Hello, I am Narasimhan Santhanam
Co-founder & Director, Energy Alternatives India

I assist corporate top management in strategy and market intelligence for the climate tech sector - specifically, solar power, bio-energy/biofuels, e-mobility and green hydrogen

Narasimhan (Narsi), with exceptional understanding of the market and strategic dimensions of clean energy and cleantech domains, has helped several Indian (& some global) companies shape their renewable energy and sustainability strategies.

Within cleantech, Narsi has vertical expertise in solar, electric mobility and biomass sectors, and has assisted Indian and global corporate & institutional leaders – from Accenture to GE to World Bank - since 2008.

He holds a BTech from IIT Madras and a PGPM from IIM Calcutta.

Assisted Global Corporates in Cleantech

Narsi has assisted over 200 companies in the past 10 years, with many of them global leaders. Prominent consulting clients include:

  • Amway
  • Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
  • Bosch
  • Exxon Mobil
  • GE
  • GSK
  • IIT Madras
  • JSW
  • P&G
  • Pepsi
  • ReGen Power
  • Reliance
  • Toyota Kirloskar
  • Vedanta
  • World Bank
  • Yokogawa
  • Narsi in a Nutshell

    Established India’s first boutique Cleantech Management Consulting firm, Energy Alternatives India, in 2008

    In-depth market & management consulting expertise across a wide spectrum of cleantech – renewable energy, sustainable materials, sustainable mobility and sustainable environmental remediation.

    Specialized consulting domains include solar power, electric mobility, biofuels, biomaterials & bioplastics

    Consulted for many business value chain points (from upstream manufacturing all the way to downstream retail) for many of the cleantech domains.

    Consulted for over 100 companies – including the likes of GE, World Bank, Bosch, JSW, Reliance, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

    Authored over 25 industry leading reports; contributed at over 100 cleantech conferences worldwide

    Exceptional technical and business contacts along the entire cleantech value chain, all across India

    BTech from IIT Madras & PGDM from IIM Calcutta

    More Details of Narsi’s background and work are provided at a later section of this page.

    Domains for which Narsi and his team can provide strategic & market assistance

    Solar Energy

    Solar PV | Solar Thermal | Solar-Wind Hybrid | Solar with Storage

    Electric Mobility

    Electric Vehicles | EV Batteries& Powertrain | EV Charging Stations

    Biomass to Value

    Biomass Heating& Power | Biofuels (Biodiesel& Ethanol) |
    Bioplastics (including bio-based packaging) | Bio-chemicals

    Green Hydrogen

    Evaluating different pathways for GH2 production | Technical and business partnerships | identifying end use business cases and prospects

    Sustainability Edge

    Identifying new sustainable products

    Modifications to your existing product portfolio

    Aligning your value chain to sustainability

    Adopting best of breed sustainability practices

    How can Narsi assist your company?

    Narsi, along with his team of consulting and research professionals at EAI, can assist your company benefit from the opportunities in
    the clean energy and cleantech space through the following avenues:

    Partnerships

    Identifying Business, Tech& JV Partners - Using a combination of his industry understanding and vast network of business contacts, Narsi in an ideal position to identify relevant and effective partners for a range of cleantech and clean energy domains.
    Such partner identification can be even more valuable for international companies in search of the right business partner for their Indian market entry or growth

    Innovations

    Assistance in Investing in Innovation - Narsi and his team can assist top management invest in cleantech innovation in two ways:

    1.Identify and evaluate emerging innovative opportunities relevant to the client’s needs

    2.Identify innovative companies that are attractive for R&D investments, inorganic growth,including attractive M&A targets

    Market Understanding

    Market Potential Analysis - A large part of Narsi’s work in cleantech has revolved around answering the question: “What is the market potential for this product or solution?” Using his long acquaintance with the Indian cleantech market, he appreciates the ground realities in the context of potential, drivers and challenges for diverse cleantech products and markets and thus can assist top management get a reality check for specific markets/products of interest!

