Harshit is the Research Associate in Community Energy Systems at the STEER centre in Geography and Environment. He is working jointly on the Community Energy and Sustainable Energy Transition in East Africa (CESET) project and the Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) programme. Prior to joining STEER, Harshit worked as a Research Scholar at the Indian Institute of Technology, India where his work was focused on evaluating community renewable energy systems for sustainable electricity access in India. He has a transdisciplinary research background across engineering and social sciences. He earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering and recently submitted his PhD thesis on Sustainable Energy Transitions in India. He is the recipient of a prestigious Fulbright Fellowship (2021) at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, USA for his research on enhancing rural energy access for energy deprived communities in India.
Harshit’s research interest lies across community energy, sustainability transition, low carbon policy, and climate change. His CESET project work is focussed on evaluating the landscape of Community Energy in Ethiopia, Malawi, and Mozambique. His research investigates different ways in which Community Energy projects contributes in building resilience. He is working on identifying success factors and best practices for Community Energy projects relevant to East Africa. In addition, he will be providing technical and research mentoring to MECS partners for scaling up of modern energy cooking services through community energy resilience in Global South.
- Harshit Vallecha, Debraj Bhattacharjee, John Kalu Osiri, Prabha Bhola, “Evaluation of barriers and enablers through integrative multicriteria decision mapping: Developing sustainable community energy in Indian context”, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2021. (SCIE, Impact Factor: 16.79)
- Harshit Vallecha, Prabha Bhola, “Sustainability and replicability framework: Actor network theory based critical case analysis of renewable community energy projects in India”, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2019, 108: 194-208. (SCIE, Impact Factor: 16.79)
- Harshit Vallecha, Prabha Bhola, “Prioritization of Challenges and Enablers associated with Community Energy Projects in Indian Context”, Energy Procedia, 2019, 158: 3886-3892.
- H. Vallecha, M. Aklin, “An assessment of electricity access in Jharkhand and the impact of Saubhagya”, ISEP Policy Brief, SAIS, Johns Hopkins University, USA, Issue 7, 2020.
- A. Sharan, J. Shekhar, H. Vallecha, V. Nandan, M. Aklin, B. Blankenship and J. Urpelainen “Creating a Renewable Ecosystem: Roadmap to Clean Energy Transition in Jharkhand, India” ISEP Report, SAIS, Johns Hopkins University, USA, April 2021.
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V. Nandan, H. Vallecha, “An Integrated Energy Approach Could Improve Access in Jharkhand”, Power for All (Op-ed), 2021
J. Shekhar, H. Vallecha, “Jharkhand’s Clean Energy Transition — Challenges and Pathways”, Power for All (Op-ed), 2021 - Harshit Vallecha, Prabha Bhola, “Scope, Relevance and Sustainability of Decentralized Renewable Energy Systems in Developing Economies: Imperatives from Indian Case Studies”, 21st International Conference on Environmental Management and Engineering, Zurich, August 2019.