Rangan Banerjee  ( Director, IIT Delhi )

Prof. Rangan Banerjee is currently the Director, IIT Delhi. From February 2022 he is on lien from IIT Bombay where he served as the Forbes Marshall Chair Professor in the Department of Energy Science and Engineering - a department that he helped start in 2007. His areas of interest include energy management, modelling of energy systems, energy planning and policy, hydrogen energy and fuel cells. Prof. Rangan Banerjee currently serves on the editorial board of International Journal of Sustainable Energy, International Journal of Sustainable Engineering, International Journal of Thermodynamics, Solar Energy Advances, Global Transitions (Energy Transitions). He has been involved in setting up a MegaWattscale Solar Thermal Power Testing, Simulation, Research Facility sponsored by the Ministry of New and Renewable. Energy and is the faculty advisor of Team Shunya- India’s first student team in the Solar Decathlon Europe finals. He has been involved in advising the city, state regulatory commission and energy agency, Planning commission, Niti Aayog, MNRE on energy issues and worked with several Indian and international industries. Prof. Banerjee has been the Dean (R&D) and received the Excellence in Teaching Award from IIT Bombay and is a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering. Prof. Banerjee is also an Adjunct faculty (Honorary) in the Department of Engineering & Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University.

P. Muthukumar  (Professor, Mechanical Engineering, IIT Tirupati )

Prof. P. Muthukumar is currently the professor in Mechanical Engineering, IIT Tirupati. He has been serving as an expert member in several ministries including DST, MHRD, Ministry Oil and Natural Gas, Ministry of External Affair, etc. for research project funding and monitoring. He is also expert / steering committee member in BIS, AICTE, NAAC and many other professional organizations. His area of research includes sorption heating and cooling systems, hydrogen energy storage, metal hydride based thermal machines, coupled heat and mass transfer in porous medium, porous medium combustion, etc. He has received many prestigious fellowships like BASE fellowship in 2014 and USIEF in 2018. He also received “Mechanical Engineering Design Award 2017, from National Design & Research Forum (NDRF) of “The Institution of Engineers (India)”, on 21st Dec 2017. He has published around 350 research articles in various International Journals and conference proceedings, edited four books and written 16 book chapters. He is having 12 national patents for his credit. He has served as guest editor in 3 elsevier Journal special issues. He has supervised 24 PhD, 65 M.Tech and 5 MS student’s theses. He has successfully completed 10 sponsored research projects worth of 650 lakhs and five consultancy projects worth of 75 lakhs. Currently he is handling 7 research projects worth of 1200 lakhs. He is the reviewer of more than 75 International Journals in the area of hydrogen energy, energy storage, refrigeration, heat transfer, etc. and also reviewed several research proposals from DST, MNRE, Qatar Research Board, etc. He has been serving as expert member in several ministries including DST, MHRD, Ministry Oil and Natural Gas, Ministry of External Affair, etc for research project funding and monitoring. He is also expert / steering committee member in BIS, AICTE, NAAC and many other professor organizations.honoured as Eminent Engineer -2019 from “The Institution of Engineers (India)”, Assam State Centre.

Simhachalam Juttu  ( General Manager, ARAI )

Dr. Simhachalam Juttu is currently holding the position of General Manager in ARAI in engine development lab. He has been serving as an expert member in several ministries including DST, MHRD, Ministry Oil and Natural Gas, Ministry of External Affair, etc. for research project funding and monitoring. He is also expert / steering committee member in BIS, AICTE, NAAC and many other professional organizations. His area of research includes sorption heating and cooling systems, hydrogen energy storage, metal hydride based thermal machines, coupled heat and mass transfer in porous medium, porous medium combustion, etc. He has received many prestigious fellowships like BASE fellowship in 2014 and USIEF in 2018. He has published around 350 research articles in various International Journals and conference proceedings, edited four books and written 16 book chapters. He is having 12 national patents for his credit. He has served as guest editor in 3 elsevier Journal special issues. He also received “Mechanical Engineering Design Award 2017, from National Design & Research Forum (NDRF) of “The Institution of Engineers (India)”, on 21st Dec 2017. During 2019, he was honoured as Eminent Engineer -2019 from “The Institution of Engineers (India)”, Assam State Centre.

