ACEF Organizing Committees

Yongping Zhai

Dr. Yongping Zhai has been working on energy development in Asia and Africa for more than 25 years. He is currently Chief of Energy Sector Group of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), in charge of overall energy policy coordination and technical support to ADB energy sector operations. He is also in charge of developing energy sector knowledge work for ADB and interacts with worldwide energy sector partners.

Prior to his current position, Dr. Yongping Zhai was Director of South Asia Energy Division (2010-2015), ADB, covering energy sector operations in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka. In this capacity, he led ADB’s support to renewable energy, energy efficiency and power trade in South Asia. He also served as ADB’s Lead Energy Specialist (2008-2010), in charge of energy sector in Southeast Asia including Indonesia, Philippines, and the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS). In particular, he was instrumental in leading ADB’s support to the power sector’s successful restructuring process in the Philippines. Moreover, Dr. Zhai has played a key role in promoting power trade and cooperation in GMS.

Nam Kee-Yung

Dr. Nam is the Principal Energy Economist, Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department (SDCC), Asian Development Bank where he conceptualizes development of the energy sector strategies and policies and advises in the formulation of the energy sector lending and non-lending pipeline of projects. He is also responsible for the Energy Sector Trust Funds and undertakes analysis and assessment of key energy sector issues particularly in clean energy technologies. Prior to joining SDCC, he was Principal Economist, Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department, where he provided contributions in analytical research and technical advice on multiple disciplines including power sector development and reforms, renewable energy, fossil fuel subsidy, transport, impact evaluation, country diagnostic studies, and issues related to economic analysis on investment projects particularly on energy, infrastructure, and environment sectors.

Prior to joining ADB, he worked in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) and the United Nations for Industrial Development (UNIDO).

Xuedu Lu

Mr. Xuedu Lu, Ph. D., is Lead Climate Change Specialist at East Asia Department, Asian Development Bank (ADB). He joined ADB in 2010. His working scope covers low carbon development, carbon market, climate finance, and low carbon technology. Prior to joining ADB, Dr. Lu took different positions including Deputy Director General of National Climate Center, Member of the Executive Board of Clean Development Mechanism under Kyoto Protocol under UNFCCC, Deputy Head of Global Environment Office, Ministry of Science and Technology. He used to be Adjunct Professor of Tianjin University and Tongji University. As a member of Chinese delegation, he was engaged in the negotiations on UNFCCC from 1996 to 2010.

Christine Genalin Uy

Gena Uy is a Senior Investment Specialist with the Private Sector Operations Department of the Asian Development Bank. Since joining ADB in 2003, Gena has been involved in various infrastructure in Southeast, South and Central Asia covering power, transport and urban sectors.

Ms. Uy had close to 12 years work experience with Citibank, NA before she moved to ADB. At Citibank, Ms. Uy was involved in loan syndications, corporate finance, credit risk management, trade operations and financial institutions. She was responsible for structuring and negotiating financing agreements for large companies in the telecommunications, power, oil and manufacturing industries. As a credit committee member with Citibank, she was also responsible for credit evaluation, establishment of credit facilities and risk management.

Ms. Uy holds a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, USA and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of the Philippines.

Yuichiro Yoi

Yuichiro Yoi is the Unit Head for Indonesia (Principal Investment Specialist) at the Private Sector Operations Department of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Yoi joined ADB in 2014, and has been mainly covering Indonesia infrastructure projects from the bank’s Manila Head Quarters since then. His recent work includes Rantau Dedap geothermal IPP financing (signed Mar 2018), Jawa-1 Gas-to-Power Project financing (signed Oct 2018), Riau gas IPP financing (signed March 2019), and Kacific broadband satellite project financing (signed October 2019).

Prior to ADB, Yoi worked at the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) where he led his team on numerous IPP deals in the region including Gulf Nong Saeng (Thailand, gas-fired), Gulf U-Thai (Thailand, gas-fired), Sarulla (Indonesia, geothermal), and Rajamandala (Indonesia, hydro). Yoi has a Master of Business Administration from Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, UK.

