BRIEFING DOCUMENT

Spokesperson

Organizer Spencer Stuart

Time 8:45 am – 10:15 am

Date 22nd August 2023

Venue Four Seasons Hotel Mumbai

Theme Future of Leadership

Indicative Talk Questions

Topic – Future of Leadership

Leaders are well-placed to deeply understand how their organizations will add unique value to
customers, colleagues, investors, partners, and other key stakeholders. Leaders need to operate
with substantially greater speed and entrepreneurialism, and this is especially applicable in the new
energy sector. They may need to develop and practice fresh ways of collaborating, both within their
organizations and in the emerging energy ecosystems.

Importance of Leadership Development

Leadership development is important because it represents a great chance for organizations to seize
a competitive advantage in their industries. To survive and thrive, energy organizations and their
leaders are well-placed to engage with their teams in ways that make them feel connected. Their
involvement will help demonstrate how using practical solutions to do things more sustainably can
be exciting and inspiring.

Key pointers:

● Crafting a compelling, purposeful narrative is particularly important for companies

navigating the energy transition.
● Leaders may look to build new, lower-carbon businesses while generating most of the cash
flow and profits from the traditional core.
● Leadership transformation will help us position our company and its culture to meet the new
challenges.

Leadership Opportunities – Renewable Energy Sector

The Renewable Energy industry is booming right now. The use of renewables has skyrocketed in
recent years, even throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. This has meant success for those working
and leading within the industry, as well as significant opportunity for any talented professional who
wants to get on board.
Key pointers:

● Growth Potential - Venture capitalist investment in the industry is growing rapidly and is
expected to continue to do so.
● Compensation - Business leaders are also investing in their employees in a very literal, direct
sense.
● A Good Cause – A notable benefit of leading Renewables is that one can take pride in their
work knowing that it is for everyone’s benefit.

India to become future leader of Renewable Energy

As a step towards growth, India has already taken a giant leap towards utilising renewable energy
sources, and solar energy is one of the leading ones.

According to the data of the National Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency, as of May 2023,
India's installed non-fossil fuel capacity was over 178.79 gigawatts, and the number has surged up to
396% over the previous 8.5 years. Additionally, since 2009, the capacity of solar energy installations
has expanded by a factor of 24.4, and as of May 2023, it was 66.7 GW.

Key pointers:

● Among the whole share of renewable power sources, i.e., 49%, solar energy contributes an
astonishing 14%.
● According to the Ministry of Power, the country is likely to meet 62% of its electricity
requirements with 500 GW of non-fossil fuel sources by 2030.

Challenges in leading and ensuring energy transition

Attempting clean energy transition at the scale that India requires faces many challenges. These
include access to affordable financing, lack of institutions that can deploy financing effectively in new
low-carbon growth areas, and technology risks. Therefore leading this sector will be a key challenge.
Key pointers:

● As India’s solar industry has been heavily dependent on imported modules from China and
Chinese-owned companies operating in other Asian markets, the duties imposed by Indian
Government had an upward impact on solar tariffs, which slows down capacity
commissioning.
● According to the study, 24% of companies cited the complexity of the required
transformation, 25 % highlighted a lack of talent with expertise in implementing net-zero
initiatives and 23% companies specified limited resources to support net-zero initiatives.
● Energy generation and consumption through sustainable methods pose several
technological challenges.
For example, power generated through solar and wind energy is intermittent and poses
challenges in grid stability and load balancing (e.g., solar energy is not available at night
when load might be high). Hence there is requirement of large storage capacity (in
batteries). Similarly, hydrogen is highly explosive in nature and will require new technologies
for safe production, storage, transportation and use.