Speaker 2021

Bio

Araceli Fernandez is the Head of the Technology and Innovation Unit within the Energy Technology Policy division at the IEA. In her previous role, she led the modelling and technology analysis related to the industrial sector in the same division. Before joining the IEA in 2012, Araceli worked in different areas in the Oil & Gas sector including process optimization, detailed engineering and emissions monitoring for refinery and petrochemical projects. Araceli holds a MEng in Chemical Engineering and a MSc in Process Engineering.

Bio

Are Gløersen is the Director of Ocean Sun in South East Asia and Oceania and responsible for their efforts on existing pilots, projects and business development in this area. Mr. Gløersen holds a MSc in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from the University of Washington and has 19 years’ experience in solar PV, industrial automation, project and business management from Norway and Singapore with corresponding regions.

Bio

Arieta Gonelevu Rakai is the Programme Officer and Lead for the SIDS Lighthouses Initiative (LHI) with the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). The SIDS LHI is coordinated by IRENA and is the framework for energy transition and climate action in small island developing states (SIDS). More information on the SIDS Lighthouses Initiative can be accessed here: http://islands.irena.org/

Bio

Mr. Ashok Lavasa is the Vice President for Private Sector Operations and Public Private Partnerships (VPPP) with the Asian Development Bank. He assumed office on 1 September 2020.

Prior to joining ADB, Mr. Lavasa was an Election Commissioner in India from January 2018 to August 2020, a constitutional position appointed by the President of India.

Mr. Lavasa served for nearly four decades with various government agencies in India including as Union Finance Secretary, Secretary Environment & Climate Change, and Secretary Civil Aviation. He also served as Additional Secretary and Special Secretary for Power. As a senior member of the Indian Administrative Service, Mr. Lavasa was associated with a broad array of public policy and program implementation initiatives covering the finance, power, environment and climate change, civil aviation, infrastructure, and tourism sectors. He led the official Indian delegation for climate negotiations for the Paris Agreement at COP21.

He is an author of a book titled An Uncivil Servant (Rupa: 2006) and has written several book chapters and academic papers covering climate change, economic policy, and energy. He holds an MPhil from Madras University, India, an MBA from Southern Cross University in Australia, and an MA from Delhi University, India.

Bio

I have about 40 years working experience in the field of renewable energy, especially solar energy, encompassing academics and R&D, policy planning and implementation of national programmes, heading a Corporate, and policy research and studies as policy think tank.

My post-graduation is in Physics in 1977, followed up with Ph.D. in solar energy from IIT Delhi, one of the premier Institutions of the country, in 1981. I worked at IIT Delhi until 1986, first as research scholar, and then as a scientific faculty engaged in implementation of various R&D projects and guiding research students. Large number of scientific research papers along with three books on solar were co-authored. All this got published by well-known International publishers.

I joined the Government of India in 1986 and worked there in various capacities for 26 years until 2012. My role and responsibilities included policy development, designing and implementation of demonstration programmes, R&D policy and its implementation, and electrification of remote villages through RE technologies. My responsibilities also included establishment of eco-system for quality control of solar systems and devices in the country through development of national test standards and state-of-art test facilities. I have been closely associated with drafting policy framework for National Solar Mission (NSM) which was launched by the Government in 2010. NSM proved a foundation stone for building up one of the largest solar programme in the world.

In 2012, I joined Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd., which is mandated to implement various schemes of the Government of India for the utility scale and decentralized solar power in the country. I superannuated from SECI as Managing Director in July 2017 leaving behind a successful system of procurement of solar and wind power through international competitive bidding and reverse auctions. During my tenure, SECI got emerged as a credible arm of the MNRE for successful implementation of various programmes leading to continued tariff reduction through competitive bidding.

From November 2017 to March 2021, I worked at TERI, an internationally known think tank, as Senior Director, Renewable Energy Technology Applications. I have been engaged in Policy research on issues of national importance viz. floating solar PV, manufacturing of solar, de-risking solar investments.

I have been closely associated with International Solar Alliance (ISA) as a part of member of International Advisory Committee. I am a member of Research advisory committee of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and ONGC Energy Centre.

Bio

Dr. Bambang Susantono is the Vice-President for Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development of the Asian Development Bank. He is a distinguished global leader, published author and active researcher. He is responsible for managing knowledge in ADB and coordinating research and studies on wide-ranging topics including in economy, infrastructure, digital technology, health, education, social, urban, water, energy; and cross-cutting nexus themes such as climate change, environment, gender equality, and regional cooperation.

He holds a Ph.D. in Infrastructure Planning, as well as Master’s degrees in Transportation Engineering, and City and Regional Planning from UC Berkeley and a Bachelor’s in Engineering from the Bandung Institute of Technology.

