for the last 26 years covering various activities including manufacturing of RE Systems/Products, project execution, project consultancy, project financing, policy planning etc. at different capacities in reputed Industries/Institutions.

Patrick Phelan, PhD, is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering, a Senior Sustainability Scientist for the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, and the Assistant Dean for Engineering Graduate Programs at Arizona State University. He has served as the Director of the NSF Thermal Transport Processes Program (2006 – 2008), and as the Manager of the Department of Energy Building Technologies Office, Emerging Technologies Program (2012 – 2016). He was previously an Associate Editor for the ASME Journal of Heat Transfer, and is presently the Energy and Buildings Section Editor-in-Chief for the journal Energies. His research and teaching interests are in heat transfer, energy efficiency, and thermal engineering.

Venu Nuguri is Hitachi ABB Power Grids’ India Managing Director, Region Head, South Asia and Member of Executive Team. He has been the Managing Director of India since December 2019 and Head of the South Asia region since January 2016. Venu joined ABB Power Grids in 1995 and accumulated over 25 years of experience across Business Units in the company. This has included several leadership positions in sales, marketing, account management, business development, customer relations and operations. Venu has a degree in Electrical Engineering from the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Warangal, and he has also attended management courses at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Indian School of Business, Hyderabad and International Institute of Management Development, Switzerland.

BRIEF PROFILE Brig (Dr) Surjit Singh Pabla Chairman All India Board of Vocational Education (AIB-VE) House No. 1921 Phase-5, Sector 59, Mohali-160059 Phone: +91 8696933340; Email: surjitspabla@hotmail.com • President Association of Indian Skills Universities (AISU) • President Indian Council of Universities (ICU) • Chairman, Governing Council, Poornima Institute of Engineering and Technology Jaipur • Director Geo Syndicate, IIT Bombay Former: • Pro-Chancellor, Bhartiya Skill Development University (BSDU) Jaipur • Vice Chancellor Bhartiya Skill Development University (BSDU) Jaipur (Founder VC) • President Bhartiya Skill Development Campus Jaipur • Vice Chancellor Mangalayatan University Aligarh • Vice Chancellor JECRC University Jaipur (Founder VC) • Vice Chancellor Manipal University Jaipur (MUJ) (Founder VC) • Vice Chancellor Sikkim Manipal University (SMU) Gangtok • Pro Vice Chancellor Manipal University Manipal (MAHE) • Member of Sikkim Knowledge Commission • Member Yashpal Committee on Reforms in Higher Education • Joint Director General (Design), Army HQ New Delhi • Chief Engineer Multiple Infrastructure Projects, J&K • Director Think Tank, Army HQ New Delhi • Commander Works Engineers (CWE) Pune A mechanical engineer withM.Tech and PhD from IIT Bombay, Dr Pabla has large experience in multiple infrastructure projects, Academics and Academic Administration. He has been Pro- Chancellor of one university, Vice Chancellor of five universities (Founder VC of three), Pro VC of one university and Director of two Institutes of Technology. His experience in the Army, in addition to command of army units, also includes Engineering Professional work and Administration. He was Manager Air-conditioning Systems Design at Mumbai, Commander Works Engineers Pune; Director Think Tank at Army HQ, Chief Engineer (Large Multiple Infrastructure Projects) Jammu and Kashmir and Jt. Director General (Design) at Army HQ. He had the privilege of participating in the Indo-Pak war in 1971 as a young Lieutenant. AsVice Chancellor and later Pro- Chancellor of BSDU, Dr Pablaestablished and mentored first pure skill Development University in the country. The University is equipped with latest machines from Germany, Switzerland, France and Austria and offers only skill development programs. It admits students after 10+2 and awaqrdsSkill Certificate after six months), Skills Diploma after one year, Advanced Skills Diploma after two years and Bachelor of Vocation (B.Voc) after three years in over twenty disciplines. It also offersM.Voc and Ph.D in different skill areas. Dr Pabla is Chairman of the BSDU Board of Studies comprising over 70 members including 15 Vice Chancellors, ten Industry CEOs, Sector Skill Council CEOs, Professors from IITs and IIMs and senior Govt officers from NSDC, MSDE and other ministries. Dr Pabla has been appointed as Chairman of All India Board for Vocational Education in January 2020. As Chairman AIB-VE, he looks after the Vocational Education Initiatives and the regulatory process at AICTE. Date of Birth: 20 Sept.1949 Qualifications Ph.D. from IIT Bombay (Mechanical Engineering) – 1998 M.Tech from IIT Bombay (Mechanical Engineering) – 1983 B.Tech from CME Pune (Mechanical Engineering) – 1980. Professional Memberships • Fellow of Institution of Engineers (India) • Fellow of Geotechnical Society of India • Life Member of Indian Society for Technical Education • Life Member of Indian Buildings Congress Awards • Life Time Achievement Award by Global Knowledge and Leadership Congress on 23 July 2015 • 6th Teachers and Principals’ Award at Teachers Awards for Excellence in Education, 2017 • Rajasthan Seva Rattan– 2018 • Inspirational Leader in Internationalization of Indian Education –Geneva, September 2018 • Life time achievement awardin Education by Simply Jaipur, September 2018 • Arch of Excellence Award, All India Achievers’ Conference and 91stExcellence Awards, New Delhi 2019 • World Book of Records- as founder Vice Chancellor of three universities in a span of six years, August 2019 • Lifetime Achievement Award’ at the European Association for International Education, for exceptional work in field of education, at Helsinki, 27th September 2019. • Lifetime Achievement Award by Employers’ Association of Rajasthan on 55th Foundation Day on 15th November, 2019 • Glory of India Gold Medal at Best Citizen Awards, 2019 • Change Maker of the Year Award by Institution of Engineers (India) at Eminent Engineers Awards 2020 on 15 Sep 2020.

Matthew is the CEO and Co-founder of Ping Services, an intelligent listening company. He has a Bachelor of Engineering and Masters of Engineering Science qualifications with nearly 30 year’s experience in acoustics including research in environmental noise wind farms acoustics. In 2018 he founded Ping Services to help wind farms reduce blade maintenance costs by detecting damage using sound.