Speakers will share their knowledge and expertise in a 90 minute forum sessions, which includes taking questions from the audience. View forum agendas here.
Energy Access- Individual Solar Home Systems Vs Micro-Grids
Ms. Katarina Uherova Hasbani
Katarina has 15 years of professional experience in energy sector. Katarina conducted research and market intelligence work, she developed country level policies and regulations, directed outreach to stakeholders and acted as a project manager, all in clean energy space. In the public sector, she worked for Dubai Government and the European Commission. In the private sector, she worked with privately owned consulting companies, interacting with SMEs and multinationals alike. She is on the Board of the Alliance for Rural Electrification (Industry association, HQ in Belgium) and Female Founders (Non-profit, HQ in Singapore). She holds Global Executive MBA from Insead. Her most recent work includes preparing go-to-market approach in one of the GCC countries and South-East Asia, research and analysis for renewable energy status report in South-East and Eastern Europe, Caucasus, Central Asia and Russian Federation and supporting off-grid rural electrification industry in South and South-East Asia. Katarina covered clean energy issues in more than 30 countries in Europe, Middle East and Asia.
Dr. Harish Hande
Harish Hande is an engineer and renewable energy entrepreneur with over 22 years of grassroots experience in meeting requirements of underserved communities. He is the co-founder of SELCO India, and under his leadership SELCO reached 4,50,000+ households across 6 Indian states, while focusing on Innovation and Ecosystem building, for which he was awarded the Magsaysay Award in 2011. Harish, a graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur and a Masters and PhD from University of Massachusetts, US, returned to India to start SELCO in 1994-95 after experiencing benefits of solar energy in rural areas of Dominican Republic and Sri Lanka. Having installed the first 1000 home lighting systems on his own and over 4,50,000 households now through his company SELCO India, Harish is recognized as a pioneer of rural energy service across the globe. He and his company have received many national and international awards including the Ashden award (2005 and 2007), The tech museum award (2005), Khemka Social entrepreneur of the year 2007 and the Financial Times –Arcelor Mittal Boldness in Business award 2009. Harish was one of the 21 CEOs invited to meet US President Barrack Obama during his visit to Mumbai in 2014.
Prof. Peter Adelmann
Peter Adelmann has been active in PV since 1983. 1988 (ongoing) Lecturer and Professor (since 2003) at “University of Applied Science Ulm”. Guest Professor in various Asian and African Universities. 1990-2000 Manager and GM of Steca. Founder of Steca solar department. 2000-2008 Founder and CEO of Phocos AG. 2005 (ongoing) Member of IEC norming committee (WG3 – solar components). 2008 (ongoing) Senior Consultant of GIZ, Worldbank, UN and other donors. 2010-2015 Visiting Professor for “Off grid Solar Systems” in SERIS. 2011 (ongoing) Founder and Senior Advisor of fosera GmbH & CoKGaA. 2012 (ongoing) Founding director and CEO of the Institute for Decentralized Electrification, Education and Entrepreneurship (id-eee). 2014 (ongoing) Founder and Chair Board Director of BOS AG. 2016 (ongoing) Founder and Chair Board of Directors of Nexol AG
Mr. Geoff Stapleton
Geoff Stapleton specialised in solar (PV) energy in the final year of his electrical engineering degree in 1981. He has worked in the solar industry since 1987 when he started as an engineer with BP Solar Australia. In 1989 he started his own company on the south coast of NSW where he designed, installed and maintained off grid power systems. In the mid-1990’s he acted as a full time consultant for Integral Energy (electricity distributor) and in 1998 he was one of the co-founders of Global Sustainable Energy Solutions Pty Ltd (GSES) . GSES is a multi-disciplinary organisation specialising training and engineering services. GSES is registered training organisation conducting training courses within Australia and internationally and publishes many training resources books. GSES has undertaken projects in Africa, Asia and the Pacific islands. Geoff was a part-time lecturer at the University of NSW School of PV and RE engineering for 14 year. Geoff has been active with the various industry associations since 1991 and is on the Clean Energy Council’s Installers Reference Group : Member of Standards Australia RE committee and IEC TC82; Board Member of International Solar Energy Society (ISES) ; member of IEA PVPS Task 9- RE in Developing countries and secretary of the Sustainable Energy Industry Association of Pacific Islands (SEIAPI).
Dr. AbuBakr Bahaj
AbuBakr Bahaj leads the 55-strong Energy and Climate Change Division at the University of Southampton, where he completed his PhD, progressing from a researcher to a Personal Chair in Sustainable Energy. For more than 25 years, Professor Bahaj has pioneered sustainable energy research and established the energy theme within the University. His major research programmes can be found at www.energy.soton.ac.uk. These include Cities and Infrastructure, Data and Modelling, Energy and Behaviour, Energy and Buildings, Energy for Development, Environmental Impacts, Microgeneration Technologies and Renewable Energy (Solar Photovoltaics and Marine Energy). Professor Bahaj’s work has resulted in over 300 articles, published in academic refereed journals and conference series of international standing. He founded the International Journal of Marine Energy (IJOME) which he is the Editor-in-Chief. In 2012, Prof Bahaj was appointed Chief Scientific Advisor to Southampton City Council—believed to be the first such appointment in the UK and in 2014, the UK’s Science Council named him as one of the UK’s 100 leading practising scientists. In 2014 Prof Bahaj was appointed to King Salman ben Abdulaziz Chair for Energy Research at the King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and 2017 was appointed as a visiting chair to at the Xian University of Architecture and Technology.
