NEW DELHI: The WePOWER India Partnership Forum was held on Tuesday, November 9, via a virtual platform. The forum launched various efforts to expand the South Asia Women in Power Sector Professional Network (WePOWER) in Indian subcontinent. 168 important energy stakeholders attended the forum, which was organised by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank in collaboration with the India Smart Grid Forum (ISGF).
India has been significantly investing in clean energy, grid modernisation and digitalisation of its utilities. In consequence, job profiles in the Indian energy sector have been evolving with greater emphasis on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and renewable energy solutions. Women in the nation have the potential to fill the skill gap required for energy transition as the demand for skilled human resources to fill new green jobs continues growing. However, on the other hand, women participation in the energy sector, remains extremely low.
To address the issue of low women participation, energy sector has to be developed in a way to attract, develop, and retain talented women professionals. WePOWER was initially launched in February 2019 to move towards this goal. It is a network of 28 energy sector utilities and organisations dedicated to promoting normative change in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and education for women and girls.