Page 122 - ISES SWC50

Anil Cabraal
Country: United States
Year joined industry: 1978
Company first worked for: DHR Inc.
Technology area: Renewable energy project development and
investment
Still active in the industry: Yes

Anil Cabraal’s work in photovoltaics began in 1978 when he led a multi-country PV for agriculture market assessment
in developing countries study for NASA Lewis Research Center. Quite a challenge when PV was $20/Wp! That
led to his lifelong fascination with PV for off-grid applications in developing countries – examining opportunities
and supporting PV market development in communications, rural small industries and in rural water supply. Anil’s
projects helped mobilize hundreds of millions of dollars in development finance for off-grid PV in Indonesia, Sri
Lanka, China, Myanmar, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Tanzania, Liberia, among others. In 1990, he began working
with Bud Annan of US Department of Energy, to identify investment opportunities for PV for the World Bank.
Anil joined the World Bank’s Asia Alternative Energy Program in 1992 and led the World Bank’s strategy to meet
the 2004 Bonn Commitment to increase lending for renewable energy and efficiency by 20 percent a year over
five years. They succeeded spectacularly – with lending rising from under $2 million prior to 2004, to $3 billion
in 2010. He is particularly proud of collaborating with Peter Varadi, the founder of Solarex Inc., and launching the
Photovoltaic Global Approval Program – It was the first quality labelling program for off-grid PV, later adopted by
IECEE. Anil was a co-founder of the World Bank/IFC Lighting Africa Program to support a massive expansion of the
commercial market for off-grid solar/LED lighting in Africa. It has now morphed into the Lighting Global Program
benefitting hundreds of million people with increased access to off-grid electricity. He was honored to receive the
Professor Robert Hill Award for his contributions to photovoltaics for development at the European Photovoltaics
and Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition in 2005. The 40+ year journey continues… developing renewable
energy investment projects in Myanmar, Bangladesh, Liberia, among others.

Giovanni Cimini
Country: Italy
Year joined industry: 1979
Company first worked for: Farfisa
Technology area: PV
Still active in the industry: Yes

In the ‘70s two friends, Giovanni Cimini and Bruno Olivieri, at that time students, began to build artisanal amplifiers
and loudspeakers for their city’s music groups and some primordial electric bikes with the CRA brand so as to
allow trips on weekends during the 1973 oil crisis. Following the good results obtained by their first attempts, they
founded, in 1979, the CRA Elettronica based in the Cimini’s garage. In 1984 CRA Elettronica changes its name to
Western CO. Promising results did not take long and during the 90’s they developed an integrated solar energy
production and storage system that gave rise to the well-known Leonardo System range on the market today. From
that moment on and under the visionary leadership of Mr. Cimini, Western CO. is constantly dedicated to developing
products for energy independence and the widespread production of energy from renewable sources.

104 | ISES SWC50 - The Century of Solar-Stories and Visions