Speakers
Jigar Shah - CEO, Carbon War Room
A renowned visionary, Jigar Shah is committed to renewable energy and sustainable solutions that enable prosperity beyond the carbon economy. As CEO of the Carbon War Room, Jigar is dedicated to indentifying business-as-usual practices and replacing them with low-carbon solutions. Prior to the Carbon War Room, Jigar founded SunEdison in 2003. Under his leadership, SunEdison revolutionized the solar industry by introducing a business model to sell solar as a service. The transformation to solar power service agreements is responsible for turning solar services into a multi-billion dollar industry.
Jigar is also an expert on energy project finance, changing energy policy, working with entrenched stakeholders, and convincing individuals to embrace energy technology. He works closely with entrepreneurs, policymakers, and investors around the world to develop, incubate, and implement sustainable solutions that enable prosperity beyond the carbon economy.
Jigar holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, and an MBA from the University of Maryland. Jigar sits on the boards of the Prometheus Institute for Sustainable Development, SB NOW, and Greenpeace USA.
Vishal Shah - Managing Director & Senior Analyst Alternative Energy, Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank has selected Vishal Shah as its managing director for its US-based alternative energy and semi cap equipment divisions. One of the leading solar market analysts, Shah came to Deutsche Bank from Barclays Capital. Vishal has been an equity analyst covering solar and semiconductor equipment sectors since 2002 at firms such as Lehman Brothers and Morgan Stanley. He was ranked the No. 1 Alternative Energy analyst in the 2009 and 2010 Institutional Investor All America Research Survey. Before joining Wall Street, Vishal worked in the semiconductor equipment industry at Applied Materials. Vishal earned a B.Tech degree in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology and an M.B.A from INSEAD, France.
Mario Zen - Vice President Business Development, LDK Solar
Mr. Zen has been V.P. Business Development LDK Solar since November 2006, and M.D. of LDK Solar Europe Holding Lux since 2009. LDK Solar is a Chinese Solar manufacturer listed at the NYSE with an estimated revenue in 2010 of 2,0 Bil USD. The company is one of the world's cost leaders in solar manufacturing, featuring one of the largest fully integrated production facilities of the world.
With over 20 years of experience in Business Development in both Europe and Asia, Mario has developed, established and organized new markets in Europe, India and in Canada for the company.
Currently he is leading a European team that's building LDK Solar PV Projects and Modules distribution team that's partnered up with some of the major European EPC companies.
Ashok Bhalotra - Ambassador, KuiperCompagnons / Director, FEWSformore
Ashok Bhalotra is ambassador of KuiperCompagnons, a Dutch urban design office in Rotterdam, founded as early as 1916 by Grandpré Molière. Bhalotra was born in India in 1943 and was educated in Delhi as an architect and urbanist in accordance with CIAM’s post-war revision. He joined KuiperCompagnons in 1971 and began teaching at Delft University of Technology.
Since end 2009 Ashok Bhalotra is the founder and director of FEWS for More.
Sustainability is the key phrase of FEWS for More. Not only sustainability in the field of energy and use of materials, but also in the social, natural, cultural and economical fields.
Ashok is also famous for his involvement in the development of the Dutch 'Sun City' in Heerhugowaard, the world's first carbon-neutral city, that fully integrated solar PV into its architecture.
In 2004 he was awarded the ‘’Green Pin’’ of The Architects' Association of Denmark. This prize is given for outstanding work in favour of environmentally sound architecture and urban planning. According to the jury Ashok Bhalotra has attracted worldwide attention because of his striking plans for urban development, landscape planning and conversions of harbour areas to both residential and industrial areas.
Ravi Khanna - CEO, Solar Power Business Group Aditya Birla Group
Mr. Ravi Khanna serves as Chief Executive Officer of the Solar Power Business of the Aditya Birla Group. Prior to joining the Aditya Birla Group, Ravi worked as the CEO and President of Scatec Solar, and served as Director Scatec AS. Ravi has also served as Chief Executive Officer of Moser Baer Photovoltaic Ltd., and PV Technologies India Limited until December 2008. In Moser Baer PV Ravi was responsible for the acquisitions of technology firms and setting up of a technology centre while creating one of the fastest manufacturing capacities .
Ravi served as a member of the Indian PM’s solar technology mission and also engaged very closely with MNRE, IREDA and NORAD on development of the future renewable and sustainable energy platforms. He has also served on the board of US firms HelioVolt Corporation, Sol Focus, Solaria and Stion Corporation.
Edwin Koot has been active in the Solar Energy business since 1994. Through his own companies Ekomation and Easysolar Edwin built up a lot of practical knowledge about the Dutch national situation and the international solar energy market. With the foundation of his company Solarplaza in 2004, Edwin started building a broad informationplatform focused on the international solar energy market and the expansion of his large network of contacts and relations. By organizing international conferences and trade missions to production facilities; publishing in-depth market reports and supporting businesses in finding valuable contacts, Solarplaza has positioned itself as an important player in the PV industry.
Xavier Daval - Founder & CEO, KiloWattsol
Xavier Daval is the Founder and CEO of KiloWattsol. As an independent consultant, KiloWattsol delivers tailor-made solutions based on proven methods. These guarantee the highest level of quality in risk assessment as well as a gain in time. The company's experience is based on more than 10 years of pure scientific research. KiloWattsol is a spin-off of France's leading engineering school for building science ENTPE.
The company's core competencies are climate analysis and computer simulation.
Before founding KiloWattsol, Xavier Daval was the European Director of OK International, a world leading manufacturer of tools for the electronics industry and subsidiary of Dover Corp.
