The ZENERGY Podcast: Energy Leadership, Finance, and Technology

In this episode we will be speaking with Radhika Thakkar, one of the earliest employees of green light planet, a leading global provider of solar home energy products to over 45 million rural consumers that employs over 1000 dedicated individuals. Ms. Thakkar helped expand the company’s presence from India to Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin American within one year of operations, to include hundreds of channel parters in more than 50 countries around the world today. Ms. Thakkar is also the president of the board of directors of Gogla, which is the global association for the off-grid solar energy industry and represents over 200 organizations. Hope you enjoy our wide-ranging conversation!

Topics covered under this podcast:

1. What was the origin story of Greenlight Planet?

2. Key early moments in the Greenlight Planet trajectory

3. Evolution of Greenlight Planet products

4. Evolution of the solar off-grid market

Manoj Kohli is the current head of SoftBank India and the former CEO of Airtel. Mr. Kohli also was the founding CEO of SoftBank Energy (SBE), and was instrumental in enabling SBE to develop 5.5 GW of solar capacity in the Indian market. In this conversation Mr. Kohli shares the story behind what propelled SoftBank to invest in this market in 2015, and how the risks have evolved over the years. This conversation concludes with great guidance to the younger generation — developed from years of experience as a business leader and mentor for countless entrepreneurs.

Topics covered in this podcast:

1. How will renewable energy shape India’s global leadership position in the next decade?

2. When will energy storage become an affordable possible solution?

3. How did the risks in the Indian renewable energy sector evolve from 2015 onwards?

4. What role have foreign direct investments played in the development of RE industry in India?

5. Which will be more difficult to attract, long-term debt, equity or short-term debt?

6. What ultimately led SoftBank to invest in the solar sector in India in 2015?

7. What are the focus areas of possible collaboration between India and the US?

8. Guidance from Mr. Kohli to the younger generation

Inderpreet Wadhwa is the founder of Azure Power, which is one of India’s leading renewable energy development companies that has a total installed capacity of 7 GWs.

Azure power was the first renewable energy company to have an IPO and the first of any Indian energy company to list an issuance of solar green bonds in the international market.

In this conversation Mr. Wadhwa explains how he developed Azure Power into one of the most successful energy companies in India and reflects on the challenges the company was able to overcome along the way. ​ Topics covered in this podcast: ​ Mr. Wadhwa briefly introduces himself and his involvement into the solar sector [6:41] The story behind one of the earliest Indian solar opportunities How did solar energy in India take off in the early days? [11:22] What were the challenges in the early days of the solar sector and how have these evolved over time? Will tariffs continue to be commercially viable even at these extremely low prices? [35:03] An incredible piece of advice for the young professionals from Mr. Wadhwa

Meagan Fallone is the recent CEO and current board member of Barefoot College International, which received a Skoll foundation award for its pivotal work in helping to improve the livelihoods of rural communities across the globe. Barefoot College was founded in 1972 and now has an established presence in 93 countries across the world, with its decentralized energy applications producing 1.6 GW of renewable energy annually. In this conversation we explore Barefoot’s model and how it is able to scale to the world’s most diverse and impoverished regions. Hope you enjoy my conversation with Ms. Meagan Fallone!

Topics covered in this podcast:

1. ​How has mountain climbing impacted Ms. Fallone's ability to navigate fear?

2. Ms. Fallone walks us through a typical day while travelling in a new international village

3. Barefoot contributes 1.6 gigawatts of sustainable energy annually via decentralized systems

4. How is the Solar Mama model targeted towards the lower level of the pyramid?

5. How is technology incorporated in the solar mama training program?

6. Women at the center of impact in developing communities

7. How is the training system communicated to such diverse groups of people?

8. Ms. Fallone gives insight into Barefoot College's end to end technology system

9. Ms. Fallone offers her guidance to the younger generation

Todéman F. Assan is the Head of the Ministry of Energy, Water and Mines in Benin. Benin is importantly situated in West Africa and is where the HQ for the West African Power Pool is based. In this interview, Mr. Assan discusses the West African renewable energy landscape, the challenges that have to be overcome for its development and the process of formulating solar projects across this region. I hope you enjoy this conversation with Mr. Assan!

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Topics to be discussed:

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[1:40] A Brief introduction to Mr. Assan

[2:40] What is the current energy mix of exports versus imports in Benin

[7:20] What are the challenges of building out the transmission and distribution lines in urban areas?

[8:30] Are there any government plans to increase Benin's solar generation capacity?

[13:20] What are the tariff rates for Benin's existing solar projects?

[15:05] Is the financing for long-term renewable energy projects guaranteed by the Benin government?

