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.

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.

• 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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.