Ugo Astuto entered the Italian Diplomatic Service in 1991. His career in the Italian Foreign Service spans experience in the Embassies in Nairobi and London (including as alternate Director for Italy in the EBRD-European Bank for Reconstruction and Development), in the Permanent Representation in Brussels and in the Embassy in Delhi, where he served as Deputy Head of Mission. From February 2013 until July 2016 he was seconded to the European External Action Service (EEAS) in Brussels, first as Director for South and South East Asia and then as Deputy Managing Director/Director for Asia and the Pacific.From July 2016 to September 2019 he was the Principal Director for Asia in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rome. He is the Ambassador of the European Union to India since October 2019.

Ashwani Kumar is the Chief Executive Officer of The Suzlon Group, India’s leading renewable energy company. With over three decades of experience across India’s leading Infrastructure and Power companies, he is a name to reckon with on the Indian business landscape.Ashwani, a Mechanical Engineer, and an alumnus of IIM Bangalore and The Harvard Business School has a stronghold in projects, business development and finance.

Having led construction of over 6,000 MW of power projects from bidding to commercial operations, Ashwani Kumar has proven expertise in closing and managing large, complex contracts, effectively leveraging corporate affairs, driving policy and leading transformations resulting in agile and responsive organizations. Ashwani has successfully led critical areas of financing, restructuring, divestments, portfolio management and key strategic initiatives, adding value for all stakeholders. He has well rounded experience across thermal, hydro and renewable power sectors giving him comprehensive insights into the complexities of the power sector in entirety.

An avid marathoner and a strong believer in the resilience of Indian companies, Ashwani has created benchmarks of excellence in the highly challenging Infrastructure and Power sector in the country.Ashwani remains passionate about the future of energy and sustainability in India and is committed to making renewables the new normal while crafting the energy roadmap for India and generations to come.

Educational Qualification: -B. Tech (Civil Engineering) from IIT Delhi [1985-89] -M. Tech. (Behavioral and Social Sciences) from IIT Delhi. [1989-90] -Executive MBA from ISB, Hyderabad [2010-11] • Professional Certification: Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) from the Institute of Internal Auditors [2014] • Present Assignment: Working as Joint Secretary (Wind, Small Hydro Power & IT) in Ministry of New & Renewable Energy • Earlier experience within IA&AD: Audit of Central Autonomous Bodies and Policy & Coordination for Local Bodies audit at C&AG office. Handled Performance Audits on MGNREGS, ICCR, CSIR, BIS, IREDA, EPFO, ESIC, etc.; audit of local bodies, social audit (all at C&AG Office). Earlier experience includes audit of local bodies in state of Rajasthan, state and central government departments/ ministries; environmental auditing, tax audits in Gujarat, audit of Indian Embassies and PSUs abroad (Kuwait, Turkey and Lebanon). External audit of Indian Air Force and allied organizations (relevant DRDO labs and MES); in present charge since July 2015. Gained strengths in areas relating to risk assessment, internal control issues, good knowledge of government rules and regulations, GFRs, etc. Also, wide experience of administration, budget preparation and expenditure control, HR issues in AG offices (i.e. CAG field offices) as Head of Office. • Audit of UN Agency: conducted external audit of IAEA three times (during 2013-14). • Deputation: with REC (Rural Electrification Corporation, a Ministry of Power company dealing with power financing) as GM/ED (2006-2011, five years). In REC handled IT (implemented ERP), was CEO of RECPDCL (one of the subsidiaries of REC in Power distribution and consultancy business), dealt with Public Relations including IPO and FPO and road shows, Internal Audit, Law, Admin, HR, etc. • Misc.: physically active and regular in sports with strong sense of ethics, values and discipline in public service, Vice President of IA&AS Officer Association.

Mr. Erik Mohr is a wind resource and supply chain specialist with 10 years of experience within the wind energy industry. As a consultant at COWI, he has acted as senior project manager for the development and construction of several large onshore wind farm projects worldwide and recently focused as advisor on offshore wind supply chain assessments He is the lead author for the recent Supply Chain Study for Offshore Wind in India. To date he has been involved in development activities in Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam, South Korea, India, Kenya, Ethiopia and the Philippines.

Hans van Steen is Acting Director on Renewables, Research, Innovation and Energy Efficiency in the Directorate General for Energy in the European Commission. Mr van Steen began his career in the Danish Ministry for Education and later moved to the Ministry for Energy as Head of Sector for European and Nordic energy co-operation. He joined the European Commission in 1989 as a Seconded National Expert, working mainly in the area of energy technology dissemination. Following several assignments in the fields of energy and transport, he became Deputy Head of Unit for Inter-institutional Affairs (2001 - 2006), Head of Unit for Renewable Energy (2006 - 2013), Head of Unit for and International Energy Relations and Enlargement (2013 - 2017) and Adviser on Renewables, Research and Innovation and Energy Efficiency (2017 - present). He became Acting Director on 1 October 2018. Mr van Steen holds a Master's Degree in Political Science from the University of Århus, Denmark.

