Women in Energy (WIE)

Women in power copy

Women in India form a significant percentage of the overall workforce in unorganized sectors like agriculture and construction but their participation in organized sectors is limited. For example, women representation in India’s Public-Sector Undertakings (PSU), which constitutes a large employment base in the country spread across key organized sectors, constituted only 4.5% of the total Work Force (2011). Similarly, women employees in Central Public-Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) in India stood at 9.36 per cent in 2015-16, according to data released by the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE). The male dominance in the workforce of CPSE is often attributed to the nature of operations i.e. infrastructure and heavy engineering sectors. Such low gender representation in this large employment segment of the economy requires remediation as none of these segments is outside the reach of women.

USAID’S Greening the Grid (GTG)-Renewable Integration and Sustainable Energy (RISE), a key initiative under ASIA – EDGE (Enhancing Development and Growth through Energy) aims to support the Government of India’s (GOI) efforts to manage large-scale RE integration into the Indian power system. As a part of its commitment to promote gender equality and equity in all its programs, USAID through the GTG-RISE initiative (the central component of GTG) will work to improve gender inclusiveness in India’s energy utilities sector. GTG-RISE Initiative is working closely with U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) to establish a chapter called “South Asian Women in Energy (SAWIE)” with support from USAID’s GTG-RISE supported Industry Advisory Council (IAC) to promote women’s empowerment and gender sensitization across power sector in India/South Asia region. This chapter would draw lessons and establish linkages from Engendering Utilities Program (An USAID Initiative) and United States Energy Association’s (USEA) Women in Energy (WIE) forum and promote gender inclusiveness in India and the entire South Asia region. The chapter also aims to identify women leaders in power sector and highlight their contributions so as to motivate aspiring qualified women to opt for careers in Indian power utilities.

Women Leaders in Energy

Ashu Verma

Dr. Ashu Verma
Associate Professor at Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi

A 2001 B.Tech graduate in Electrical Engineering from National Institute of Technology (NIT) Hamirpur, Dr. Ashu Verma pursued her Masters in Power Systems from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi in 2002 and completed her PhD in Transmission Network Expansion Planning from Electrical Engineering Department of IIT, Delhi in 2010. Her special interests range from understanding and tackling the challenges of large-scale integration of renewable energy (RE) sources and Electric Vehicles to future.. Read More

Amita Sharma

Amita Sharma
Zonal Manager, Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited

Ms. Amita Sharma is currently the Zonal Manager in Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd (TPDDL), Delhi. After completing her Post Graduate Diploma Course in Power Engineering from National Power Training Institute (NPTI), Badarpur, she started her career with TPDDL as an Executive in 2003. She has diverse experience, having worked in such areas as Business Development, Demand Side Management (DSM), Meter Management, and Solar Projects. She currently looks after Operations, where her key responsibility is to ensure quality and reliable power is supplied to more than 25,000 registered consumers. Read More

Anjuli Chandra

Anjuli Chandra
Member, Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission

Ms. Anjuli Chandra, a Member at Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission(PSERC), is a former CPES cadre officer and Ex Principal Chief Engineer, CEA. She is a gold medalist in Electrical Engineering from Thappar Institute of Engg and Technology and MBA Finance from Punjabi University, Patiala. She is a certified Energy auditor from Bureau of Energy Efficiency. During her stint at CEA, she worked around Renewable energy sources, power survey and load forecasting, power system monitoring, project appraisal and Distribution planning & Development. Prior to that, she served as the Executive Director Tariff & Engineering for Delhi. Read More

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Axilium Jayamary
Director – Operation, TANTRANSCO.

Jayamary. A is currently serving as the Director – Operation in Tamil Nadu Transmission Corporation Limited (TANTRANSCO), she is the first woman Director in the Tamil Nadu State Power Transmission Utility. After completing her Bachelors of Engineering (BE) in Electronics & Communication from PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, she started her career with Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) as an Assistant Engineer in 1985. After a while, she took sabbatical, and completed her Masters in Engineering (ME) in Instrumentation Engineering from Anna University and joined back TNEB as Assistant Executive Engineer in 1996. Read More