About Forum

Topic: Decarbonizing The Planet By Embracing Electric Mobility

Abstract: The need to solve the global warming challenge, which has a high impact on climate change. Technological disruption is key to solving the global warming challenge. Autonomous, Connected, Electric and sharing are the 4 vectors to drive tectonic change in the way we produce and consume energy. All of these vectors make an impact on the energy intensity, if done well, the 1.5 degree challenge will be solved.

Electric mobility plays an important role in ushering this change. Lot of action in this space - with many actors. OEMs, Startups, Energy majors.

collaboration is very important with new rules and standards, hence the need to have governments, regulators, and policy makers work closely with industry.

Bio: Kaushik Burman is VP Strategy (Global expansion) for Gogoro. In his previous roles, he worked for Shell across North America, Europe and Asia, with focus on commercializing cleaner energy solutions for B2B transportation segments. He was the global marketing manager to develop new markets for Liquefied natural gas as B2B transport fuel, globally. In his professional career, he has also worked for Nestle (Marketing), TATA-GE joint venture in India in the gas and power systems business.

His passion lies in topics of energy policy and future of mobility including e-mobility, autonomous vehicles and integrated energy platforms. He is an active advisory board member in startups in the education, energy and logistics sectors consulting on commercial, digital and governance areas.

Kaushik is a trained mechanical engineer having and holds an MBA from INSEAD (Fontainebleau). At INSEAD, he was a certified J&J Blue Ocean strategy scholar having led financial & energy inclusion projects in Kenya.

Topic: Policies and Investments Trends in Renewable Energy in SEA

Bio: Vincent Bakker is a Dutch national with 10 years of experience in complex energy investments. He worked for Royal Dutch Shell, where he has worked on capital projects, acquisitions, divestments and government negotiations for projects in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Brunei and Kazakhstan.

In 2018 he joined Positive Energy as co-founder. Positive Energy simplifies investments in Renewable Energy through digitisation and standardisation. Positive Energy supports developers of small- to midsize renewable energy projects (1 to 50 mln USD) to acquire funding.

Vincent believes technological innovation and commercial opportunities together is the strongest force for a sustainable future. He enjoys running, travelling and a good discussion over food and drinks.

Topic: Innovation Technology Adoption In the Energy Sector

Bio: At Vertech Capital, Sheryl drives the core business offerings of the firm in the energy sector, focusing on the commercial translation of innovative technologies. She has completed green finance, project finance, futures and technological innovation projects in 10 different markets across APAC and Europe. Prior to her appointment with Vertech, she worked in various advisory roles for the NDRC in China, the EU Commission, the Bank of England and the US Department of State, focusing on the strategic application and integration of disruptive technologies for key economic sectors. Outside of work, she enjoys working with communities for global impact such as with the World Economic Forum, World Alliance and Al Gore's Climate Reality Project. She is particularly passionate about supporting women in innovation, energy and tech.

Bio: Lathika is an electrical engineer who has worked with a range of start-ups and companies on energy innovation projects. Her key areas of focus include infrastructure development for sustainable urbanization and digital innovations in energy. She has overlooked the acquisition and management of projects focusing on decentralized autonomous energy exchanges such as peer-to-peer energy trading in the Philippines, EV charging stations in Thailand, and virtual net metering in India and Thailand. She is also a winner of the UN Environment’s Asia Pacific Low Carbon Lifestyles Challenge, and has represented start-ups at various international stages including the Echelon Top 100 APAC Startups and the Startup Energy Transition. She is one of the Leaders of Tomorrow at the St. Gallen Symposium 2019.

Topic: Why is O&M of Solar Critical to the Investment?

Abstract: Quality of the solar system is critical to the performance of the system. However, the main impact of the investment and performance of the system is extremely critical. This has direct impact to the investments’s assumptions and is often neglected. We would like to share on how we manage this to ensure the performance of the system, the promise to the client and the returns of the investors.

Bio: Jen Tan has been in the solar industry for the last 10 years. Currently, she is working with Sembcorp leading the Solar Team on business development, project development and execution and operations and maintenance focusing on developing and building Solar projects in Singapore and other Asean countries. Prior to Sembcorp, she was a Vice President , APAC Sales and Energy Solutions in REC Solar Pte Ltd. Before embarking on her career in sales, she has been working with Global Sales Planning and Logistics, as well as Global Market Intelligence. She also has vast operations experience as she was part of the pioneer team in starting and ramping up the REC manufacturing facility in Tuas. She held key positions as the Operations Director in the manufacturing team with solid background in Operations Planning, Industrial engineering and Lean Manufacturing systems. Prior to REC, she was in the Semiconductor Industry for 9 years where she focused primarily on planning functions.

Bio: Adrian is a seasoned energy and infrastructure lawyer. He is qualified in both English and Singapore law.

Adrian has advised stakeholders across the energy value chain from oil and gas companies, LNG traders, power generation (conventional and renewables), transmission, petrochemical and construction companies on their projects internationally.

