Global Practices, Challenges And Opportunities In Energy Storage For Islands And For Small Island Developing States (SIDS)

Mallika Nanduri Bhatt is the Director General of Policy and Planning for Innovation and Energy Technology at Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). Her team advances Government-wide initiatives to support clean technology and energy innovation, and operates the Clean Growth Hub - a whole-of-government focal point for clean technology focused on helping stakeholders navigate federal supports. Mallika has over twenty years of diverse Government of Canada experience ranging from senior economist to the management of key partnerships for environmental policy including conservation and climate change adaptation. Mallika holds a Master of Natural Resource Management from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Fernando leads the variable renewable grid integration program at the World Bank’s Energy Management Assistance Program (ESMAP), and co-leads the Energy Storage Partnership. Since joining the World Bank he has worked with teams around the world on strategic energy planning, energy security, regional market integration, and renewable energy grid integration. Fernando has 13 years energy sector experience including roles at Argonne National Laboratory, the International Energy Agency, Siemens Gamesa, and other organizations as an independent policy consultant, with published works in IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, Energy Economics, Applied Energy, among others. He holds a PhD in Technology, Management and Policy, and a MS in Technology and Policy from MIT.

Paul has over 20 years’ experience of shaping UK and international innovation policies and programmes. In January 2018 Paul joined IRENA’s Innovation & Technology Centre in Germany. There he leads on strategy and engagement with the aim of fostering deeper international partnership working to accelerate the adoption of the renewable energy technologies.

Paul graduated with a PhD in Nuclear Physics from the UK’s University of Southampton before taking on technology policy roles in the UK Home Office and Department for Transport. For 10 years Paul led on Energy Innovation Policy & Strategy in the UK’s Department of Energy & Climate Change and the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy. From Autumn 2015 onwards Paul led UK engagement with the Mission Innovation initiative and later became Head of Mission Innovation’s Secretariat.

Jeppe Mikel Jensen is the coordinator of the newly established Clean Energy for EU Islands Secretariat. Having worked in a EU and UN context on strengthening local climate action in the EU and the global south for more than ten years, he is now bringing his experience in building networks from the bottom up to the EU's island communities. Jeppe holds a master in social geographer, with a specific focus on participatory planning and local empowerment.

DEVON GARDNER has been the Programme Manager for Energy and Head of the Energy Unit at the Caribbean Community Secretariat, since September 2014.

In this role, Devon has oversight of the Energy Programme, which is tasked with the identification of common policies and strategies for transforming the energy sector within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). This transformation requires a shift in a majority of the energy systems within the region from their current states of inefficiency and over‑dependence on imported fossil sources, which exposes them to the uncertainties and volatilities of mostly expensive global oil prices, to a state of greater efficiency and high penetration of indigenous renewable sources. In particular, the Energy Programme promotes a transition to energy systems that favour sustainable and clean energy production, as well as efficient delivery and use, which simultaneously provides legal certainty for investors and improved predictability in price and supply for users.