Originally published by Charlie Currie of H2View on May 3, 2023.
Women in Green Hydrogen partnered up with H2 View for its Women in Hydrogen series. We are happy to present the most recent interview with Anshika Gupta, Executive R&D at Ecoteq Green Energies Foundation.
Thank you for taking the time to speak with H2 View, can you tell our readers about your current role in the hydrogen sector?
Working as Executive R&D at Ecoteq Green Energies Foundation, I try to provide the best solutions for green hydrogen, a promising solution for a next-generation energy alternative. Being a researcher, I have written multiple blogs and articles to introduce green hydrogen in the simplest way. I also drafted articles on what we can do in this sector by addressing the existing issues and how to move forward from where we are currently in there.
Tell us a little more about Ecoteq Green Energies Foundation and its role in the hydrogen space…
Ecoteq Green Energies Foundation is the fastest-growing renewable energy company based in India. Since its inception, the company has grown exponentially. Ecoteq develops, builds, owns, operates and consults for utility-scale renewable energy project that generates energy for commercial and industrial customers. The company has a global presence in terms of project delivery. Ecoteq is also on the path of early pitching of this sector, starting with pilot projects of green hydrogen production, electrolyser manufacturing and the transmission of green hydrogen to the global level.
Are there any women role models that have positively impacted on your career and what lesson did they teach you?
The first woman who influenced me the most is my mother, who built me as an individual and independent woman. She faced lots of hurdles for me and broke all gender stereotypes. She knew that development should be engendered not endangered. She is an unpaid but influential working woman who nurtured the next generation to build a technologically advanced and ethically breathable environment for everyone. This streamlining of thoughts impacted me and my career deeply to the core.
This year’s International Women’s Day theme is ‘embrace equity’, innovation and technology for gender equality. What does this mean to you?
“Embrace Equity” to me, means embracing all differences and creating a work environment, where everyone is seen, heard and valued at the same level. In my belief, this way of new approach can alter the data reality beyond any doubt. Innovation and technology are the door of opportunity and solution, which helps to come out of many unseen hindrances faced by women and to stand up for themselves and for others. It is also a crucial way of creating a platform where a woman can play a decisive role in development other wise women will fall behind somewhere in the world of work.
Can you tell us about specific challenges you have faced as a woman in your sector and what you did to overcome them?
Challenges come when we prioritise the work, designation and recognition collectively based on gender priority, not as gender parity. Yes, woman faces different headwinds than men in the hydrogen sector because they are associated with work priorities with household priority. Also, the hydrogen sector is the blending of research, methodology, physical stamina, mental strength, data analysis, prompt decisions for risky situations, timeless field work, relocation from home and significantly more, where women have to specify their arena and limit the domain.
This real struggle changes the course of action and decisions in life. But I genuinely believe that challenges always come with opportunity. The major challenge I faced in the energy sector, is to create an appropriate space where I could work efficiently and can show my skills in my desired domain. In this catenation, firstly, we have to address all the gaps in a new emerging technology then collect key data that softly connects all the dots within the system lastly way forward strategy is a movement to make this happen for the green hydrogen sector.
There has been a lot of conversations in the hydrogen industry about recruiting and training a brand new workforce for the emerging industry. Do you see this as an opportunity to achieve better equity for women in the workforce? And what could be put in place to make sure that happens?
The energy sector is never a levelled platform for women. It is because of the unusual status of women used for economic benefits. If we look up the IEA (International Energy Agency) data, only around 22% of women contribute to the energy sector and 14% at the senior level which shows how much we are losing human potential that is creating tremendous economic and social waste. Women have majorly been involved in the IT sector because of their soft-skilling, research and analysis qualities compared to the energy sector that is primarily a male-dominated area. But in the upcoming era of AI and ML, women will be more likely to be seen in the new emerging green hydrogen sector. Research & development, and data analysis of market segments, are pivotal in the green hydrogen sector, where we can’t be so much reliant only on muscle power. As the attitude of the world toward women is changing, I can anticipate that women in the green hydrogen sector can proficiently become the face of leaders.
Finally, what piece of advice would you give to a young woman starting out their careers?
Young women have youthful energy and youthful enthusiasm regarding work that must have been channelled at the start of their careers. Young women are even more ambitious working in an equitable, supportive, and inclusive workplace. Currently, the green hydrogen sector is in the nascent stage where young women canpitch their place at the right time. Getting a job cannot define anyone’s career, we have to build a multi-dimensional arena where circumstances might not be able to affect the core value of the career, which is the best way to start the career.