Adrian has provided comprehensive and integrated advice on all aspects of energy and infrastructure project development as well as in relation to acquisitions and disposals. These include advising equity sponsors investing into projects, government authorities granting project concessions; lenders providing project financing (and other forms of financing) to projects, EPC contractors, feedstock and utilities suppliers and potential offtakers and O&M service providers.

In addition to his in depth experience in the conventional energy space, he has an increased focus on “new power” (including storage, energy management and smart grid applications and instruments) as well as renewables projects, including hydro, wind and solar.

His previous role as an in-house legal counsel for a multi-national energy company, gives him a particular depth of insight into the energy sector as well as a clear understanding of the business needs of clients.

Adrian has particular in depth understanding and practical experience across Asia, having supported clients on projects in Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Mongolia.

Topic: Digitalization and the Future of Energy

Abstract: The energy industry is changing rapidly. As we strive to reduce carbon emissions and safeguard the planet for future generations, the way we produce and consume electricity is shifting. In this move away from fossil fuels, renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, are growing exponentially and are set to account for nearly 70% of global electricity production in 20502. Transport is being electrified, with 50% of all new cars sold globally expected to be electric by 2033. Electricity consumers are now also becoming electricity producers, with the ability to generate your own power using technology such as solar panels now more cost effective than ever before.

Advances in digital technology are enabling these dramatic changes to our energy system. Digitalization is an important instrument for the energy transition and an enabler of two key industry trends: decarbonization and decentralization, both critical to enabling the energy transition humanity needs so desperately to deliver. As the 4th Industrial Revolution blurs the lines between the physical and digital world, it is driving a fundamental shift in the energy industry and disrupting traditional market players. We’ve seen other industries fall at the mercy of technological and digital innovation and we’ve seen new players emerge from these ashes. While the energy industry cannot allow itself to become the next Blockbusters or Kodak, there are already victims of the rapid changes being experienced in the sector. Moreover, power system assets are critical infrastructure and operators need to act based on facts — there's no room for being misled by hype when the reliability of our energy infrastructure has major consequences.

Despite its importance for the future of the energy industry, digitalization has become a ‘trend’; a buzzword we see cluttering up the business pages of newspapers and overused in PowerPoint presentations. When a topic isn’t fully understood, it can be easy to dismiss it, which is why it’s time to go beyond the hype and start treating digital transformation like any other vital business process, with defined goals and strategies that create long-term value and the opportunity for organizations to not only succeed, but to take the lead in a rapidly changing energy landscape.

Bio: Mathias (老马) is Executive Vice President and Regional Manager, Digital Hub Asia at DNV GL – Digital Solutions. He and his team are driving DNV GL's services towards cyber security, smart cities & ports, digital development and DNV GL's digital platform business Veracity in Asia - from DNV GL's Digital Hub in Singapore.

Before Mathias assumed this role he was the Executive Vice President and Regional Manager Asia Pacific, Energy & Renewables Advisory at DNV GL – Energy, delivering advisory services to the energy value chain; including renewables integration and energy efficiency.

Mathias’ special interest is the impact of digitalization on cities and the energy ecosystem, as well as cybersecurity. He has taken courses at Haas School of Business, University of California Berkeley, HarvardX and MIT Sloan and attended Leadership Programs at Ashridge Business School and INSEAD.

Mathias works for DNV GL since 2003 and holds a German Diploma (equivalent to Masters Degree) in 'Civil Engineering and Environmental Technology' (2001) from the ‘Technical University Hamburg-Harburg’. Whilst studying, Mathias earned the ‘Vordiplom prize of Hamburg Construction’ for the top five intermediate diplomas and a stipendiary from ‘Konrad Adenauer Foundation Germany’. Over the course of his diploma, Mathias also took the opportunity to study at the ‘University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology’ specialising in concrete and steel structures as well as an additional Degree in Geotechnics.

Topic: Challenges and Opportunities on Renewables Markets

Bio: Bikal leads the research for Asia Pacific Power & Renewables at Wood Mackenzie. He is a seasoned power and renewables analyst with an established track record of research and consulting in market modelling, inter-fuel analysis, generation planning, cost analysis, and bidding strategies.

Bikal has presented at leading conferences in the region and is regularly quoted in the media, including Reuters, Bloomberg, Business Times and CNBC. He has been with Wood Mackenzie since 2007.

Prior to Wood Mackenzie, he was a power market specialist at PowerSeraya, a local power generation company in Singapore.

Bikal holds a Ph.D. in Power Engineering from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Bio: As the regional Director of Industrial Solutions, Howe Tian is responsible to help end users achieving top quartile performance through digitalization and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). He has been piloting the digitalization and IIoT projects since 2012 and have implemented several key projects across Asia Pacific since then. He has vast experience in the process automation industry; he has been working as control engineer in process plants and then technical marketing manager for solution providers in the past 15 years.  He holds an MBA from University of Birmingham, UK.

Bio: Kaikai is an early energy-blockchain evangelist since the year of 2016. She foundered Energo Labs and helped the company be the first tier company in this track and successfully established global business.