Trained in Earth and Environmental Sciences, Vijay has worked in renewable energy since 2010, initially in Scotland where he designed and led a range of medium sized wind, hydro and solar projects. In recent years his focus turned toward integrated local energy systems and how to utilise ICTs in energy provision. Since 2014 Vijay has thrown himself at the global ‘energy access’ challenge (~800m people without electricity and 2.7bn using dangerous cooking fuels globally). Affordable remote sensing and ICTs have changed the nature of how energy access can be achieved, however, having seen how local companies are disadvantaged in an increasingly tech-savvy market, he conceptualised and has driven the development of IoT products that work to the benefit of local energy providers.
Beyond day to day business, Vijay likes to research, write and get stuck into data – i.e. to continually learn about energy systems and energy access. He has contributed to various research projects and publications, including the Poor People’s Energy Outlook in 2017 and 2018. Vijay is Co-Director at Scene, and Managing Director at Connected Energy Technologies.