Jakob Friis Sorensen has been appointed as the Managing Director of APM Terminals Pipavav with effect from 1st January 2020. Mr. Sorensen, a Danish national; has been a part of A.P. Moller Maersk Group since 1987 starting at the internal A. P. Moller Shipping School in Copenhagen, Denmark. Over the years he has held various positions within the Group in Maersk Line, Maersk Logistics and Damco in countries like Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and India. His long history of delivering high performance in developing markets of Asia within shipping and logistic side of business; makes him an ideal choice to lead APM Terminals Pipavav on the next stage of its development journey. Jakob holds an MBA from Henley Management College, London and has attended several Executive Management courses at IMD, Lausanne, Penn State University in the US as well as internal leadership development programs in A.P. Moller- Maersk Group. During his free time, he enjoys sports and exploring history while travelling in various countries.

Javier has been working for DEME Group for more than 7 years and since 2019 he is Business Unit Manager for Asia Pacific within DEME Offshore. After 4 years working in different marine engineering projects for Spanish company ACCIONA, Javier moved to Belgium in 2013 to join DEME. Since then he has been focusing on the offshore wind sector. During his career at DEME, Javier held various positions within DEME Offshore’s Tender Department, being involved in several offshore wind tenders and projects mainly in Europe, such as Borkum Riffgrund 2 Project in Germany and Galloper Project in UK. Javier has also being involved in large EPCI Contracts awarded to DEME such as Hohe See and Albatros Offshore Wind Farms. Since 2017 Javier has been coordinating DEME Offshore’s tendering activities in Taiwan, as well as participating in the set-up of DEME’s Taiwanese company CSBC-DEME Wind Engineering (CDWE), the local join venture that DEME Offshore established in Taiwan together with the Taiwanese shipbuilder CSBC. CDWE has signed in the meantime various agreements for different Taiwanese offshore wind projects such as Changfang and Xidao, Zhong Neng and Hai Long Projects. Javier holds a Master Degree in Civil Engineering and a Bachelor Degree in Environmental Science from Alfonso X El Sabio University of Madrid.

Dr Jochen Dirksmeyer is heading the development department of wpd offshore. He joined the Independent Renewable Power Producer in 2008 and was since then in responsible functions of project development, work package management, tender management and business development. Dr Dirksmeyer is deepest connected within the international offshore wind industry. In 2016 he became part of the New Markets team, investigating opportunities of offshore wind with a global perspective. Since 2017 Dr Dirksmeyer is responsible for the Indian Market and in close contact with MNRE, NIWE and other relevant stakeholders.

Associate Director Europe

Dr. Balaraman Kannan, Director General, National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE) under Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India is an expert in RE integration. His vast experience of more than 3 decades is spread across the gamut of Renewable energy system and power system engineering right from planning to the real time operation. Dr. Balaraman is highly specialized in Renewable Integration, power system planning, and solving exceedingly intricate complex problems and providing solutions with right mix of tools, technologies and most of all, adept domain expertise. His international experience besides India includes England, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Fiji, Angola, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Mongolia, Maldives, Denmark, Spain, USA, Cuba and other countries. He has carried out Grid Integration of RE with the portfolio of more than 35,000 MW of wind generation and 10000 MW of solar generation. The projects spans across India, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Fiji and Indonesia. He was involved in preparation of Wind Energy Grid code in India and also updating Java-Matura-Bali Grid code with Renewables as part of ICED project. As part of US-AID SARI project, he was involved in Harmonization of Grid code for South Asian interconnection which has includes the Renewable Energy options. He is also active in Standards preparation and is chairing ETD 42 – Wind Turbines Sectional Committee under BIS and also part of IEC TC 88 He is recipient of “Outstanding Engineer Award” by the IEEE Power and Energy Society in 2016 and also received “British Overseas Scholarship” in 1997. He has published over 60 research papers in National and international journals & conferences. He has guided one Ph.D and two M.Sc (engg), besides over 500 projects of Master degree and Bachelor degree students.

Matthieu Craye is International Relations Officer at the European Commission's Directorate-General for Energy where he contributes to strategy development for the EU's external energy policy and manages the EU's energy dialogue with India and Japan.

Nicolas Couderc joined the EDF Group in 2008, at the Corporate Strategy division; he then became Head of Portfolio Structuring for Europe within the Optimization and Trading division in 2010. In 2014, he first became advisor to the CEO of EDF Renewables, then Head of Strategy and M&A. In 2016, Nicolas Couderc is appointed as Executive VP, France. He is responsible for all EDF Renewables onshore activities in France (wind and PV plants) and is a member of EDF Renewables Executive Committee. Nicolas Couderc is also a Board member of the Syndicat des Energies Renouvelables, the leading renewable energy professional association in France and of WindEurope. Prior to EDF, Nicolas Couderc spent several years in the finance sector as a university teacher and researcher, then as a market economist. He has been an associate professor since 2008 of Finance at ESCP Europe and he keeps on teaching regularly. Former student at École Normale Supérieure de Fontenay-Saint-Cloud, Nicolas Couderc graduated from Sciences Po Paris and holds a Doctorate in Economics from Pantheon-Sorbonne University in Paris.

