The ZENERGY Podcast: Energy Leadership, Finance, and Technology

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. Thi...

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 develop...

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...

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...

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 decentral...

Vaishali Sinha is a founding member of ReNew Power and president of the ReNew Foundation, which is the largest renewable energy development company in India, with more than 10 GW’s of operational capacity.  In our conversation, Ms. Sinha shares what the early days of ReNew looked like, how the idea came about, and what were the key inflection points in the company's journey.  Additionally, this po...

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 inte...

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 th...

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 conversa...

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 spe...

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 an...

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 ren...

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 ho...

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 ca...

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 gover...

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! Topi...

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 cha...

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 y...

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...

Manoj Kohli, the current head of SoftBank India and the former CEO of SoftBank Energy (SBE), 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 y...

In this episode, we speak with Siddharth Singh, author of the “Great Smog of India” and co-lead author of India Energy Outlook 2021 for the International Energy Agency. We have a wide-ranging conversation that dives into this Comprehensive report and touch on topics including renewable energy growth and electricity demand  projections, as well as some of the key factors will have a drastic im...

In this episode, I will be speaking with Pallavi Bishnoi, who is the Principal Investment Specialist for Renewable Energy at Invest India, and helped guide ReNew Power’s 2 GW solar manufacturing investment efforts. In this conversation, we discuss the work of Invest India, how the investment process generally plays out, what incentives that states are offering to attract manufacturing investment,...

Rajat Verma is the CEO of Lohum Batteries, which is an innovative company that focuses on the cell manufacturing and re-configuration of battery storage systems. Mr. Verma received his MS from Stanford and MBA from Harvard and is an alumnus from IIT Kanpur.   In this episode we discuss the energy storage landscape, how the supply chain is structured, and the steps India must take to beco...

In this episode we will be speaking with Vibhav Nuwal, the co-founder of REConnect Energy, which is India's largest REC Trader and one of India’s largest provider of Forecasting, Scheduling and advanced analytics services to the Renewable Energy Sector. We discuss ReConnect's origins and the challenges within the REC market. Hope you enjoy this wide-ranging conversation!

Dr. Rahul Walawakar is currently the Executive Director and the President of the India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA), which is a premier alliance that focuses on the advancement of energy storage and e-mobility technologies in India. In this conversation, we will explore the initiatives the Indian government has undertaken to advance energy storage capacity in India, as well as the potential for...