Education and Workforce Development
Dr. Paulette Middleton (moderator)
I am a strong advocate for the rapid transformation of the global energy system to renewable energy for all, used wisely and efficiently. Working closely with ISES is an excellent way to contribute to the transformation. During my 40-year career as an atmospheric chemist specializing in assessments that bring science to support appropriate decision making related to energy and the environment, I have come to deeply appreciate the need for this transformation. I strive to effectively use my expertise in research/analyses, program development, and communications/marketing, along with my commitment to collaborative problem solving, to advance ISES’ work. My professional experience includes leadership positions at University of Texas (PhD Chemistry 1973), National Center for Atmospheric Research, Atmospheric Sciences Research Center at the State University of New York at Albany, Science & Policy Associates, Inc., and RAND. Ongoing activities include Global Emissions IniAtive (GEIA) coordinator since 1991 and science-based environment/energy advisor to a wide variety of public and private, and stakeholder consortium clients since 2002 through my company Panorama Pathways. In addition to being ISES Board Secretary, I also am Co-Chair of American Solar Energy Society Board of Directors (the USA Section of ISES).
Prof. Yogi Goswami
Renowned researcher, entrepreneur and solar energy expert D. Yogi Goswami of the University of South Florida has been named the 2016 winner of the Karl W. Böer Solar Energy Medal of Merit.
Goswami's work focuses on reducing costs and developing efficient, effective storage methods for solar energy as well as harnessing solar energy as a catalyst to address environmental problems. Read the full article on the University of Delaware website.
Dr. Jeffrey Brownson
Dr. Jeffrey Brownson is Associate Professor of Energy & Mineral Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University, in University Park, PA (USA). Dr. Brownson researches the evolving interdisciplinary themes of photovoltaics, community solar integration, solar resource assessment, energy engineering and economics, and sustainability. He is the author of "Solar Energy Conversion Systems" (Academic Press, 2013); a solar text book for undergraduate and graduate study with emphasis on project design skills the integration of science, engineering, and economics--applying systems thinking methods for modern design teams of solar energy systems. Dr. Brownson co-directs solar research collaboration for the 2iE-PSU Centre for Collaborative Engagement in Burkina Faso, West Africa; directs the Solar Ecology program for the EMS Energy Institute; and serves as the Solar Option lead for the online intercollege Masters of Professional Studies program in Renewable Energy & Sustainability Systems.
Ms. Emma Aberg
As an Associate Programme Officer with the Knowledge, Policy and Finance Centre at the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Ms. Aberg supports the Agency’s analytical work on renewable energy skills and training. She is further involved in IRENA’s work on corporate sourcing of renewables as well as the IRENA Coalition for Action. Ms. Aberg holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Policy from Lund University.
Breaking the Vicious Circle of Poverty in the Nepal Himalayas
Dr. Alex Zahnd
My Masters and PhD in Renewable Energy (Thesis: “The Role of Renewable Energy Technology in Holistic Community Development”), have been contributory to the successful implementation of context-related, holistic community development (HCD) solutions through the not-for profit NGOs RIDS-Nepal and RIDS-Switzerland in more than twenty villages in the remote high-altitude Nepal Himalayan communities since 1996. These applied development solution brought significant improvements in regard to improved overall living conditions through newly developed, contextualized (renewable) technologies and infrastructures such as toilets, smokeless stoves, basic indoor lighting, access to clean drinking water, greenhouses, solar driers, etc., alongside educational programs in non-formal education, mal-nutrition and income generation. Based on the engagement and commitment in applied HCD in partnership with remote Nepalese villages and my involvement in academic education of engineers in Nepal, I was elected as a member of the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences (SATW) in 2007.
Elsevier workshop on publishing scientific papers
Ms. Deborah Logan
Deborah Logan is Publishing Director for Elsevier’s Energy & Earth journals’ programme, which is the largest publishing programme in the energy and earth sciences, and which includes many flagship titles, including Solar Energy. In addition, Deborah has a key strategic and communications role on a number of projects concerning Elsevier’s journal publishing activities in Asia, including the set-up of a joint venture with China’s largest STM publisher, and in developing partnerships with key institutes in the region to help raise standards around authorship and reviewing. Deborah has been working with Elsevier at their offices in Oxford, UK, since 2006. Before then, she worked at Oxford University Press in UK; at a non-governmental agency in Kenya; with the Japanese Ministry of Education; and at Sony in Japan.