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Accelerating Clean Energy in India

Accelerating Clean Energy, or ACE, is WRI India’s flagship annual event where fresh insights into ongoing and emerging research streams on global energy transitions, and their implications on India, would be presented and discussed. ACE would be convening amidst fears that pockets of Western Europe might face energy poverty this winter for the first time since the Second World War, accelerating efforts to mainstream non-fossil fuel-based energy globally.

Some of the emerging themes that would be discussed at ACE include, rapid advancements in offshore wind technology, enabling it to become cheaper, and possibly viable for larger swathes of global populations. In India, the waters off the coasts of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu alone are expected to hold over 70 GW of wind energy capacities. WRI India’s research, and those of its partners, on pathways to scale offshore wind, as rapidly as solar, within the Indian context would be discussed.

Financing alternatives to fossil fuel has long been a challenge, but green taxonomies, and central bank directives to the entities they govern are beginning to change lending practices globally. In India, expanding access to electricity into sectors like agriculture, fisheries and allied activities has received much attention, but financing these new technologies, broadly under the rubric of Decentralized Renewable Energy, would require a multi-pronged approach of public and private financing. ACE would facilitate a discussion on this as well.

We would also discuss how the Association of Renewable Energy Agencies of States, or AREAS, could better serve the new and fast maturing renewables ecosystem in India. AREAS was registered as a society under the patronage of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy almost a decade ago, when nascent renewable energy (RE) technologies were being piloted across the country in diverse settings. Much has changed since, and the needs of the RE sector has rapidly evolved as well, requiring a shift in gear on state-support,

In its third edition after a break during the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, we at WRI India’s Energy Program, are looking forward to these discussions and much more, to ensure India achieves its ambitious goals of carbon neutrality by 2070 and lives up to its pledges on renewables and Sustainable Development Goals.

SPEAKERS

  • Vandana Kumar, IAS, Additional Secretary, Minister of New and Renewable Energy
  • Sudhendu J Sinha, Adviser (Infrastructure Connectivity, Transport and Electric Mobility), NITI Aayog
  • Raghav G, Senior Manager, Investment Promotion, Guidance Tamil Nadu
  • Aarti Khosla, Founder and Director, Climate Trends
  • Jarnail Singh, Director, MacArthur Foundation India
  • Dr. Ashwini K Swain, Fellow, Centre for Policy Research
  • Dr. Archana Walia, India Director, Clean Air Asia
  • Poonam Sandhu, India Team Lead, Natural Resources Defence Council (NRDC)
  • Narendra Nath Veluri, IFS, CEO, Agency for New and Renewable Energy Research and Technology (ANERT)
  • D.S. Das, Joint Director, Tripura Renewable Energy Development Agency (TREDA)
  • Shweta Kulkarni, Researcher, Prayas (Energy Group)
  • Dr. Binu Francis, Secretary, Corporation of Thiruvananthapuram
  • Shirish Sinha, Director – Climate, Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF)
  • Mili Majumdar, Managing Director, Green Building Certification Institute
  • Dr. Umamaheshwaran Rajasekar, Head, Climate Centre for Cities, National Institution of Urban Affairs & Chair, Urban Resilience Unit
  • Kaustabh Phadke, General Manager & Country Head, Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA)
  • Neha Verma, Director, Ministry of Steel
  • Shantanu Srivastava, Energy Finance Analyst, Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA)
  • Dr. Saon Roy, Professor, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER)
  • Jayant Prasad, Executive Director, cKers Finance
  • Anubha Prasad, General Manager, Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI)
  • Namita Vikas, Founder & Managing Director, auctusESG LLP
  • Akshima Ghate, Managing Director, Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) India
  • Sunil Sharma, Deputy General Manager, Sustainability & Cleantech, BSES Yamuna Power Limited (BYPL)
  • Matthijs Kok, Project leader/advisor Electric Transport and Charging Infrastructure, Municipality of Utrecht, Netherlands
  • Dr. Maria Xylia, Research Fellow, Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI)
  • Divya Sharma, India Executive Director, Climate Group
  • Vidya Soundarajan, Director Ecological Footprint, WWF- India
  • Arivudai Nambi, Director, Climate Resilience Practise, WRI India
  • Bharath Jairaj, Executive Director, Energy, WRI India
  • Dr. Madhu Verma, Chief Economist, WRI India
  • Ashim Roy, Lead, Energy Finance, Energy, WRI India
  • Tirthankar Mandal, Head, Energy Policy, Energy, WRI India
  • Vaisakh Kumar, Project Associate, Energy, WRI India
  • Kajol, Senior Manager, Energy, WRI India
  • Niharika Tagotra, Senior Research Specialist, WRI India
  • Dhilon Subramanian, Manager, Energy Program, WRI India
  • Deepak Tewari, Research Fellow, WRI India
  • Akansha Saklani, Manager, WRI India

WRI Publications

Winds of Change: Learnings for the Indian Offshore Wind Energy Sector

Here Comes the Sun: Residential Consumers’ Experiences With Rooftop Solar PV in Five Indian Cities

Renewable Energy Procurement Perceptions Among Commercial and Industrial Consumers: Current Practices and Future Possibilities

Supply and Demand Scenarios for Tamil Nadu’s Electricity Mix to 2030: Implications for the State’s Energy Transition

Can Renewable Energy Jobs Help Reduce Poverty in India?

How Electricity Distribution Companies in India Can Work With Commercial and Industrial Consumers for Renewable Energy Procurement

Learnings for Tamil Nadu From Grid-connected Agricultural Solar Photovoltaic Schemes in India

Integrating Electricity Priorities Into Healthcare and Education in India: a Review of National and Subnational Policies

Renewable Energy Procurement Perceptions Among Commercial and Industrial Consumers: Current Practices and Future Possibilities

Renewable Energy to Responsible Energy: A Call to Action

The Future Electricity Grid

Powering Development in Climate Vulnerable Areas – Executive Summary

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