[21:13] What is Benin's role in the West African Power Pool

[25:46] What does the future of solar energy look West Africa, given the mission of the WAPP

Gaurav Gupta is the Global Head of Dalberg’s Energy practice, which is one of the world's top impact consulting firms. As the founder of Dalberg's Asia practice, Mr. Gupta has been a key contributor for Dalberg's growth and primarily focuses his efforts in the areas of energy access, sustainability, access to education, and poverty alleviation. In this conversations, Mr. Gupta breakdowns decentralized energy applications and provides his perspective on what he believes the future of energy to look like.

Topics covered in this podcast

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1. A brief introduction of the speaker and their involvement in the energy sector

2. What are the categories of energy Dalberg works on?

3. Is Dalberg's focus on centralized or off-grid?

4. Will there be large scale development in decentralized energy distribution across India?

5. Will India be an established global leader in the renewable sector moving forward?

[2:00] What differentiates ReNew and separates it from the competition?

[6:56] What does the digital initiative entail?

[9:47] Mr. Anand Gupta explains the culture around ReNew's innovation

[12:21] What process did the acquisition process of Climate Connect look like and how does it fit ReNew’s strategy? 

[16:06] Ms. Sinha talks about the story behind Goldman Sachs' investment, an early inflection point 

[22:51] What are the foundation plans for the Lighting Lives Program? 

[26:53] What are the foundation plans for the ReWind Program? 

[32:09] What advice would Ms. Sinha give to the younger generation?

Dan Croft is a founding member of the IFC scaling solar program and was instrumental in  developing and implementing IFC's so-called ‘Upstream’ strategy. He has been involved in the renewable sector since the beginning of his  career, and has extensive experience advising governments and other  authorities on how to form public-private partnerships in the energy sector. In this interview, Mr. Croft gives us an insight into the  African solar market, what the challenges for renewable energy  integration are across several African countries, and why storage will  play such a key role moving forward. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Mr. Croft!

Topics covered on this podcast:

1. A brief introduction to Mr. Croft's involvement in the energy sector

2. What was the idea behind the first scaling solar initiative, which was in Zambia?

3. What were the key challenges in the African solar market, early on in its development?

4. What  are the primary obstacles which the IFC scaling solar program helps to  manage across the RE markets in Northern, Eastern and Western African countries?

5. How important will energy storage be in the IFC scaling solar's future programming?

6. What does the future of renewable energy look in Africa?

Benson Mwakina is the Director of Renewable energy in Kenya, and in this capacity, Mr. Mwakina oversees all of the renewable energy initiatives in Kenya which is one of the fastest growing emerging countries located in East Africa. Kenya’s electrification has been one of the success stories, improving from an 8% rate in 2000 to now 75% in 2020. In this conversation, Mr. Mwakina walks us through the government's plans to invest further in solar energy projects and how the country plans to prop up its electricity demand. ​I hope you enjoy my conversation with Mr. Mwakina!

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Topics covered in this podcast:

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[1:45] Mr. Mwakina introduces himself and speaks about background

[3:05] What are the solar development plans for the Kenyan government?

[8:15] Is the Garissa Project the only large scale, operational project presently?

[9:17] Is Kenya's sole distribution company government owned?

[9:55] Mr. Mwakina speak sabout the sanctity of PPAs to quell investor concerns

[12:16] Have the PAN African Alliances played an important role in Kenya’s energy development?

[15:20] Could the solar electricity be distributed across several African countries?

[16:58] What role does foreign investment play? How do you encourage foreign direct investment in renewable energy?

[19:00] How has Kenya been able to achieve such great success in the off-grid space?

Ajaita Shah is a social activist and the founder and CEO of Frontier Markets, which has sold over 1 million products to customers across India’s last mile. As Ms. Shah describes it, “Frontier is going to be the Amazon of the last mile,” and in this episode, we explore what led to the founding of Frontier Markets, the initial fears, and how the model as evolved over time. Hope you enjoy my conversation with Ms. Ajaita Shah!

In case interested - transcript link here:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GzKwTQ38nHohp8PPlXtUj_YKS3EPCGlQ/view?usp=sharing

Topics covered in this podcast:

[1:48]  What was the biggest fear or impediment for Ms. Shah prior to launching?

[5:49] What were the motivations behind launching Frontier Markets?

[11:58] How was the solar saheli model developed?

[13:08] What are the five biggest changes that Frontier has implemented from 2015 to today?

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Anjali Bailakrishna (chief of staff from June 2019 - September 2020)

[13:40] The role of technology in Frontier's operations

[14:21] How does the e-commerce model work in reality?

[17:05] How are payments processed, are they credit or cash based?

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[22:10] The Frontier financing model and Ms. Shah's perspective on the rural financing landscape moving forward

[23:35] What does Frontier's distribution chain look like

[24:38] What are the most rewarding aspects of engaging as a social entrepreneur?

[27:04] As a leading mentor to young women entrepreneurs, what are some of the patterns that Ms. Shah sees across this group, and what common advice does Ms. Shah offer them?