Heleena is a Program Manager with the Energy Program at WRI India, where she is working under the theme of offshore wind energy (OSW). Currently, she is on a deputation to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India where she leads the PMU for offshore wind energy. She closely works with the team at MNRE on OSW related activities such as the viability gap funding guidelines, bidding guidelines for OSW, development of contractual documents, port and transmission infrastructure planning, necessary compliance mechanisms such as EIA and SIA, supply chain and logistics, and regulatory frameworks for the first OSW projects to come up in India.

She comes to WRI India with significant yet diverse experience of working with not-for-profit, consultancy and research organizations. She has over 12 years of experience working on industrial area planning, concept design, and utility planning for large industrial areas, as well as conducting environmental and social impact assessments for port, harbor, and SEZ/industrial projects. Her expertise also includes industrial plant audits, pollution prevention and control technology, wind repowering, pre-feasibility studies for offshore wind in Gujarat under the FOWIND project by the European Union (EU), and developing a roadmap for power evacuation for OSW projects in Tamil Nadu and Gujarat under the ASPIRE programme by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO). Heleena has experience working with government, national and international funding bodies which include the EU, the FCDO, and the South Asia Regional Energy Partnership (SAREP). Apart from this, she has worked at the grass-roots level with the community as well in the early years of the career. She believes in having an interdisciplinary approach to work and tries to look at things in a more holistic manner.

Heleena holds an M.Plan. in Industrial Area Planning and Management from CEPT University, an M.Sc. in Environmental Science & Technology from ISTAR (Sardar Patel University), and a B.Sc. in Environmental Science from NVPAS (Sardar Patel University). Currently, she is based out of New Delhi for the offshore wind energy PMU at MNRE.

Beyond her professional endeavors, Heleena likes gardening, singing, dancing and listening to music. However, outside her routine area of work, she is passionate about ‘Life Sciences’ and ‘History’ as subjects of her interests. Heleena holds an NCC ‘C’ Certificate through the training with the Army Wing. Along with the basic training camps she has also been part of the Thal Sainik Camps (TSC) as a Sergeant with the 4th Gujarat Girls Battalion and has successfully completed the training during her college days. At the more advanced stage, she has experience of leading nearly 200 cadets while managing the camps and undertaking the training sessions for point-to-point march. She believes that this training has helped her in inculcating the nature of readiness, being strategic with more promptness during adverse situations.