Jiwan Acharya

Jiwan Acharya is working in Energy Division of South Asia Department of Asian Development Bank (ADB) as Principal Energy Specialist. He currently focuses on developing and implementing energy efficiency, renewable energy and other broader energy sector projects in India and Nepal. He is also serving as focal person for Regional Cooperation and Integration for Energy in South Asia. Prior to that, he was with Energy Sector Group Secretariat in the Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department of ADB since 1 October 2006 as Senior Energy Specialist. He is a key member of ADB's Energy Sector Group and Climate Change Team and was responsible for overseeing ADB's several key initiatives including Energy for All, and Low Carbon Technology Transfer, among others. Mr. Acharya served as ADB’s focal point for Clean Technical Fund (CTF) and Scaling Up Renewable Energy for Low Income Countries (SREP) under the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) as well as Sustainable Energy for All Initiative (SE4All).

Prior to joining ADB, Mr. Acharya was Senior Research Officer in Winrock International in Kathmandu, Nepal covering climate change, carbon financing, energy access and broader clean energy areas.

Levan Mtchedlishvili

Levan Mtchedlishvili, is a Principal Energy Specialist from the Asian Development Bank. Over the last 12 years in ADB he led implementation of multi-million projects in Central and South Asia including fundamental sector reforms, large public and private infrastructure investments and PPP projects. Mr Mtchedlishvili spent over 25 years in energy sector previously serving as a deputy minister of energy, head of upstream oil and gas regulator, supervisory board member for TSO. He also worked for other international organizations (EBRD, EU, USAID) and international private companies.

Mr. Mtchedlishvili holds MA in Economics from Central European University in Czech Republic and BS in Electrical Engineering from Georgian Technical University in Georgia.

Grace Yeneza

Grace Yeneza is a pioneer and advocate of clean energy with over 30 years of working knowledge in the energy sector. Her concrete, on-the-ground involvements in all types of renewable energy gives her solid grasp of the success factors and pitfalls of renewable/clean energy project development. Her wide network among government and private energy stakeholders is valuable to any project/program implementation in the Philippines.

Ms. Yeneza founded and manages Preferred Energy, Inc., an NGO promoting clean and energy efficient solutions. Her professional experiences include serving as Corporate Planning Director of the National Electrification Administration and policy/program advisor to Department of Energy and Congressional Committee on Energy; working with bilateral and multilateral development institutions (USAID, UNDP, ADB, WB, IFC, JICA and GIZ); and supporting private companies and electric cooperatives in implementing renewable and clean energy projects. Currently, she is a consultant of ADB’s Energy Sector Group under the Sector Advisory Cluster (SDSC-ENE) of the Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department (SDCC).

Michelle Lyn Visaya

Michelle has over 10 years of events management experience and handles a wide range of events from social to corporate events. Previously, Michelle handled ADB official events from pre-event, onsite, and post-event support to ADB host organizers, including those attended by high-level participants and ADB Management.

Over the years, she coordinated with various business units and external suppliers on administrative and logistical arrangements of ADB official events at ADB headquarters. She also contributes to the continuous enhancement of the online registration, facility booking systems, and other similar programs. With her various experience in events management, she would like to continue in making all events sustainable.

Maria Dona Aliboso

Lyndree Malang

Peter du Pont

Peter du Pont is based in Bangkok and has more than 30 years’ experience developing sustainable energy and climate programs in the U.S. and Asia. He has carried out assignments related to the design, implementation, and evaluation of clean energy policy and plans, energy finance, and climate change programs. He has worked in a variety of roles consulting and managing for non-profit and private consultancies and development agencies, with a focus on energy efficiency, renewable energy, finance and market incentives, and climate change. He has a masters degree in Public Health from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in Public Policy from the University of Delaware.

Nancy Nguyen

Nancy has 17 years of experience working on development issues in Southeast Asia, with various donors such as AusAID, EuropeAID, USAID, ADB, NZAID and the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF). She has worked on assignments related to rural development and livelihoods; business, trade, and regional cooperation; climate and disaster preparedness; and clean energy program design and investment.

