Energy Technology Innovation in South Asia: Implications for Gender Equality and Social Inclusion

While Asia’s low-carbon energy transition is well underway with the development of smart grids, social inequity is emerging among other challenges. Drawing more women into renewable energy and energy efficiency program designs and consultations is not only an equal employment opportunity issue but is crucially about how the world is shaped and for whom.

Gender and Social Inclusion Energy Linkages: Policies, Strategies, and Practices

Initiatives undertaken by ADB's South Asia Department to mainstream gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) in energy programs and projects resulted in a framework as discussed in this presentation. The benefits and opportunities of integrating a GESI perspective in the development of smart grids and renewable energy systems are highlighted.

What is Smart Grid? What are the Social Risks, Benefits, Opportunities?

From classical to current power systems to smart grid, the transition between energy systems entails challenges but also provides opportunities to invest in smarter infrastructure by incorporating socio-economic aspects in engineering models. Moving towards a whole system approach in meeting a sustainable energy future entails the development of prosumer-centric energy systems.

Pierluigi Mancarella

Pierluigi Mancarella is Chair Professor of Electrical Power Systems at The University of Melbourne, Australia, and part-time Professor of Smart Energy Systems at The University of Manchester, UK. He received the MSc and PhD degrees in electrical energy systems from the Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy, and worked as a post-doc at Imperial College London, UK. Pierluigi has held several visiting research positions, including at the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and professorships at Ecole Centrale de Lille, France, and Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.

Smart Grid Technologies and Implications for Inclusive Development in Sri Lanka

Developed as part of a series of training programs by the Melbourne School of Engineering for ADB, this learning program aimed to further improve and update the technical expertise of ADB’s executing and implementing agencies, partner organizations, and staff on the integration of high-level technology for inclusive energy solutions with a focus on enhancing gender equality and social inclusion results and benefits. It provided scope for a dynamic learning exchange taking off from the examples and experiences of Sri Lanka.

How the Energy Field of Study at the Asian Insitute of Technology Can Support the Indonesia Center of Excellence with ADB

Indonesia’s transitional path to clean energy will require a considerable amount of resources—human, technological, and financial, among others. The Asian Institute of Technology, with its core competency and extensive research work in the field of energy, aims to participate in and contribute to Indonesia’s indigenous energy development process.