The ZENERGY Podcast: Energy Leadership, Finance, and Technology

Hi everybody! With all that is happening in India right now - in terms of the covid situation - The Fulbright ZENERGY Podcast is taking a small break

I would like to stand with those who are suffering in this pandemic and also be respectful to my guests who I often ask to share their respective episodes via social media at the time of release

Today I simply will be posting an episode of myself speaking to graduating students on the key lessons I learned through engaging in the Fulbright

Everybody take care - we will back soon - and if you would like to contribute to India’s covid efforts - am linking a place that people can donate to in my story. Thank you. 

Mr. Anand Shah is the co-founder of Ola Electric, which is India’s largest electric vehicle company. As a leader on the Ola Electric team, Anand Shah helped formulate Ola Electric’s Mission Electric initiative, which seeks to put 1 million electric vehicles on the road by 2021. Through this interview, we explore Mr. Shah's perspective on social entrepreneurship, the importance of energy storage and how EVs and renewable energy will shape India in the decade to come. Hope you enjoy my conversation with Mr. Shah!

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Topics covered in this podcast:

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[2:24] Key learnings from interviewing 2000 people as a BMW executive, on the future of mobility

[7:49] Which social entrepreneurship qualities are pivotal according to Mr. Shah?

[11:34] Is the entrepreneurial problem solving process linear or exponential?

[13:14] What led Mr. Shah into social entrepreneurship?

[15:39] What was his role in Ola Electric’s vision “Mission Electric”?

[19:28] Importance of a combination of both clean energy generation and storage capacity

[22:01] What are Mr. Shah’s views on battery swapping?

[24:34] Will renewable energy and electric vehicles serve as a platform to help more firmly establish India's leadership position on the world stage?

Meagan Fallone is the recent CEO of Barefoot College International and current board member, which is a Skoll foundation awardee 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. Meagain Fallone!

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Topics covered in this podcast:

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[1:57] How has mountain climbing impacted Ms. Fallone's ability to navigate fear?

[8:10] Ms. Fallone walks us through a typical day while travelling in a new international village

[11:26] Barefoot contributes 1.6 gigawatts of sustainable energy annually via decentralized systems

[13:50] How is the Solar Mama model targeted towards the lower level of the pyramid?

[16:19] How is technology incorporated in the solar mama training program?

[20:28] Women at the center of impact in developing communities

[21:50] How is the training system communicated to such diverse groups of people?

[25:05] Ms. Fallone gives insight into Barefoot College's end to end technology system

[28:00] Ms. Fallone offers her guidance 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.

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Topics covered in this podcast:

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[01:58] Mr. Wadhwa briefly introduces himself and his involvement into the solar sector

[6:41] The story behind one of the earliest Indian solar opportunities

[14:30] 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?

[26:03] Will tariffs continue to be commercially viable even at these extremely low prices?

[35:03] An incredible piece of advice for the young guns from Mr. Wadhwa

Mr. Harsh Vardhan Shringla is India’s Foreign Secretary and Former Ambassador of India to the US. In this episode, Foreign Secretary Shringla explains how renewable energy can help India assume a stronger leadership position in the world and simultaneously help combat global warming by cutting down on carbon emissions. Foreign Secretary Shringla also articulates the potential partnerships which can be explored between the US and India in the clean energy space for the future. Hope you enjoy my conversation ​with Foreign Secretary Shringla!

Topics covered in this podcast:

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What will be the role of India in the new geopolitical landscape created by the transition to sustainable energy?

How India’s demand curve for energy compares with that of other countries

How could India’s partnership with the U.S help the global development of renewable energy?

What specific area is it best to focus on to strengthen this partnership in the clean energy space?

Taranjit Singh Sandhu is the current Ambassador of India to the US and former High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka. In this conversation, Ambassador Sandhu provides a historical overview of the relationship between India and the US, and talks about how the relationship has evolved over time. Ambassador Sandhu discusses the strengths of the Indian renewable energy market and what steps the government is taking to facilitate greater access for foreign investors.

I hope you enjoy my conversation with Ambassador Sandhu!

Topics covered in this podcast: ​ How has the US-India relationship evolved over time? How can the younger population engage to further strengthen this relationship? What are the specific strengths of India and the US in the development of the energy sector? What exactly is the “One grid, one world” vision? What are the key challenges that investors express, who are interested in Indian investments? What work has the embassy engaged in to address these investor concerns and what policies have been enacted to make investing in the Indian energy market more accessible? Ambassador Sandhu makes a call to action to potential investors interested in the Indian energy space

In this conversation we will be speaking with Mukesh Aghi, the current president and CEO of the US - India Strategic Partnership Forum also known as USISPF. Mr. Aghi has been at the forefront of diplomacy between US and India and in this conversation, we hear from Mr. Aghi about the opportunities and challenges for deeper collaboration between the two countries moving forward. Hope you Enjoy!

Topics discussed in this episode: 

1.  What led Mr. Aghi to get interested in the US-India space

2. How the idea to form USISPF came about

3. Key opportunities for collaboration between US and India moving forward

4. Key challenges business leaders express in terms of conducting business in the Indian environment

5. Ideal partnership between US and India ten and thirty years from now

In this conversation we will be speaking with Nisha Biswal, the current president of the US-India Business Council and former Assistant Secretary at the US State Department. Ms. Biswal has extensive experience working in the South Asian region, and in this conversation, we hear from Ms. Biswal about how the US-India relationship has evolved over the past decade, what have been some of the main challenges for establishing a free trade agreement, and opportunities for deeper economic engagement between the two countries moving forward. Hope you enjoy!

Topics discussed in this episode:

In this conversation we will be speaking with Gagan Sidhu, who heads the Center for Energy Finance at CEEW, one of India’s leading energy think-tanks. In this conversation, we breakdown India’s energy financing landscape: who the major players are, how the industry is structured, how much investment is being driven in currently, and what is required to attract more international investment. Hope you enjoy our conversation!

Topics covered in this episode:

Rahul Tongia led the Brookings India sustainability practice which recently has transitioned into the Center for Social and Economic Progress. Dr. Tongia is also a founder of the India smart grid forum and has written extensively on the system level challenges associated with the grid integration of Renewable Energy sources.  In this conversation, Dr. Tongia expands on this topic, and breaks down the system levels costs associated with renewable energy integration into its various components. Hope you enjoy my conversation with Dr. Tongia!

Topics covered in this podcast:

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1. How does the level of RE integration in India compare with other countries?

2. Will high RE penetration levels pose significant challenges to grid operators?

3. Is there a penetration threshold for renewable energy onto the grid, which once exceeded, grid operators will then face great difficulty to manage the energy flows?

4. A detailed breakdown of the system level impacts of Renewable energy on the grid

5. Analysis of previously calculated system level costs of RE integration, and Dr. Tongia's perspective on whether these estimated cost quantities are representative of true costs