Urja Prabodhan Kendra (UPK), a think-tank that studies state and national energy issues, organized a seminar on India's National Energy Policy. This seminar was organized at the S. P. Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR) in Mumbai.
The chief guest for this event was Mr. D. M. Sukthankar (former Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India and former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra).
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Dr. Pramod Deo (Ex-Chairman, Central Electricity Regulatory Commission) delivered the keynote speech.
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Mr. V. P. Raja (Ex-Chairman, Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission) presented the valedictory address.
Findings from this seminar will be presented to the NITI Aayog.
Dr. Pramod Deo, former Chairman of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission was electricity regulator for over 11 years, a record in India. Dr. Deo has 32 years of experience in the energy sector at policy, regulatory and project management levels in state government, central government and international level. He has worked with two international institutions namely UNEP Risoe Centre on Energy, Climate and Sustainable Development (URC), Denmark and Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Bangkok.
Dr. Deo is the founding director of Maharashtra Energy Development Agency and Energy Management Centre, set up to promote renewable energy and energy effciency respectively. The latter has been upgraded as Bureau of Energy Effciency (BEE) to implement the Energy Conservation Act 2001. Dr. Deo is a recipient of the World Wind Energy Award 2005 from World Wind Energy Association for his outstanding achievement in the dissemination of
wind energy.
Rich in academics with post-graduate degree in Physics, Ph.D in Infrastructure Economics and post-doctoral research in Energy Policy and Economics, Dr. Deo has to his credit three books co-authored, on energy planning, energy management and regulatory approach to green power.
Mr. D. M. Sukthankar, Master of Commerce, IAS, is Retired Chief Secretary to the Government of Maharashtra. Mr. Sukthankar has held various roles in the Government of Maharashtra, including Secretary,Education Department, Secretary, Industries Department, Metropolitan Commissioner and Municipal Commissioner of Bombay Municipal Corporation and was Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development,Government of India.Mr. Sukthankar is recognised as an expert on issues related to urban development and management and has been associated with the housing sector for a number of years. He served as an Independent Non Executive Director at Indoco Remedies Limited from September 10, 1994 to November 3, 2012.
Mr. V. P. Raja is an IAS Officer belonging to the 1974 Maharashtra cadre. He was Chairman of Maharashtra Electricity Regulators Commission (MERC) from 2008 to 2013 and also concurrently Chairman of Expert Appraisal Committee (Thermal Projects and Coal Mining), Ministry of Environment and Forest, Government of India. Prior to that, he was Principal Advisor to Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India.
Mr. Rajkiran V. Bilolikar is an Associate Professor in Energy at the Centre for Energy, Environment, Urban Governance, and Infrastructure Development of Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad. Mr. Bilolikar has worked in various capacities in electricity distribution management, energy conservation and energy efficiency in buildings, techno-economic feasibility studies, regulatory affairs of electricity industry, tariff analysis, annual performance analysis of power utilities, and IT application development in utilities and renewable energy and its integration in India.
Mr. Rakesh Kumar retired as the GM & Energy Expert at National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and worked in the power sector for the last 39 years prior to that. His experience & expertise is very diverse and covers: power project execution; engineering, commissioning and operation of large thermal power plant along with energy conservation; environment/solar power/ash management/R&R and safety management in powerplants. He also has astute expertise in marketing / business development /contracts / joint ventures / strategy / estimation valuation, pricing and solarpower development. Post retirement he was also interviewed for the post of Member of Delhi StateRegulatory Commission and also for the Post of Director General of the Bureau of Energy Effciency.
Dr. Ramakrishna R Sonde, is the Chief Technology Offcer and Executive Vice President of Research, Technology & Innovation at Thermax Ltd. A Gold Medalist of the University of Mysore and a Ph. D. from IIT, Bombay, Dr. Sonde joined Thermax in 2008 after an illustrious career with the Department of Atomic Energy, Govt. of India and with NTPC Ltd., the leading power utility of the country. Dr. Sonde joined as Scientist in the Department of Atomic Energy and rose to senior positions in various capacities. At NTPC, he was heading the Technology Development Division and was largely responsible for the development of clean coal technologies and energy-effcient systems for the Indian power sector. At Thermax, Dr. Sonde is currently developing and nurturing the Centre for Research, Technology & Innovation (RTIC). He is deeply involved in the technology development activities in the fields of Energy and Environment, including several projects based on renewable energy technologies such as hybridized solar thermal power plant, solar air conditioning system, geothermal power plant, energy generation from MSW,organic Rankine cycle for low temperature heat recovery.
Keynote Address by Dr. Pramod Deo
Chief Guest Address by Mr. D. M. Sukthankar
Energy Administration: Why the current mess and the way out by V. P. Raja
Electricity Distribution Companies: Will they ever go from moribund to healthy? by Mr. R. V. Bilolikar
Coal: Necessary but does it have to be so evil? by Mr. Rakesh Kumar
New & Emerging Clean Technologies: The only way out by Dr. R Sonde
Gas: The lesser evil (than coal) by Mr. A. M. Dharam
Wind Energy: Solar's ideal companion by Mr. Ravindran
Solar Mini-Grids & Rural Electrification: Integrating the neglected ones into the mainstream by Mr. Parag Shukal