Srinivas Nagabhirava - Managing Director Asia/Middle East, AES Solar Energy
Srinivas Nagabhirava is the Managing Director, Asia/Middle East of AES Solar Energy which is one of the largest Solar PV Power plant developers in the world. AES Solar Energy has 9 operating plants in Spain and 3 new plants under construction across 3 countries in Europe. As Managing Director for the region, he is actively involved in overseeing the development and acquisition of Solar PV assets in the region. He has a passionate interest in development of clean energy technologies and energy efficiency. Prior to AES Solar, he was leading the business transformation efforts at AES distribution businesses in Eastern Europe and prior to that worked for AES in leadership roles in USA and Latin America.
Prior to joining AES, Mr. Nagabhirava held senior management positions in the industry and consulted to various clients in the Power, Telecom, IT industries for over two decades. He has a Bachelor of Engineering degree from Mysore University, India and earned an MBA from Pace University, New York.
Ravi Raina - President of India operations for Astonfield
Ravi is the President of India operations for Astonfield and is a seasoned global executive with 30 years of experience in the power industry. Currently Ravi spearheads renewable energy program consisting of solar, biomass,solid waste to energy. Ravi built expertise in various markets including Egypt, Finland, Kenya and India as Managing Director of different geographies. Ravi has significant experience in M&A, investment management and project management. Throughout his career, Ravi has led numerous start-up companies and developed worldclass organizations to provide Business Development, EPC and O&M solutions. Ravi is the recipient of the European Market Research Center Award for Outstanding Entrepreneurial Efforts in East Africa and holds a degree in mechanical engineering from Bhopal University, India. He is an alumnus of IMD Business School in Lausanne, Switzerland.
A.K. Tripathi - Director, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE)
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) is the nodal Ministry of the Government of India for all matters relating to new and renewable energy. The broad aim of the Ministry is to develop and deploy new and renewable energy for supplementing the energy requirements of the country.
Gaurav Sood - Managing Director, Solairedirect Energy India Private Limited
Gaurav Sood is Masters in Business Management and M. Tech. in Renewable energy and brings the rare mix of technical and business acumen to the table. He has been with Solairedirect for over year and a half and was the first employee in India. Prior to joining Solairedirect, he was working on building a strong renewable energy portfolio for Bharat Forge, the flagship company of the $2.5 billion Kalyani Group. In 2007, when Sood joined Bharat Forge, he worked directly with the Chairman on the new strategic initiatives. He has been involved in M&A, JV and fund raising for different companies in India and Europe. In his earlier roles he has worked as a management consultant across industries like auto-components, dye stuffs, polyester film, paper, asset reconstruction, insurance etc.
Vijayvergia has taken over as Director (Technical) on 17-5-10 (two year term) and has been working as Executive Director from 1st Sept 08. As full time Director Technical of RREC Board Vijayvergia attended board Meetings and participated in taking decisions in Board meetings regarding policy matters, financial matters, projects to be taken by up by RREC, Approvals of Bidding documents and other matters.
He has facilitated investors in applying for allotment of solar plant capacity to MNRE/NVVN under the National Solar Mission and has looked after the development and setting up of large scale solar, wind and biomass power plants in Rajasthan.
Mijayvergia is an expert consultant in the selection of technology for solar photovoltaic Power plants, the finalising of tender documents, the selection of sites, the calculation of annual solar irradiation and the execution of Turn key projects from planning, formulation of specification, ordering, Site work supervision and progress review.
Marco Lamsouguer - Founder and CEO, AE Photonics
Marco Lamsouguer is rooted in the area of real estate financing. From 2007 until the incorporation of AE Photonics Lamsouguer managed the Alternative Energies department at Darlehenshaus AG, Augsburg, Germany. He founded AE Photonics Group in November 2008 and managed to turn the start-up - with little more than €100 of equity capital - into a company with high double-digit million range revenues by the Autumn of 2011.
Yves Devis - Founder and CEO, Ikaros Solar NV
Yves Devis has 20 years of experience in energy management. He holds a Masters of Science degree in Engineering (U.Gent, 1990) and a Masters in Business Administration degree (Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh USA, 1992).
Yves has spent 14 years in international energy management with ExxonMobil. Starting off in the Benelux production facilities, he was assigned to various international HQ positions for petroleum and gas operations where he provided technical, commercial and financial expertise.
In July 2006 he founded and started managing Ikaros Solar NV, currently Belgian market leader in commercial EPC of PV installations.
Shailendra Agarwal holds a post graduate in Economics & Administration and Chemistry. He joined the Indian Administrative Services in the year 1986 and held key posts in various departments viz. Finance, Education, Tourism, Mines & Minerals and Energy Department, Government of Rajasthan. Agarwal rRemained Administrator in different offices at Jaipur, Udaipur, Ajmer and Chittorgarh and also worked as Director, Ministry of Commerce, Government of India and also Counsellor (WTO), PMI, Geneva. Currently, he is the Chairman and Managing DIrector of 'Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Prasaran Nigam Ltd' (RVPN). RVPN holds the transmission license for Rajasthan and has been declared as State Transmission Utility (STU) under the provisions of the Electricity Act, 2003. It provides the pathway for power within whole of Rajasthan. RVPN owns, builds, maintains and operates the high-voltage electric transmission system that helps to keep the lights on, businesses running and communities strong.
Venu Birappa - Executive Engineer, Gujarat Energy Transmission Co., Ltd. (GETCO)
Gujarat Energy Transmission Corporation Limited (GETCO) was set up in May,1999 and is registered under the Companies Act,1956.The Company has been promoted by erstwhile Gujarat Electricity Board (GEB) as its wholly owned subsidiary in the context of liberalization and as a part of efforts towards restructuring of the Power Sector.