Emerging Trends in Agrivoltaics and Floating Solar (Flotovoltaics)

Vivek Saraf is the founder & CEO of SunSeed APV. SunSeed provides deep tech solutions for Agrivoltaics projects. Vivek has over 25 years' experience in finance and renewable energy and has been involved in developing innovative solar projects that have a dual use of land and provide multiple benefits. Vivek has a BTech from IIT Kanpur and an MBA from Thunderbird, University of Arizona.

Mr. Deepak Ushadevi is the Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director of Ciel & Terre India. With Ciel & Terre, Mr. Deepak is instrumental in developing the solar floating market and interacting with major Nodal agencies, and developers to provide floating solar guidelines, Knowledge Transfer, and know-how to ensure quality and bankable floating projects in India. Mr. Deepak is a well-seasoned professional with over 24 years of experience in the field of solar and semiconductors in various capacities as a subject matter expert, technologist, and business unit head. New commercial initiatives, the introduction of new technology, strategic alignment, and market development are his primary areas of expertise. A floating solar energy portfolio of 260+ MWp has been developed in India under his leadership for 6 years at Ciel & Terre India, with 10+ projects in service and 4 projects under various construction stages. He has been a part of the many new technologies being launched globally by various leading companies in the Solar /Semiconductor domain specifically, the IC Chip processor segment, Solar technology, and floating solar technology. Played a significant role in the initial team for the first 300MM wafer fab in Singapore in 2004, one of the top 3 semiconductor fabs worldwide. In 2008, he was core member for the development of the world's first single thin film junction solar production line for Applied Materials, a global semiconductor manufacturer. He was instrumental in completing FAT for the world's first thin-film Tandem Junction technology line at Sun Film in Germany in 2008. In 2019, he was involved in the first Hydrelio® patented floating technology commissioned in India at CIAL, Cochin for Ciel Terre India. Before joining Ciel Terre India, he worked with Waaree energies on new business initiatives and won the first KW project scale floating tender bid in India. During his stint at Tata Power Solar, he spearheaded the development of Asys screen printing technology and Manz Automation robots in the Solar cell line CSI technology segment & part of 120 MW cell line expansion. During his 7-year stint with Applied Materials, the global leader in Thin-film equipment, he focused on developing and commissioning new single Junction and Tandem Junction thin film lines in India, Italy, Germany, and China, Japan, US. He started his career as an engineer at Chartered Semiconductor Singapore (now Global Foundries).

Nisheeth Srivastava is working with KfW Development Bank (India office) as a senior sector specialist energy from past nine years and is responsible for implementing the end-to-end project cycle of KfW's India in energy sector domain. He has prior experience and expertise of working on constructions sites for solar PV projects. He holds a master's in business administration and a bachelor's in mechanical engineering with more than 15 years of experience in managing sustainable infrastructure development projects.

Mr. Sanmati Naik is Senior Manager (Energy sector - RE) at Fraunhofer Gesellschaft India Office (Head quartered in Germany) since 2016. In his capacity, he is responsible for Technology cooperation and project management & development in the areas of Energy and Renewables. Mr. Naik holds a Master's Degree in Energy Systems from University of Applied Sciences Aachen - Germany and Bachelor's Degree & Diploma in the field of Mechanical Engineering. He is having diversified Industry - R&D experience of ~15 years with esteemed organizations like Fraunhofer Institute of Solar Energy Systems (ISE) Freiburg-Germany, Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-Madras), ADCET, E.ON Energy Research Center RWTH Aachen-Germany, SIEMENS AG Erlangen-Germany on projects focusing on Energy domain. He is having ample interest in Sustainability and Innovative Tech.

Dr. Ameen Elikkottil is a Senior solar engineer at DNV with expertise in energy production assessments, operational data analysis, and technical design reviews for solar projects. He has eight years of experience in optical device design for energy applications and was a co-founder of Climalabs Pvt. Ltd., a solar device startup. Previously, he worked at Goertek Inc. as an augmented reality goggle designer. His expertise includes photonic structures for solar applications, IoT-based solar systems, and photovoltaic thermal technologies. He holds a Ph.D. in Engineering Science from CSIR-SERC, Chennai,

Shubhang Parekh is the Senior Manager of International Relations & Cooperation at the National Solar Energy Federation of India (NSEFI). NSEFI is the largest umbrella body for the sustainable energy ecosystem in India, dedicated to achieving the country's ambitious solar energy goals and representing the Indian solar industry. In his role, Shubhang is focused on enhancing NSEFI's presence on international platforms and securing global recognition for India's solar initiatives. Shubhang holds a Master's degree in International Relations from the University of New South Wales, Sydney. He has a diverse background, having worked with UNICEF Gujarat, the Centre of Air Power Studies, and the Public Affairs Centre. Additionally, Shubhang presented a paper at the University of Oxford in 2017 and published a book review of Asia's Cauldron: The South China Sea and the End of a Stable Pacific by Robert D. Kaplan in the Liberal Studies Journal. He has represented NSEFI at numerous international platforms, including Intersolar Europe, IRENA, the Global Solar Council, and the Taiyang News Leadership Summit. Shubhang also contributed to the India section of the Global Market Outlook by Solar Power Europe for 2023 & 2024. He served as an Advisor and Reviewer for NSEFI's report Agrivoltaics in India: Overview of Projects and Relevant Policies, and authored a report on PV Supply Chain Resilience & Sustainability: India-EU Cooperation.