TiE – The Indus Entrepreneurs is a non-profit, global community who believes in the power of ideas to change the face of entrepreneurship. Spread across 18 countries with 61 chapters, TiE Chennai Mission is to encourage and nurture Entrepreneurship globally, especially the first generation Entrepreneurs.
TiE was founded in 1992 at Silicon Valley, by a group of successful entrepreneurs and is currently the world’s largest entrepreneurial organization which helps every aspiring individual to realize their dream of becoming a successful Entrepreneur. TiE Chennai caters to the requirements of people of Chennai and Tamilnadu in growing business through mentoring, networking, education, incubating and funding.
Cleantech SIG in TiE Chennai is organizing an event “Cleanpreneurs” for entrepreneurs on 12th June ’15 at Clarion Hotel, Dr. Radhakrishnan Salai, Chennai.
Agenda for SIG Event on Clean Tech – Cleanpreneurs:
6.30 PM – 7 PM- Registration
7.00 PM – 7.30 PM – “Opportunities in Rural Electrification for Entrepreneurs” will be delivered by Mr. Upendra Bhatt (usually called UB) – Managing Director, cKinetics.
7.30 p.m. to 7.45 p.m. -Q & A session.
7.45 p.m. to 8.15 p.m. – “Global Cleantech 100” by Mr. Shyam Menon – Investment Director, Infuse Ventures.
8.15 p.m. to 8.30 p.m. – Q & A session.
8.30 p.m. to 9.30 p.m. – Networking and Dinner.
“Opportunities in Rural Electrification for Entrepreneurs”, will be delivered based on Rural DRE Mini-grids Innovation blitz : Fringe or Future?
Gist: One of the key factors determining whether Decentralized Renewable Energy (DRE) based mini-grid systems will become the mainstream energy access solution in rural areas or continue to remain on the fringe will be scalability (linked to regulatory resolution on long term operational latitude in the Indian context) and cost effectiveness. Despite focused efforts by the government, and a bouquet of policies and schemes, a significant numbers of rural hamlets remain un-electrified. While off-grid systems (primarily solar lanterns and Home Systems) have been introduced in many of these areas, those systems only solve the basic needs and are availed by only a fraction of the population residing in the areas. In recent years, in addition to the Government supported schemes, a growing number of private enterprises are implementing RE based solutions to provide electricity through a micro/mini-grid model. Decentralized renewable energy based mini-grid is a very nascent solution albeit with an ability to address the large opportunity of rural electrification in a viable manner.
In order to ride the wave and capture a slice of this growing DRE mini-grid market, innovation is required to make the systems robust as well as cost optimal to meet the diverse needs of a rural setting. There are quite a few private players who are working towards addressing the basic access to energy to starved rural communities across the globe while also making a business case for it.
In the near future, the innovations across the rural DRE mini-grid value chain won’t necessarily pertain to just technical solutions, but will be increasingly linked to alternative approaches to the existing issues. The innovations in this sector are likely to be driven by:
Cost optimization
Cycle-time reduction:
Increased robustness of the systems:
UB’s Presentation:
UB’s presentation will give insight about ,
Government reference to power for all initiative
How rural areas are not electrified
What the opportunity is and actual innovations that are addressing the market requirements of rural electrification.
Upendra Bhatt
Co-Founder and Managing Director of cKinetics
Upendra Bhatt (UB) is a ‘Go-to-market’ and techno-commercial specialist with expertise in technology evaluation & linkages. He has been closely associated with developing infrastructure projects in South Asia and has worked on shaping innovative market driven models for mainstreaming of technology and service interventions in the developing markets.
UB chairs the Sustainable Business Leadership Forum, an Industry practitioners group focused on resource sustainability and ESG issues through multi-stakeholder working groups. In his current role at cKinetics, UB is closely engaged with the decentralized energy segment in the country and is spearheading several initiatives at growing this segment. Over the last 2 years alone, cKinetics has facilitated flow of over USD 35 mn commitments in the DRE space and in addition has also been instrumental in facilitating a new line of credit from a European DFI.
He also serves as the Vice Chair of Alliance for Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE) and is a member of several task forces constituted by industry bodies. He is a frequent speaker at global industry events and adviser to several multi-lateral agencies.
In the past, UB has been an early stage investor and co-founder of a development consultancy firm and has also been instrumental in establishing and ramping up the international operations for an Indo-US telecom services firm through its acquisition of a NASDAQ listed firm. He has also held project management roles at Fortune 500 companies, Itochu Corporation and Skanska AB.
UB has a Masters in International Relations from Thunderbird – The American Graduate School of International Management, a Master of Business Administration from NMIMS-Mumbai, (India) and an engineering degree from Delhi College of Engineering (India).
To hear more on Rural electrification for Entrepreneurs, register yourself for the SIG Event on Clean Tech – Cleanpreneurs.
Bhuma, New Intitatives – Aspiration Energy