Keeping the Power On: Sparking Energy Storage Solutions in Developing Countries

Dr. Gyuk earned a B.S. from Fordham University before conducting graduate work at Brown University on Superconductivity. He received a Ph.D. in Theoretical Particle Physics from Purdue University, served as a Research Associate at Syracuse, and taught Physics, Civil Engineering, and Environmental Architecture as an Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin. Dr. Gyuk served as an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics at Kuwait University where he became interested in issues of sustainability.

Dr. Gyuk joined the Department of Energy to manage the Thermal and Physical Storage program. For the past two decades he has directed the Electrical Energy Storage research program in the Office of Electricity, developing a portfolio of storage technologies for a broad spectrum of applications. He supervised the $185M ARRA stimulus funding for Grid Scale Energy Storage Demonstrations and is now partnering on storage projects for grid resilience. His work has led to 12 R&D 100 awards, two EPA Green Chemistry Challenge Award, and Lifetime Achievement Awards from ESA and NAATBatt. He is internationally recognized as a leader in the energy storage field.

Dr. Pfistner has been with BASF since 2002 where she began as a research chemist. Since 2019 she has led the marketing and strategy team “energy storage” at BASF New Business. Prior to BASF, she held various positions in technical marketing, strategic marketing, and new business development.

Dr. Pfistner has a PhD in inorganic chemistry from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Karlsruhe, Germany.

Mr. Ajwad Musthafa currently serves as the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Technology. He also currently oversees the regulatory aspects as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Utility Regulatory Authority, a situation formed in 2020 to regulate utility services that cover electricity, water and sanitation & waste sectors.

Mr. Musthafa holds a MSc in Energy Economics from University of Surrey, UK. Prior to his appointment as Permanent Secretary in 2014, Mr. Musthafa was the Director General and a member of the Governing Board of Maldives Energy Authority. As Director General, he was instrumental in strengthening regulatory works, by facilitating the development of new regulation and strengthening the overall capacity of the institution, while also working closely with utility companies and leading tariff review processes. Since his appointment as the Permanent Secretary, he acts as the head of civil service and as financial controller for the Ministry while overseeing the overall administration and management of the institution. The sectors under the Ministry includes Environment, Climate Change, Energy, Waste, Water & Sanitation, and have regulatory agencies for energy and environment. Despite his broader scope of responsibilities, he continues to contribute his expertise in the energy sector as an advisor to the Minster and provide guidance in overall energy sector planning, management and regulatory aspects.

Yayoi Sekine heads the Decentralized Energy practice at BloombergNEF based out of New York. Yayoi oversees a research team that produces insights on the impacts of decentralization of our energy systems. These include demand-side opportunities, the growing role of energy storage and how our power systems and networks are being shaped and responding to these trends. She advises utilities, technology companies, investors and policymakers across these fields. She has authored numerous research papers and regularly speaks at international conferences and in the mainstream media.

Yayoi previously led the Americas Energy Storage research practice for BNEF, also in New York, and prior to that was Research Analyst based in Sao Paulo having spent four years covering Latin American renewable energy market development through BNEF.

Chibulu Luo is currently an Operations Officer with the Climate Investment Funds (CIF), where she supports various technical and operational projects, including new CIF programming on climate innovation, renewable energy integration, and energy storage. She is also a course instructor at the University of Toronto (where she obtained her PhD in Civil Engineering). Prior to her work with the CIF, Chibulu led doctoral research to examine current trends, future scenarios, and policy options for sustainable energy use and low-carbon development in fast-growing African cities. She is also a former Young Scientist with the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA); a Doctoral Research Awardee with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Canada; and a Research Scholar with the University of Toronto’s Centre for Global Engineering (CGEN).

Nate Blair manages the Distributed Systems and Storage Analysis group within the Strategic Energy Analysis Center (SEAC) at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Nate has 25 years of experience in energy systems modeling and energy analysis. Before NREL, he worked at the University of Wisconsin – Solar Energy Laboratory, Global Energy Partners, and Thermal Energy System Specialists, Transsolar, CSTB (France) and at Sandia National Laboratories, Nate has a B.A. Physics (1992) from Gustavus Adolphus College, a M.S.M.E. (1993) and an MBA (2002) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

His 17 years at NREL include roles developing the System Advisor Model (SAM) and PVWatts – both well-known system modeling tools - as well as the ReEDS electric grid planning model. He currently manages a growing capability around distribution technology and storage analysis. Recently, he worked on assignment at the ESMAP program within the World Bank from 2015-2016 providing technical support on renewables and specifically variable renewable grid integration.

