ISUW 2020

Reji Kumar Pillai is the President of India Smart Grid Forum (www.indiasmartgrid.org) since its inception in 2011 and is also the Chairman of Global Smart Energy Federation since November 2016. He an internationally renowned expert with nearly four decades of experience in the electricity sector in diverse functions covering the entire value chain and across continents. He is spearheading a mission to leverage technology to transform the electric grid in India and provide clean and reliable electricity to every citizen 24x7 at affordable cost. He is actively advocating for the “Right to Electricity Act” that will ensure lifeline supply of electricity to all citizens in India. He is also advocating for a “Right to Sleep Act” to provide climate controlled sleeping pods in low income communities. Reji has played pivotal role in several ground breaking initiatives related to renewable energy, electric grid modernization, electric mobility, energy storage and digitalization inIndia during the past two decades. His current areas of research and work include: Grid Integrated Vehicles, District Cooling, Electric Cooking, Smart Grids as Anchor Infrastructure for Smart Cities, Grid Interactive Buildings and Campuses; Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Blockchain Applications for Utilities; Urban Air Mobility (UAM) Systems and the Future of Transportation; and Interconnection of Regional Grids in Asia - ASEAN, SAARC and GCC grids. In November 2016, Reji was unanimously elected as Chairman of Global Smart Grid Federation, now renamed as Global Smart Energy Federation (GSEF), a global umbrella organization of smart grid/energy associations and utilities from 16 countries and the European Union; and headquartered in Washington DC, USA. As an entrepreneur, Reji has built successful enterprises in India and overseas and exited them. He has studied Engineering, Finance, Management and Law; worked with NTPC and IBM and has been senior consultant with ADB, World Bank and USAID. A recognized thought leader in clean energy, smart grid technologies, smart cities and electric mobility, Reji is a popular key-note speaker at international symposiums and conferences on these domains. He has also contributed to several articles, books, research reports and white papers on variety of topics.  Girish Ghatikar leads the information and communication technologies (ICT) program at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) in the USA. Ghatikar's research identifies, creates, and transfers digital energy solutions for the electric industry, emphasizing the remote management of distributed energy resource technologies (demand response, electric vehicles, energy storage, and distributed generation) and services. Before joining EPRI, Ghatikar was Chief Research Officer at Greenlots (a Shell New Energy company) and led the development of electric vehicle-grid and battery storage-integrated business solutions. Ghatikar has served at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory as Deputy Leader for Grid Integration research and is Chief Architect for international demand response data communication standard, OpenADR. Ghatikar's work has appeared in over 100 publications, and he holds dual Masters degrees in Telecommunication Systems/Computer Technologies and Infrastructure Planning. Vijay Sonavane is Former Member to Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC). He retired as Member, MERC in August 2014. He is BE / ME (ELECTRICAL) from Pune University. On August 20, 2009, he was appointed by Govt. of Maharashtra as Member (Technical) in MERC for a period of five years. He is Member of the Committee set up by Govt. of India for preparing Regulations for Smart Grids. He is Mentor for MAHA-Smart Grid Coordination Committee, set up by MERC for development of Smart Grid projects in Maharashtra. During his previous assignments, he was associated with Power System Planning, PLC Communication, Load Dispatching, Hardware/ Application Software maintenance for Energy Control Centre, Distribution Systems Improvement, Energy Auditing System, 400KV planning, HVDC Erection & Commissioning, Tariff Petition Formation, Internal Reform, Corporate Planning, System Operation, and Distribution Project monitoring. He worked as Dy EE, EE, SE, CE, ED(CP), & finally promoted as Director (Projects) from March to August 2009. (Total: over 33 years experience in MSEB/MSEDCL). BP Singh is a graduate in Mining Engineering from IIT (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad, and has over 45 years of experience in the power & energy sector. He was Member in DERC (Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission), till Sept 2018. He has issued four successive Tariff Orders for the period 2014 to 2018, being consumer friendly, and was highly acclaimed at all levels. As a part of power sector reforms, he formulated progressive Regulations on Tariff, Net Metering, Demand-Side Management, and Modified SOP to make itmore consumer friendly. Efficacious remedy for redressal of consumer’s grievance has been enhanced by making the regulations consumer friendly and made them easily understandable for their benefit. Prior to taking up the assignment as Member DERC, he rose to the position of Director (Projects) in NTPC, where he additionally had also held assignments, viz Chairman, BRBCL; Chairman, NTPC SCCL Global Ventures Pvt. Ltd; whole time Director of NTPC Hydro Ltd.; BFSNL Ltd., etc. He has to his credit an unmatched record capacity addition by NTPC using innovative techniques in project monitoring and implementation. He has been part of numerous high level committees constituted by the Government of India for formulation of plan proposals and policies including energy policy, pricing of coal, etc. He has actively participated in formulation of policies for the Regulatory Commissions under the aegis of Forum of Indian Regulators. He had been associated with numerous professional institutions, viz  “Institute Senate Member’—Dr B R Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar; Member of General Body & Peer Review Committee of National Institute of Rock Mechanics under Ministry of Mines; Member of the Board of Construction Industry Development Council, Joint Council by Indian Construction Industry and Planning Commission. He is presently associated with ISGF and ICF as Advisor.