Pankaj Batra  ( Project Director, Integrated Research and Action for Development (IRADe))

Mr. Pankaj Batra is currently working as the Project Director, USAID funded Project on South Asia Regional Initiative for Energy Integration (SARI/EI) at Integrated Research and Action for Development (IRADe). Mr. Batra has more than 35 years of experience and is responsible for spearheading the SARI/EI program Mr. Batra is also currently the Chairperson of Working Group 4 on “Policy, Regulation, and Business Models” in the India Smart Grid Forum, Chairperson of the BIS Committee of LITD 10 – “Power System Control and Associated Communication”and Chairperson of the BIS Committee ETD-52, for making technical Standards on Grid-Scale Storage. Prior to joining IRADe, Mr. Pankaj Batra served as the Chairperson and CEO of the Central Electricity Authority and was responsible for the overall development of the Indian power system including Hydro, Thermal and Renewable Power as well as the Transmission & Distribution System of the country. He was also Member (Planning) and ex-officio Additional Secretary to the Government of India. He has earlier also worked as Chief (Engineering) in the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission and as Executive Engineer in Chukha Hydro Power Corporation, Bhutan, on deputation from the Government of India, in operation and maintenance of the power station and later in operation and maintenance of the transmission and distribution system.

Sandeep Bangia ( Head – EV , Tata Power)

Sandeep combines his understanding of emerging technologies & digital platforms, experience in telecom and mobility space and his passion towards clean mobility to drive innovative solutions in the EV charging ecosystem. He's an Electrical Engineer from our very own VJTI Mumbai – Class of 1993. He then went on to do an MBA from NMIMS, Mumbai University. He has completed programs on Digital Marketing from Univ of Illinios & Blockchain from INSEAD, Singapore. Starting with consumer durables for Carrier Aircon he spent a large part of his career in telecom for marquee organizations like Tata Teleservices, Reliance, and Idea Cellular (now Vodafone Idea) working across the spectrum with Product Management, Business operations, Business Strategy, Value Added Services, Digital platforms and similar. He has dabbled with entrepreneurship and start-up ideas in the EV and Consumer IOT domain for a while before joining TATA Power leading these very verticals. Off work, he writes about any topic close to his heart –Electric Mobility, Blockchain, AI, Customer Centricity and similar. His writings can be seen on ET Brand Equity, Hindu Business Line, Free Press Journal, Business Standard and such. He is an avid outdoors person and indulges in endurance running, cycling & Swimming. Over 2 dozen half marathons and a couple of triathlons under his belt, he wanted to do an Ironman 70.3 in 2020 which may now have to wait. In his free time, he cooks for his daughters.

Chetan Singh Solanki ( Professor, IIT Bombay)

Prof. Chetan Singh Solanki is an educator, researcher, innovator and happiness program teacher of Art of Living, who is currently on unpaid leave from IIT Bombay. He has undertaken Energy Swaraj Yatra from Nov. 2020 through a solar bus for 11 years, until 2030. In this yatra, Prof. Solanki has pledged not to go home until 11 years and stay in the solar yatra bus. In the wake of serious and catastrophic climate change, this Energy Swaraj Yatra is designed with the purpose to create a public movement towards adoption of 100% solar energy. He has been honored with the Brand Ambassador of Solar Energy of Madhya Pradesh Government. Prof. Solanki has also been referred to as “Solar Man of India” by Times of India, The Hindu and India Today. Some people also call him “Solar Gandhi.” Following Gandhian ideals, he has coined the word ‘Energy Swaraj’ and to establish Energy Swaraj globally he has founded the Energy Swaraj Foundation (ESF)