Niels van Berlaer joined DEME Offshore in 2004, as Business Unit Director he is responsible for growth opportunities in Offshore Wind in the Asia Pacific region. DEME offshore is the market leader in the offshore renewables industry with an unrivalled track record in the transport and installation of foundations, turbines, inter-array cables, export cables and substations. With its high-tech and versatile fleet of vessels DEME Offshore offers flexible solutions for the most complex offshore energy projects. In the past Niels was responsible for the construction of a large number of offshore windfarms in Europe such as the first Belgium offshore windfarm, Thornton Bank Phase 1. Niels was also involved on the Alpha Ventus project in Germany where prepiling was executed for the very first time in offshore wind. This technique was optimized in the UK on the Ormonde project and further developed to perfection on Phase 2 & 3 of the Thornthon Bank Project. His last executed offshore wind project was the EPCI Northwind Offshore Wind Farm in Belgium. Since 2014 Niels has taken up a commercial role and todays main focus is on Taiwan where DEME Offshore through its partnership with CSBS in CDWE is involved in both Hai Long, ChangFang & Xidao as well as the Zhong Neng project. With the investment of the Taiwan build DP3 Heavy Lift 4000T Vessel “Green Jade” CDWE shows its full commitment to help expand the Taiwanese Offshore Wind market. Activities are also rapidly expanding in Japan where DEME Offshore teamed up with marine contractor Penta-Ocean to secured projects in the upcoming auction round. Collaborations are also ongoing in Vietnam, India and South-Korea.

Mr. Poul V. Jensen MANAGING DIRECTOR, EUROPEAN BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY CENTRE (EBTC) TEAM LEADER, BUSINESS SUPPORT TO THE EU-INDIA POLICY DIALOGUES PROJECT Mr. Jensen is the Managing Director of EBTC, the European Business and Technology Centre, creating eco-systems and platforms for Indo-European business, technology and innovation collaboration in dynamic sectors such as Mobility, Water, Energy, ICT and Environment. At EBTC his main focus is developing successful engagement models, integrating the intent of policy and business actors alike. Several tools, services and platforms have been developed, and via a unique cluster model approach, best practices relevant for the growing Indian economy have been established. This includes addressing challenges in transferring clean technologies, providing input for developing clusters, and for developing procedures to enhance collaboration on R&D and innovation. Mr. Jensen is also the Team Leader of an EU-funded project (Business Support to the EU-India Policy Dialogues Project) which lies squarely in the Business-Policy nexus, making policy makers benefit from businesses and vice versa. The Project can provide hands on support in making EU-India collaborations work, identify and address the multitude of challenges, and make business and policy efforts go hand in hand to the benefit of both EU and India. Mr. Jensen holds a bachelor’s degree in International Trade from the Copenhagen Business School, Denmark, and a master’s degree in Business Administration from Cass Business School, London. His career started 1989 at the then largest Danish Conglomerate, East Asiatic Company, a shipping, transportation, and distribution firm, operating globally. For more information please contact Ms. Rhythm Sehra at sehra@ebtc.eu

Dr Praveen Saxena is Chief Executive Officer, Skill Council for Green Jobs , Skill India Mission. Dr Saxena superannuated as Advisor in Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and Director General of National Institute of Solar Energy in 2015. An International expert with enriched experience of providing leadership and strategic vision on energy policy, institutions building and consultancy to other countries in renewable energy; planning and coordinating with in-house as well as multi/bilateral partners on energy; promoting knowledge management through publications in international journals , networking & capacity building and research and development. Recently, Dr Saxena was conferred with the International Business Leadership Innovation Excellence Award by Institute of Economic Studies (2017), Government of Malaysia. He has over 50 research publications in international journals, and has represented India’s interests in Renewable Energy in various multilateral organizations and International forums.

Mr. Vijaymurthy Tanikella is Director of Van Oord India Pvt. Ltd., which was setup exclusively for strengthening the Indian Dredging and Offshore operations of Royal Van Oord. Now, Mr. Vijaymurthy Tanikella is actively pursuing Offshore Wind Energy opportunities in India, on behalf of Van Oord Offshore Wind b.v. Over the past 40 years, Mr. Tanikella has become an integral contributor to the development of Indian Ports and Offshore infrastructure. He has been at the forefront in facilitating the execution of important marine projects. Mr. Tanikella played an important role in the introduction of modern dredging techniques in India which are radical and cost effective technological solutions to meet the growing dredging needs of Indian ports and Waterways. In 2018, Mr. Tanikella was knighted as "Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau" by His Majesty, the King of the Netherlands recognition of his efforts to facilitate Indian ports and marine sector in accessing advanced Dutch technologies and execution. Mr. Tanikella has also been recognised by the Govt. of India for his philanthropic services in the field of education.