CyanConnode Holdings plc (LON:CYAN), a world leader in Narrowband Radio Frequency (RF) Smart Mesh Networks, has announced that it has appointed Saurabh Kumar as an adviser to the Company.
Saurabh Kumar is an internationally recognised authority on designing and implementing scalable, replicable, and impactful business models for promoting energy efficiency.
Mr Kumar is well known in the energy efficiency sector in India, having held senior roles such as Secretary of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency in the Union Ministry of Power and serving the United Nations in handling environmental issues for the Asia-Pacific region.
In May 2013, he was appointed as Managing Director (MD) of Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), an energy service company of the Government of India. Under his leadership, EESL implemented the globally-lauded Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA) programme and Street Light National Programme (SNLP). He served in the role of MD until August 2020, when he was appointed as Group Executive Vice Chairperson of EESL, a position he held until September 2021.
As an adviser to CyanConnode, Mr Kumar will be working closely with the Board and senior management of the Company helping design business models and secure project finance for large scale smart prepaid metering projects in India. This all falls under the Government of India’s advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) service provider (AMISP) model known as Design-Build Finance-Own-Operate-Transfer (DBFOOT) or Opex model.
John Cronin, Executive Chairman of CyanConnode, commented:
“I am delighted to have Saurabh on board at this exciting time for the Company. As the Indian smart metering market continues to scale up to deliver 250 million smart prepaid meters, large amounts of flexible funding and various different business models will be required to facilitate the roll out of large scale projects. I believe that having an adviser with Saurabh’s knowledge and experience will prove to be invaluable for the Company.”
Saurabh Kumar commented:
“I am pleased to be working with the CyanConnode team as India moves forward with its smart metering rollout. I have seen CyanConnode’s technology and know that utilities in India will benefit significantly from implementing its solution.
Indian distribution companies are looking for service level agreements (SLAs) of greater than 99.5% and CyanConnode has a proven system in the market today (achieving the SLA metric of 99.5%). I believe that CyanConnode is well-placed to secure a significant share of the Indian smart prepaid metering market.”