Ariel Liebman ( Director, Monash Energy Institute)

As Director of the Monash Energy Institute, Ariel leads Monash’s Digital Energy initiatives. He brings together researchers from across disciplines such as Economics, Econometrics, Data Science, Optimisation and Electrical Engineering to identify ways to optimally integrate new and renewable technologies into the system. Ariel also brings practical expertise, advising and consulting on portfolio risk management, carbon pricing and consumer electricity price trends. From 2020 onwards, Ariel has been Director of the Monash Energy Institute and leads the RACE for Networks Program in the Reliable Affordable Clean Energy (RACE) for 2030 CRC. Internationally, Ariel led the Australia Indonesia Centre Energy Cluster directing a $2.8M research program in Microgrids and Energy System transition to tackle the challenge of integrating distributed storage and renewables into new system planning and investment. He has recently led a project in collaboration with Indonesian and European NGO’s showing that energy efficiency and a shift to renewables can cost Indonesia no more than their current coal-based plans while reaching 50% renewables by 2030.

A.D. Thirumoorthy  (B.E., Energy Consultant, Government of TamilNadu)

Mr. A.D. Thirumoorthy has over 40 years of experience in the power sector and is currently a consultant to many leading industries and associations in the area of Energy Efficiency, Renewables and Power Quality. He serves as the Member, State Working Group for Renewables, Govt of Tamil Nadu; Chief Technical Advisor, Indian Wind Power Association; Member, Bureau of Indian Standards Committee. He is also an approved faculty and member of the board of studies for handling one credit course and guiding UG and PG student projects in a number of engineering colleges and universities. His residence is Net Zero with Zero Energy, Zero-Waste, Zero Emission and Zero Water Discharge capabilities.

Gordon McTaggart-Cowan  (Professor, Simon Fraser University)

Dr. McTaggart-Cowan is an Associate Professor in the School of Sustainable Energy Engineering at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada. He received his PhD from the University of British Columbia working on low-emission combustion. He then spent four years as a lecturer at Loughborough University in the UK, and then 10 years as a research lead at Westport Fuel Systems Inc. At Westport, he led projects on advanced combustion processes, engine technologies and vehicle systems optimized for gaseous fuels. At SFU, his team is studying the use of low carbon fuels including biomethane and hydrogen with a focus on commercial vehicle applications.

Shireesh Kedare  (Professor, IIT Bombay)

Prof. Shireesh Kedare is presently a Professor at IIT Bombay. His focus is on solar thermal technologies for industrial process heat as well as for solar thermal power with storage suitable for Indian conditions. Issues related to aerodynamic and structural design of small wind machine rotors is another set of activities that he is pursuing presently. He is also working on rural energy issues and technologies. Prof. Shireesh Kedare is B.Tech. in Mechanical Engineering (1985) from IIT Bombay and has Ph.D. (1992) from IIT Bombay in “Reciprocating Wind Machine”. He has been associated with Centre for Technology Alternatives for Rural Areas (CTARA), IIT Bombay, Students for Development (a voluntary organization), Vivekananda Gram¬vikas Prakalpa, Latur, Society for Advancement of Renewable Materials and Energy Technologies (SARMET), Mumbai, Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), Mumbai till 2001. His role was pivotal in design, fabrication, installation and performance testing of ‘Arun’ solar Fresnel concentrating reflector with cavity receiver at its focus. He has developed and tested two versions of Arun, 10 sq.m at Kolhapur (1998) and 28 sq.m at Pune (2001¬2004). The commercial versions developed are tested extensively in field: Arun160 at Latur (2004¬2007), Arun 00 at New Delhi (2012¬2013) and Arun30 at Palghar (2013). He is also working on integration of solar concentrator technology for a variety of industrial processes as well as commercial applications using steam, pressurized water or thermic fluid as media as well as for steam augmentation in thermal power plants.