International Conference, 7-8 April 2011 in Berlin Micro Perspectives for Decentralized Energy Supply

We are pleased to announce, that Prof. Ellen Morris from Columbia University will deliver a keynote speech on our conference.

Ellen Morris is the Director of the Energy Tracks of the Energy and Environment Concentration, and she teaches courses on energy and development. In 2008, Morris co-founded Arc Finance, a non-profit organization that promotes and expands access to financing for modern energy, water and other basic needs to build the income and assets of poor people around the world.

Prior to founding Arc Finance, Morris started Sustainable Energy Solutions (SES) in 1996, a company that focuses on international development, policy analysis, and research on energy issues for national governments, development agencies, foundations, and the private sector. Morris has completed pioneering work in energy and microfinance since 2004 by studying how to link the two sectors to meet the needs of the poor.

Most recently, she was the lead for the design and implementation of the Citi Foundation/USAID/SEEP Energy and Microfinance Research initiative, and the findings were published in 2007. Since 1996, Morris has served as a senior consultant for the United Nations Development Programme in the sustainable energy program. Her work at UNDP focuses on technical and programmatic support for countries seeking to advance energy as a means for poverty reduction. She has served on UNDP's External Advisory Group on Environment and Energy since 2007. Morris began her career in clean energy working for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

In the early part of her career, she worked as a Science Advisor to the U.S. Congress and as an exploration geophysicist for Texaco. Read more »

We are pleased to announce that another keynote speaker has accepted the invitation to the conference.

Dr. Mike Enskat is a Senior Program Manager for the “Energy for Sustainable Development” program at the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and oversees the Project Management Unit of the EUEI Partnership Dialogue Facility. He was closely involved in the preparation for the international Bonn “renewables2004” conference for the GTZ as well as the follow-up process for the conference. As well as preparing the German contribution to the 2005 Beijing conference and the 2008 Washington International Renewable Energy Conference, he was also instrumental in establishing the Renewable Energy Network for the 21st Century (REN21).

Dr. Enskat currently advises the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) on a variety of topics related to energy and development, and on cooperation with multilateral institutions and the European Commission. Dr. Enskat has a PhD in political science from the University of Heidelberg, where he wrote his dissertation on power sector reform in India. He also completed a master’s degree in social sciences and international politics at the University of Edinburgh.