Nancy is particularly passionate about supporting projects led by women to achieve their investment targets, and fulfill their potential in tackling climate change. At Asia Clean Energy Partners, Nancy Nguyen is responsible for developing and overseeing clean energy work with clients across the Asia region. One of her priorities is to support the expansion and strengthening of UNIDO’s Private Financing Advisory Network (PFAN) across 12 Asian countries. She serves as Asia Network Support Manager for PFAN, which is expanding its mandate beyond clean energy to mentor projects that provide adaptation benefits, increase resilience and support gender mainstreaming into the climate and energy sector.

Marc Eliemel Tagub

Marc has more than 12 years of experience as a communications specialist in advocacy, development, and human rights communications at the grassroots, national, and regional levels. He has a track record of valuable contributions to the development and implementation of outreach and communications strategies. His regional communications experience includes working with country, and regional offices to ensure brand management, consistency of messaging, knowledge management, and quality control of communications and knowledge products for organization-wide advocacy and campaigns, and programmatic, research, and project communication, and engagements and work relationships with Asia-Pacific parliamentarians and United Nations regional offices, and with donors such as GIZ, AusAID/DFAT, and JICA.

Anna Mowat

Anna started her career in physics research labs. She has worked on several research teams developing new energy models, as well as designing, building and testing experimental organic solar cells. Wanting to see faster impacts of scientific research on the rest of society, she set up and works as the CEO of an energy efficiency software start-up that focuses on home heating efficiency in the American residential market. Believing strongly in the potential for Asia to be a leader in Clean Energy she moved back home to Hong Kong, joining ACE Partners in 2019 to conduct market research and develop new products. Anna has a degree in Physics and Environmental Systems, Hamilton College. She is based in Hong Kong, China.

Patcharin Boobpha

Patcharin or "Erng" has more than four years of experience assisting communications and research related to the clean energy sector in Asia. She has served as Communications Specialist for Asia Clean Energy Forum (ACEF) since 2017, the annual flagship clean energy event organized by the Asian Development Bank. Currently, Erng leads administrative and operations for at Asia Clean Energy Partners. Erng has a Bachelor's degree in English and Communications, Ubon Ratchathani University. She is also a Young Southeast Asian Leader Initiatives (YSEALI) alumnus (the University of Nebraska at Omaha). Erng is based in Bangkok, Thailand.

Cindy Cisneros Tiangco

Dr. Tiangco’s 25-year work experience includes 10 years in ADB leading clean energy projects, such as solar PV, mini-grids and battery energy storage systems in the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, Tonga, and Tuvalu. She initiated ADB’s solar development programs in Uzbekistan and in Afghanistan, and energy efficiency in Kazakhstan and Pakistan. Cindy spearheaded the regional floating solar initiative to build pilot plants in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, and Kyrgyz Republic. She is currently implementing a floating solar plus program for the 11 small Pacific island countries, with cross-sectoral projects now being developed for Kiribati, Tonga, and Tuvalu. Before ADB, Cindy was a consultant to the ADB, World Bank, AFD, UNDP/GEF and the Philippine Climate Change Commission. Her project involvement includes solar PV and battery storage systems, distributed generation, solar thermal, wind, hydro, geothermal, efficient lighting, landfill gas to power, biodiesel, biomass and other climate change mitigation projects. Cindy holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering, Master of Engineering major in renewable energy sources, and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering (cum laude).

David Elzinga

David is part of the Southeast Asia Energy Department and is working on projects in Cambodia, Vietnam and Timor Leste. David has engaged across a range of countries and energy system technologies to support ADB’s investments in the energy sector. Previously at the UN Economic Commission for Europe David's focus was on the role of fossil fuels in sustainable energy systems and at the International Energy Agency (IEA) was lead author for Energy Technology Perspectives publication. He also led the IEA’s work on electricity system technologies, such as Smart Grids. Over the course of his career David has worked in the energy and climate fields for over 20 years, with focus areas of technology, policy and analysis in both private and public sectors. In these roles he developed markets, deployed renewable and energy efficiency technologies and has advised various governments at the local and national levels on energy policy.