Energypreneurs

Elaine Chen co-founded BillionWatts Technologies, a subsidiary under Billion Electric Corp, with a focus on solar PV and energy storage-related products and solutions. Today, we discussed with this high-energy young entrepreneur the details of today's energy transformation in Taiwan and its key drivers. Elaine shared the future of Taiwan's energy sector and their capacity expansion plans—a huge ta...

Mara Villegas has been in the banking sector since 2008 and is currently the Director for Compliance of a financial investment company. In this episode, we discuss how COVID-19 has accelerated the world of the digital finance industry today and the expected market growth. In the Philippines alone, almost 70% of the population are now using digital banking in almost all of their transaction. Before...

Mary Hendriks, an advocate of electric transport and battery storage, discussed her views on the future of electric vehicles in Australia. We talked about the recent uptakes of electric vehicles in Australia and the incentives on the table. Most of the vehicles in the country are imported from other countries as there is minimal car manufacturing in Australia, but there are some niche opportunitie...

Lloyd develops and implements sustainable urban transport initiatives for ADB's Central and West Asia region. He is particularly supporting the development of quality public transport systems and non-motorized transport integration. In this episode, Lloyd Wright sheds light on some of his recent projects and the fast-changing landscape of urban transport. He explains the advantages of new technolo...

Greg MacGarvie, CEO of ACE Electric Vehicles, the flag bearer of a new and innovative future in Australia explains how he is aligning his company to this once in a lifetime transition. In 2021 ACE EV Group is launching a range of Australian-made light commercial electric vans and cars. In this episode, he shared his Australian EV vision, and why he is expecting a "tsunami" of electric vehicles. Hi...

Giovanni Capannelli, a long-term development professional and the true face of today's multiculturalism shares his exciting professional journey of about two decades across many countries--from islands in the Pacific to landlocked Central Asia-- at the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Today he also shared his insight from the mysterious countries along the Great Silk Road, especially Kazakhstan, wher...

Silverio Navarro, a veteran of Solar Power in the Philippines, shared his insights on the progresses made in the solar market in Philippines. Silver has been part of many solar projects in the country since 1990s and recently working on hybrid systems and financing solar projects. We discuss the regulatory framework, pricing and the size of the market. If you want to understand the Philippine mark...

Dr. Farhad Tagdizadeh, Associate Professor of Economics, Tokai University, Japan shares his insight from his own research work on reasons for the continuous decline of solar power prices. He explains the transition from fossil fuel. His research focus is energy economics, energy policy, and the financial side of green energy. Farhad also explained his findings in the green finance field, including...

Chih-Ting Lo, a mining industry veteran, entrepreneur, and energy expert shared her insight in this high-energy conversation. Her storytelling style conversation touched upon the hydrogen and mining industry de-carbonization   Apart from taking me through the "Mining Industry 101", she touched upon the current trend on hydrogen and how hydrogen-powered vehicles for mining applications may lead to...

Michael Taylor, a senior energy analyst is pushing today's evidence-based good news about the energy transition. As a data analyst, he likes to dig deep into the numbers and try to understand the impact of cost and performance improvements for renewables will have on the energy transition. Today, this International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) veteran talks about IRENA's analysis of renewable t...

Richard Bolt, with his background in electrical engineering, was the secretary of Victoria's Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources. Richard spent some time in political activism as a researcher for the Australian Democrats, before assuming a variety of leadership roles in the Victorian Public Service. In this episode, we were able to discuss his vision for the Australia...

ADB is revising its energy policy and Dr. Yongping Zhai, Chief of Energy, is leading the Energy Policy update for ADB. In this episode, Dr. Zhai and I discussed the energy policy and its challenges: how to get the right policy mix that will be practical enough to deliver ADB's planned climate outcome. No new coal. Yes. But what is the best option for all ADB members? What about gas? Stranded asset...

In this episode, I go through the ADB's draft Energy Policy for public consultation. If you are interested to understand the proposed policy and want to engage in this consultation process, this may be a good start. I discuss the changing energy landscape, ADB's support for climate change, and activities and investments that the energy policy will prioritize to align ADB operations with the Paris...