Bio

Dr. Biraj Singh Thapa is Assistant Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Kathmandu University, Nepal. His area of specialization is hydropower and green hydrogen. He believes that a strategic blend of these two energy sectors can change the future of the developing countries of Asia and Pacific, both economically and environmentally. His interest is in cross-disciplinary research in the field of renewable energy technologies for industrial adaptation. At present he is focusing on energy ecosystem for the transition towards a low carbon society in Himalayan region. He is leading several projects to implement hydropower as the means for introducing green hydrogen as an alternative future fuel in Nepal. He is serving as the Team Leader of Green Hydrogen Lab at Kathmandu University. He holds a PhD degree from NTNU, Norway.

Bio

Bjørn Jahnsen is ambassador of Norwegian Embassy Manila. Prior to his posting to the Philippines, Ambassador Jahnsen worked on the Colombian Peace Process in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Oslo. His diplomatic assignments abroad include Mexico, London and Madrid. Mr Jahnsen was the Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway from 2008 to 2012. The Ambassador has previously worked on ASEM, and had a special assignment related to a consular case in the Philippines (2016 – 2017). Mr Jahnsen was seconded to the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office in London for two years (2004 -2005), working on the European Union. The Ambassador also has an experience from the private sector, as General Manager for a Norwegian company in the energy and maritime sectors in Mexico for three years (2013 – 2016). He obtained his university degree in anthropology, history and philosophy from the University of Oslo and his Master of มัArts in Latin American Studies from the University of California, Berkeley.

Bio

Dr. Bo Shen is a research scientist at the International Energy Analysis Department of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy national lab managed by the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Shen pursues research on assessing and developing strategies for decarbonizing current energy systems through promoting energy efficiency and other demand-side solutions and advancing renewable energy, with a special focus on the U.S. and China. His work covers a wide range of topics including energy efficiency policy and governance, techno-economic analysis of efficiency improvement and pollution reduction measures, distributed energy resources, demand response, power market reform, green financing, and emissions trading. Dr. Shen has over 25 years of experience in energy research. He worked as an international consultant for the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, respectively, in a number of their technical assistance projects. He has authored over 50 journal articles and peer-reviewed conference papers.

Bio

I’m Bongraoi Arebaio currently studying, at Griffith University under the Australian Award Scholarship Scheme from Kiribati. I am currently in my third year pursuing a degree in software engineering after completing my diploma in engineering at Griffiths College, where I was awarded the Valedictorian Medal in 2019. As a member of the first team to represent Kiribati at the First Global Robotics competition in New Mexico 2018, I was able to experience firsthand the importance of STEM on issues that were happening globally and impacting on our tiny Pacific countries. It exposed me to global issues and how technology and science play an important part in developing solutions for real world issues. I am also highly interested in issues that will affect my small island country Kiribati which is surrounded by a vast area of ocean because I-Kiribati people rely greatly on the ocean for their livelihood. I hope to become an advocate on issues impacting on Pacific Island countries as well as Kiribati.

Bio

Celia García-Baños is an Associate Programme Officer, in IRENA’s Knowledge Policy and Finance Centre in Abu Dhabi.

Celia is a chemical engineer from the Industrial Engineering School of the Technical University of Madrid. She holds a masters in Water and Environmental Engineering from Masdar Institute.

Within IRENA’s Policy Unit, she works on a diverse range of subjects, in topics related to policy assessment and socio-economic impacts of renewable energy, including gender. In this regard, Celia’s efforts focus on producing up-to-date and authoritative renewable energy gender data and on identifying best practice within the renewable energy sector to achieve an inclusive global energy transition.

Bio

Dr. Chang-Seob Kim has 30 years of professional experience in the energy sector and is currently President and Chief Executive Officer of Korea Energy Agency (KEA) since November 2018. Prior to this position, Dr. Kim was Professor in the Energy IT Department of Ga-Chon University during 2008-2018 and Professor in the Graduate School of Knowledge-Based Technology & Energy in the Korea Polytechnic University during 2003-2008. While in the universities, Dr. Kim concurrently held various high level advisory positions in the government of Korea and public companies including Commissioner of Presidential Committee on Green Growth; Commissioner of Nuclear Safety Communication Commission in Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. Ltd.; Commissioner of Electric Power Policy Council in the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE); Chair of Public-Private Working Group for the 2nd National Energy Master Plan; Commissioner of Energy Commission in MOTIE; Chair of the 5th and 6th Basic Plan on Electricity Supply and Demand in MOTIE; and Commissioner of Green Growth Committee in the Ministry of Interior and Safety. Dr. Kim began his career in KEA as Team Manager in the Climate Response Division in 1992 where he served till 2003. He received his B.S, M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Seoul National University, Republic of Korea in 1984, 1986, and 1990, respectively.