    Analysis

    Strategic Analysis of the Sector Narsi’s strength is his ability to analyse select cleantech verticals using a combination of industry knowledge and analytical frameworks. A key part of every assignment is devoted to providing the client’s top management with the BIG picture for the business opportunity. In addition, he also brings to the table a long expertise in understanding and analyzing the supply chain for a number of cleantech opportunities

    Talent

    Identifying Talent Narsi and his team have been assisting cleantech companies identify top management or top technical talent – all the way from senior engineers to CEOs.

    Due Diligence

    Evaluating Prospects for Investors As part of this work, Narsi has also assisted investors in doing detailed due diligence of investee prospects. Such due diligence and evaluation has been done for Business& Market Potential, Product Evaluation and in some cases, Technology Diligence

    More about Narsi

    Who Am I?

    I am the Cofounder & Director of EAI (Energy Alternatives India)

    A renewable energy professional having a decade’s experience as top management and strategy consultant, I have specialization in solar PV and biomass-energy sectors, bringing together a unique intersection of top management perspectives, India market knowledge and extensive expert contacts.

    Who Can Benefit From My Expertise?

  • Medium and large Indian firms keen on diversifying into clean energy or cleantech
  • Medium and large Indian firms keen on making their operations more energy and resources sustainable
  • International firms keen on entering the Indian market for their products or solutions
  • What Do I Bring To The Table?

    Focus on the Big Picture – I, with my consulting team’s assistance, strive to give senior and top management the big picture. This enables them to answer the all-important question “Should we do it?” and then “What exactly should we do?” before attempting to answer the question “How should we do it?”

    Feet on the ground –While my main goal is to provide strategic assistance, my hands on expertise in key verticals within cleantech enables me to provide such advice and recommendations based on a clean understanding of what works and what's just moonshine across a wide spectrum of clean energy and cleantech.

    Passion for sustainability and resource productivity - I have published work on solar, biomass and electric vehicles in India; been on the jury for several awards; and served on several industry and government committees on sustainability. These have given me unique perspectives and insights that I bring to the consulting assignments.

    Feasibility analysis – A good extent of my work has been in establishingfinancial and operational feasibility for investments in solar and biomass energy, and in sustainable materials such as bioplastics. This helps our clients getting an excellent grasp of the likely returns on their investments, and the risks and challenges thereof.

    Exceptional contacts –With my decade-long background in Indian cleantech and clean energy, I have contacts at the senior and top management level across the entire stakeholder spectrum for solar, biomass, biofuels, e-mobility, waste-management. These contacts extent across the entire business value chain for each of these sectors–manufacturers, EPCs, equipment and solution providers, government, technology experts and financial institutions.



    Narsi - Details of Skills

    Solar Photovoltaic

    Narsi has worked in almost every part of the solar photovoltaic value chain for the past ten years, across market strategy, technology evaluation and financial feasibility....

    Biomass to Value

    Bio-energy

  • Biomass-based heating and cooling – Complete business case evaluation, including technical and economic feasibility
  • Bio-materials...

    Electric Mobility

  • Li-ion battery
  • EV innovations
  • Assistance for auto comp industry
  • Large EV network
  • Industry expert guides
  • Sustainable Edge

    How can your company develop a product-market strategy that is aligned to a future where being sustainable and environment-friendly will no longer be “nice to be” but will be “must be”?

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    Education

    Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta

    PGDM, Operation Management | 1992 - 1994

    Indian Institute of Technology, Madras

    B Tech, Aerospace Engineering | 1988 - 1992


    Other efforts in climate tech

    Outside of EAI, Narsi Co-ordinate the following climate tech efforts


    Climafix

    A prominent accelerator platform for India’s Climate startup ecosystem. organize the CLIMAFIX summit, India’s largest climate startup summit & networking event.

    Know More

    CliDemy

    An ambitious platform that aims to provide effective climate education to a billion people worldwide by 2023

    Know More

    C3 - Chennai Climate Consortium

    World’s first industry-led collaboration platform for city-focused climate action.

    Know More