Peter Mockel is a Principal Industry Specialist at the International Financial Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group.

He focuses on energy storage for emerging markets. He previously served as CTO with a Berlin-based smart electricity metering start-up, and has more than 10 years in telecommunications with Deutsche Telekom AG as VP Strategy Development and SVP R&D, and in consulting with Booz, Allen & Hamilton. He is the co-author of “Applied Technology and Innovation Management” (Springer 2010) and “Technological Trends in ICT” (Springer 2012). Peter holds a B.A. (Hons) and M.A. in Computer Science from Cambridge University, and an M.Sc. in Software Engineering from TU Aachen, Germany

Olivier Mussat is a Chief Investment Officer with IFC’s Global Energy Group. IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest development finance institution focused on the private sector, with an $11 billion energy portfolio that spans over 30 developing countries.He has twenty years of experience in the energy sector and has led a number of landmark transactions in emerging markets. In his role at IFC he leads both equity and debt investments in conventional and renewable energy infrastructure projects, from upstream gas to battery storage.

Prior to his current role, he was co-Head of Oil & Gas Project Finance at Standard Chartered Bank in London, and prior to that had technical and commercial roles at Schlumberger and Ecolochem International (a GE company). Olivier holds an M.S. from CentraleSupélec Paris, and a B.A. from Virginia Wesleyan University, and is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers.

Claudio Alatorre is a climate change lead specialist at the Climate Change Division of the Inter-American Development Bank and the technical focal point of the IDB Group to the CIF. His work is focused on the mobilization of international concessional climate finance and on the alignment of development finance institutions with the objectives of the Paris Agreement.

Claudio studied a first degree in Engineering at the National University of Mexico, and a PhD at Warwick University, UK.

Alexandra Planas is a Senior Energy Specialist at the Inter-American Development Bank, in charge of the Colombia energy sector portfolio. She has more than 18 years of professional experience on energy and related cross-sectoral issues (environment, climate change, regional integration, capacity building), including 15 years working at the World Bank in the Latin America, Africa, and East Asia and Pacific regions.

She holds a Master Degree in International Economics and Energy and Environment from Johns Hopkins University.

Amit has a Ph.D. in solar, is a Fulbright Scholar at NREL, and is a USA and Chevening Fellow at King’s College, London. He works with the World Bank and is leading a $2 billion renewable portfolio in India, Bangladesh and Maldives. This portfolio includes REWA and Charanka Solar Park, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. The project has received the World Bank Group President Award for innovation and excellence and is included in the Prime Minister's book 'A Book of Innovation: New Beginnings'.

Amit’s previous assignments include the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the Clinton Foundation. Amit has authored two books on climate change policy and waste to energy and has several international peer-reviewed journal publications. His hobbies include scuba diving, badminton, and outdoor sports.

Chong is an Energy Specialist working at the World Bank with a focus on power system planning, energy storage and VRE integration. He is currently co-leading the ESMAP Energy Storage Program and the Maldives energy portfolio. He also has worked on a variety of projects leading the technical design to incorporate sustainable solutions for VRE integration and effective power system planning and operation strategies. This portfolio includes projects in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Central African Republic and Zanzibar.

Prior to working in the World Bank, Chong worked in a private sector firm related to power transmission and distribution. He holds a PhD in power systems engineering focusing on VRE integration.

Dr. Christina Lampe-Onnerud is renowned for developing and commercializing lithium-ion batteries for the portable electronics, transportation, utilities and industrial markets. She currently serves as Founder and CEO of Cadenza Innovation, a growth-stage company that has developed a novel, patented technology architecture – the ‘supercell’ – which is enabling a new generation of safer, higher energy density, lower cost batteries.

Previously, Dr. Lampe-Onnerud was Founder, CEO and International Chairman of Boston-Power. She grew the battery startup into a global organization with $360+ million in funding, Beijing and Boston technology centers, and multiple Asia-based manufacturing locations. Earlier, Dr. Lampe-Onnerud held executive positions with Bridgewater Associates and Arthur D. Little, where she led the world’s largest non-captive battery lab. Dr. Lampe-Onnerud is the only two-time World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer in the program’s history and previously chaired WEF’s Global Future Council on Energy Technologies. A member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, she holds a Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from Uppsala University, Sweden, and conducted post-doctoral work at MIT.

