About Us

WEFT Research is founded and led by Rekha. She is an economist with over 20 years’ experience in policy research and analysis on sustainable energy, energy access, energy pricing, decentralised renewable energy, clean cooking energy access and water inequities. Rekha has worked with TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) for over ten years in various roles. She helped set up the Ashden India Renewable Energy Collective as a think-tank along with a group of enterprises that have won the prestigious Ashden Awards. In her projects, she has engaged with a range of clients including World Bank, Asian Development Bank, GIZ, DfID, Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation, Climate Parliament, various ministries of the Government of India and a number of energy companies. Rekha has developed energy-water plans for rural clusters, conducted field impact assessments of energy price volatility and water stress on communities and has devised elaborate systems of indicators such as one to measure country-level energy security risks and vulnerabilities.

An engineer and economist, Suresh has over three decades’ experience in the corporate sector in oil and gas, fertilizer, agro-chemicals, real estate and retail. He is passionate about the rights of marginalised groups and believes that business performance is closely inter-twined with social and environmental responsibility.

Dr. Akanksha Chaurey is an expert on renewable energy technologies and markets and has led several projects dealing with technology assessment, market analysis, development of business models, capacity building, etc. She has 35 years of experience in renewable energy sector with specialization in decentralised and distributed generation and has worked in more than 20 countries. Akanksha has led many programs focusing on rural electrification, off-grid energy solutions, sustainable development and related policy & regulatory aspects sponsored by The World Bank, Asian Development Bank, IRENA, DFID, UNEP, MNRE etc. She has held the positions of Director in TERI till 2012 and subsequently, CEO of IT Power Private Limited till 2023. Akanksha has the lifetime membership of Solar Energy Society of India and has been serving on several expert committees and task forces on solar energy and distributed generation. She has experience as Board Director in for-profit and not-for profit organizations.

Naveen Kapoor has over four decades’  experience in the Indian corporate sector in Agri segment  especially in plant nutrition, seeds, crop protection, specialty plant nutrients and agri retail.  He has extensively been involved in developing  sustainable agri solutions for improving  farm productivity, resource use efficiency, agri value system  and  farmers’ connect through hub and spoke model. He has closely worked with  industry associations, government bodies and agriculture research institutions  for policy advocacy in agri sector for innovation in plant nutrient products, appropriate cropping sytems, market linkages and improvement in agronomic practices. He has been a member of the CII National Council on Agriculture.

Ramesh Iyer has over 30 years of experience in engineering consultancy, turnkey contracting and EPC projects management (concept to commissioning) spanning metals, infrastructure including power, oil & gas, and pipelines sectors.  In his long tenure with MECON, India’s frontline engineering consulting and contracting enterprise, he has been associated with over ten steel plant projects related to rolling mills in Steel Plants in all activities right from the conceptualization stage to final commissioning.

A BEE-certified Energy Efficiency Auditor, Ramesh has also been involved in power transmission and distribution projects like APDRP, for Ministry of Power and PFC and in power system studies for improvement of efficiency of the system, DPR preparation, and implementation of the project. He has also been involved in LNG pipelines and city gas distribution projects.

Rashmi Gopal is a qualified engineer with close to a decade of experience in the engineering and software industries. A passion to work on environmental concerns led her to the field of environmental education, where, over the past 15 years, she has worked extensively with teachers, students, businesses and governments in India and the Sultanate of Oman on designing and executing environmental awareness programmes. She interacts with businesses on consultancy projects and facilitates Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives. Her interest lies in sensitizing young adults and teachers on different aspects of sustainable development and towards this she has developed a host of teaching and training aids on environmental issues such as water management, renewable energy, rainwater harvesting and climate change.

Tauseef Ahmad has 9 years of professional experience in the clean energy industry working in technical advisory, consulting, and project management. His area of work includes solar PV with a focus on grid & off-grid (solar rooftops, mini-grids, and standalone solutions), energy access, rural electrification, and climate change projects. He has worked with a wide range of clients including international development partners, government agencies, private companies in India and Central Asia. He has extensive experience in technology assessment, data analysis, techno-commercial studies, project design and optimization, bid advisory, policy review, carbon accounting, performance monitoring, program design framework, and project management.

Tauseef is proficient on HOMER and PVsyst software used for design optimization of hybrid energy systems and producing optimal design of solar power plants respectively. He has recently completed the Google data analytics professional certificate course. He has worked as Senior Consultant in IT Power Private Limited for 7+ years and for Coal India Limited as Officer for 1 year.