Today we hear from Alexander Ablaza, the man behind many energy efficiency initiatives across Asia, for more than two decades in development agencies and the private sector. His new passion how to scale up markets through ESCOs and help countries meet their Paris Commitment In this episode, Alex shared his journey on the energy efficiency sector and building non-profit organizations like the Asia...

Jerin Hossain is a mother, entrepreneur, and CEO of a textile company in Bangladesh. Her casual use of social media and engagement with others by sharing her passion to give voice to animals and plants has made her the person with the highest LinkedIn followers in Bangladesh. In today's episode, she shares her insights into her success with another social media guru, Reah Sy, who manages some of t...

Doreen Cooper is an award-winning speaker, international trainer, book author, and content creator. In this episode, we explore more about personal branding and leveraging social media. According to Doreen, personal branding is the identity that you highlight base on your personality, experiences, skills, and values. She also shared some steps on how to start building your personal brand and under...

Varun Kumar Duggal is working on performance modeling and the techno-economic assessment of lithium-ion battery systems. In this episode, we discuss the importance of stationary energy storage systems in the grid and the complexity of battery degradation. We explore the impact of electric vehicles on the grid, the vehicle-to-grid opportunities, options to maximize battery lives, and the timing for...

Monalisa Dimalanta is the former Chairman of the National Renewable Energy Board of the Philippines. In this episode, we talked about the history of renewable energy and energy efficiency in the Philippines. We also explored the Philippines' renewable act, which can be argued as one of the best renewable acts there is, and reviewing the regulatory framework. Monalisa also shared the country's RE d...

Yuki Yu, Researcher & Founder of Energy Iceberg, an information and intelligence in English about the Chinese renewable, and new energy market. Her company focuses specifically on wind or solar, and some of the emerging technology areas like hydrogen and battery energy storage. We discuss China's renewable energy vision, and why China's battery storage capacity will need to increase multifold from...

ADB Ventures is investing in bold technology startups solving today's biggest unsolved problems. Sherwin Pu, the head of ADB's new impact-technology investment platform, talks about its business model to deploy venture capital investments and technical assistance to support early-stage technology businesses. We learn today the intent behind ADB Ventures, what it aims to do to become $1 billion in...

Tim Washington, the co-founder of, JET Charge and Chargefox, two successful EV charging start-ups in Australia, speaks candidly about the private sector-led electric vehicle future of Australia. Tim is also the Chair of the Australian EV Council, and as an early adopter of EV, has been driving a model Tesla Model S with free lifetime charging from Tesla in Melbourne. We come with an innovative con...

Jacqueline van den Ende, a serial entrepreneur, and investor talks about her passion for building high-impact ventures. Born in Australia, growing up in Syria and Europe with ex-pat parents, and even living in Asia she brings an excellent perspective on entrepreneurship in multiple industries and countries—a non-profit consulting firm in Europe, a real estate start-up in the Philippines, and an al...

Jukka Jarvinen, a matrix entrepreneur of batteries, talks about the dawn of a new era, where energy storage brings the biggest paradigm shift in the energy sector. His passion for electric cars started when he drove his first EV in 1992, his love of EV eventually led him to become one of the top battery technology experts. In this episode, he explains the battery value chain, its recycling, demand...

Freddie Tinga, President at Global Electric Transportation, is building new electric vehicles for Asia and Europe. Freddie's team brings technical design from California and manufacturing in Spain. Freddie's vision is to create an entire ecosystem with his 54 kWh 6.5meter four-wheeler electric vehicles. He wants to import fully made electric cars in the Philippines and then eventually establish el...

Rajat Sarawat is an experienced energy sector professional with more than 25 years of experience in the Industry. Rajat's core experience derives from developing and implementing the regulatory frameworks in the energy industry in Australia. As a practicing regulator, he shares his thoughts on the challenges of future regulation as rooftop solar power and batteries are fundamentally changing the e...