Energizing Transitions: Recent Episodes
Yash Kashyap, Varun Duggal
The Energizing Transitions podcast features wide-ranging discussions with experts in the field of climate change and energy. In these conversations, we explore the challenges and opportunities faced by developing countries in Asia and Africa as they transition to low-carbon economies and the role of technology, financial markets and public policy in driving the energy transition. Hope you enjoy it!
In Episode 04, we host Dhruba Purkayastha, India Director at the Climate Policy Initiative, and discuss the state of the distributed solar sector in India. As India's population and energy demand grows rapidly, distributed renewable energy and specifically distributed solar and storage is becoming increasingly important to enable access to clean, affordable and reliable electricity to the country's vastly underserved population. Currently, as India falls short of its target of deployment of 40 GW of distributed solar by 2022, we ask Dhruba about his views on the development of the sector so far and the barriers to its growth in the future.
Dhruba has over 20 years of experience in consulting, investment banking and international development financing in Asian countries. He has previously worked with the World Bank and the IFC and he advices a wide range of governmental and public sector institutions in areas of policy and institutional development. At CPI, Dhruba is the Director for the US-India Clean Energy Finance (USICEF) programme, which is India's first project preparation facility to drive the growth of the distributed renewable energy sector in India.
Hope you enjoy this episode!
Link to relevant reading material:
- USICEF: Impacts and lessons learnt, 2017 - 2020
- CPI, 2019. The future of distributed renewable energy in India.
- CPI, 2018. Drivers and challenges for rooftop solar loans to small and medium enterprises in India.
- IEA, 2021. India energy outlook.
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Artwork by Ojustme
Intro / outro Like before by Silencyde
This episode is a continuation of our discussion with Dr. Abhishek. For show notes, please refer to Episode 02.
In Episode 02, we host Dr. Abhishek Malhotra, assistant professor at the new School of Public Policy at Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. Abhishek's research focus is on policy design for low-carbon development; specifically, how policies can be designed taking into account multiple policy goals in the energy sector, as well as specificities of the technologies they target. He holds a PhD and a Master’s degree in Energy Science and Technology from ETH Zurich, and a Bachelor of Technology in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi.
In this episode, we talk about Abhishek's doctoral thesis on policies for low-carbon development and in episode 03, we shift to the discussion to address India's energy sector. Hope you enjoy it!
Links to Abhishek's notable publications:
- Malhotra, A., Schmidt, T., 2020. Accelerating low-carbon innovation. Joule
- Malhotra, A., Schmidt, T., Huenteler, J., 2019. The role of inter-sectoral learning in knowledge development and diffusion: Case studies on three clean energy technologies. Tech. Forecasting and Social Change, 146, 464-487
- Malhotra, A., Schmidt, T., Haelg, L., Waissbein, O., 2017. Scaling up finance for off-grid renewable energy: The role of aggregation and spatial diversification in derisking investments in mini-grids for rural electrification in India. Energy Policy, 108, 657–672.
- Malhotra, A., Battke, B., Beuse, M., Stephan, A., Schmidt, T., 2016. Use cases for stationary battery technologies: A review of the literature and existing projects. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 56, 705-721
- Waissbein, O., Bayraktar, H., Henrich, C., Schmidt, T., Malhotra, A., 2018. Derisking Renewable Energy Investment: Off-Grid Electrification. UNDP, New York, and ETH Zürich, Switzerland.
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Artwork by Ojustme
Intro / outro Like before by Silencyde
In this episode we host Szilard Liptak. Szilard is currently working as the Chief Technical Officer of Agsol, a Kenya-based manufacturer of solar agro-processing machinery. Before Agsol he worked in 8 countries on 4 continents, including Georgia Tech’s Center for Distributed Energy, where he worked on the Tech-to-Market transfer of ultra-low-cost technologies designed specifically for the developing world. In this episode we talk about the history of off-grid solar, the challenges of this space, and its future.
Please see the links below for follow-up reading on this topic:
Global Off-Grid Lighting Association (GOGLA)
2020 Off-grid solar market trends
Strange Beasts: Making Sense of PAYGo Solar Business Models
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Artwork by Ojustme
Intro / outro Like before by Silencyde