Dr. Jürgen Zattler is the Director-General for International development policy; 2030 Agenda; climate at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

Mr. Zattler is a development and macroeconomist with more than 30 years of international experience. Mr. Zattler has been working in the BMZ in various positions since 1986 including as Director General for Multilateral and European Policy, Head of the Division on World Bank, IMF, and debt related issues, and Deputy Head of the Division for WTO and trade policy. From 2017 to 2020, Mr. Zattler served as World Bank Group Executive Director representing Germany. His prior experience in the public and private sector includes the European Commission in Brussels, where he worked on macroeconomic issues related to developing countries and the Dresdner Bank in Berlin. He holds a PhD in economics from the University of Giessen.

Chandra Govindarajalu leads the energy climate finance team which is responsible for mobilizing climate finance for the Energy and Extractives Practice at the World Bank working with global funds and bilateral funds including the Climate Investment Funds (CIF), the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and others  He also leads the global energy storage program and the coal transition programs at the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP). He has over 20 years of experience working at the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) on renewable energy, energy storage, energy efficiency and energy access across 15 countries in South Asia, East Asia as well as Middle East and North Africa. Chandra holds a PhD in Energy and Environmental Policy from the Biden School of Public Policy and Administration, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware.

Dr. Papathanasiou leads more than 100 professionals at the Global Units of the Energy and Extractives Global Practice of the World Bank. He coordinates the Practice’s overall strategic direction, advances the knowledge and learning agenda for the Bank’s energy and extractives professionals, and oversees corporate reporting, trust funds, and partnerships for the Practice.

Dr. Papathanasiou has worked for more than 20 years with the World Bank Group on Energy and Infrastructure in Africa, Latin America, East Europe and the Balkans, South Asia, East Asia and the Pacific Islands. He has contributed to developing energy policies in several countries and worked on power generation projects using many diverse technologies: thermal, hydropower, solar, wind, and geothermal. He has led large teams on complex utility and sector reforms, as well as sizeable public-private partnership transactions. As Manager for the World Bank’s Energy Practice in South Asia, he was responsible for a portfolio of over $10 billion.

A professional Electrical Engineer, Dr. Papathanasiou holds an MSc in Environmental Technology and a PhD in Energy and the Environment from Imperial College in London.

Mr. Piyush Mathur is a Founder-Director on the Board of Clean Energy Access Network (CLEAN) and is formerly the CEO and CFO of Simpa Energy, an award-winning renewable energy financing company bringing clean, reliable energy with financing and energy savings to India.

Under Mr Mathur’s leadership, Simpa built an innovative climate-resilient energy finance scaling model. Simpa’s tech-led model making abundant clean energy affordable and accessible to masses has been recognized and awarded by cleantech, fintech, mobiletech and development sectors. Mr Mathur is a private equity and corporate finance professional with international experience in Climate Investments, Cross-Border M&A and Capital Raisings. Immediately before Simpa, Mr Mathur was a Director of Principal Investments at Kleinwort Benson Bank in London. Mr Mathur received an MBA from the London Business School, holds honorary Board positions at Clean Energy Access Network (CLEAN) and is currently an advisor to IFC. Mr Mathur is also a Founder-Member of Climate Finance Lab, an international multi-stakeholder initiative to conceive and launch innovative financial instruments, that has mobilized over $2 billion in financing for sustainable businesses.

Mafalda led the Climate Investment Funds from 2014 until July 2023. During her tenure, she oversaw hundreds of clean energy and climate resilience investments in 72 countries worldwide. The largest solar park in the world and South America’s first geothermal power plant are among the numerous projects realized under her leadership. Mafalda is now expanding the remit of the organization into new areas, which includes accelerating out of the coal and industry decarbonization phase. Committed to putting fairness and equality at the heart of climate finance, she has launched the Climate Investment Funds’ Just Transition Initiative to help achieve that aim.  

Mafalda previously held senior roles at the African Development Bank and the World Bank. A much sought-after speaker on climate finance, she has been quoted in Reuters, BBC World Service, The Economist, and the Financial Times, among many others.

Alessandro Sessa is currently the Head of Storage Business Development in Asia Pacific and Africa & Middle East regions at Enel Green Power. He was previously in charge of Thermal Generation Business Development in South Africa and was part of the power market analysis team defining group strategy in emerging markets and new businesses.

Prior to working in business development, he acted as a management independent advisor on nuclear safety and for implementing best practices across the Enel nuclear portfolio. Mr. Sessa holds a Masters Degree in Energy and Nuclear Engineering.