The Promise and Challenges of Wind and Solar: Stories from India and Africa
In this Sustainable Futures Speakers Series talk, Ranjit Deshmukh will highlight the opportunities and challenges posed by a large-scale transition to renewable energy in developing economies. With abundant resources and declining costs, wind and solar technologies have the potential to significantly decarbonize our energy systems. These technologies now present an opportunity especially for developing economies to leapfrog to a more sustainable and low carbon future. However, their large-scale deployment introduces challenges in operating and planning future electricity systems, and will require balancing trade-offs with social and environmental objectives. Desmukh will discuss examples from his research on the economic and environmental impacts of India’s ambitious renewable energy targets and the potential of wind and solar as alternatives to large hydropower and coal in Africa. Ranjit Deshmukh is an Assistant Professor in the Environmental Studies department at the University of California Santa Barbara. His research interests lie at the intersection of energy, environment, and economics, specifically in low carbon energy systems, energy access, and electricity markets. Prior to joining the University of California Santa Barbara, Deshmukh was an ITRI-Rosenfeld postdoctoral fellow at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He holds a PhD in Energy and Resources from the University of California at Berkeley, master’s degrees in Engineering from Humboldt State University and University of Texas at Austin, and a bachelor’s degree from the Government College of Engineering Pune, India. He was a Siebel Scholar and a Link Energy fellow while at UC Berkeley and a Schatz Energy fellow at Humboldt State University. Deshmukh will speak at 5:30 pm on Thursday, February 14 in Founders Hall 118 on the HSU campus. For more information, call 826-4345 or visit schatzcenter.org/speakers.
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