Our Team

Perla will support the M&E functions and financial and budget activities of the Energy Transition team. She has previously worked for ESMAP as a consultant since 2020 supporting the Portfolio Team on the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) activities, including updates on ESMAP’s results framework and preparation of reporting to donors as wells as Progress Reports. 

Perla has also worked with ESMAP donors reviewing their LogFrames for consistency with ESMAP’s results framework and Business Plans. Previously, she worked in the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) focusing on grant portfolio management and key thematic donor’s reports. In 2008, Perla worked with the World Bank operational team in the Latin America and the Caribbean on project-cycle management of urban, water and sanitation projects. 

Prior to joining the World Bank, Perla worked in the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) in Colombia, where she led the design and implementation of a M&E system for research programs focused on agriculture. Perla has also worked in the private and public sector and academia in Nicaragua. 

Rafael has been with the Bank since 2012 and had the chance to work first time with ESMAP as STC, contributing to the publication of “Bringing Variable Renewable Energy Up to Scale - Options for Grid Integration Using Natural Gas and Energy Storage”. In 2015 he became part of the CIF team, where he worked mostly on the SREP program and, in partnership with ESMAP, co-led three knowledge-exchange events on minigrids in 2016 and 2017. In 2019 he joined the LAC Energy operational unit, focusing on the decarbonization agenda in Central America, being the green hydrogen focal point for the region and playing the role of ESMAP RC. 

Prior to the Bank, Rafa had worked already a decade on renewable energies (mostly wind and solar PV), green hydrogen and fuel cells, both at the Spanish Institute of Aerospace Technology and at international private companies. He studied chemical engineering and holds a master’s degree on Renewable Energy and Energy Markets from the EOI, Madrid.

In his current position, Rafa will be supporting the ESP, Green Hydrogen y Climate Finance teams.

Raihan joined ESMAP as Lead Energy Specialist from the Africa Energy Practice.  Raihan brings 25 years of Bank operational experience from two regions – Africa and South Asia. He has worked extensively in electricity sector policy, regulation, utility reforms, regional integration, energy finance, guarantees, renewable energy, and energy access. He has supported client governments introduce new policies, implement public private partnerships and design innovative projects to push the boundaries of energy sector development.

Raihan is a thought leader in promoting innovative technologies and disruptive business models to help countries achieve their development targets in a faster and sustainable manner. Before moving to ESMAP, Raihan was managing the Energy Access Flagship and the Lighting Africa Program.  He helped the Lighting Africa Program evolve to support electrification of productive uses, and public institutions to contribute to broader Bank objectives of human capital development.  These lessons were effectively used in the Uganda Electricity Access Scale Up Project (EASP - P166685) and Regional Off-Grid Electricity Access Project (ROGEAP – P160708) to provide electricity access to more than 10 million people. In South Asia, Raihan played a significant role in the design and development of the Bangladesh solar market which electrified about 18 million people.

In addition, Raihan has extensively worked on energy practice areas such as hydropower, geothermal energy, grid connected solar PV, regional transmission interconnections, utility performance improvement, and power sector reforms. He has authored numerous livewires and policy research working papers.

Rutu is part of the energy access team, leading the work on providing energy access to displaced persons, marginalized and host communities as well as linking this work humanitarian settings. She works with task teams to operationalize this work as well as coordinate with internal Bank colleagues in the Fragile Conflict and Violence Team as well as with external stakeholders at the UN and NGO actors active in this space. Her focus is on implementing ESMAP products in the field.

She also leads several World Bank projects and operations in East Asia Pacific and Africa and has worked previously on projects in the MENA region, ECA region as well. Her work focuses on energy access, energy efficiency, climate change and clean cooking. Prior to joining the World Bank, she worked at the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), focusing on mitigation, adaptation, and sustainable development. She also at the European Commission at the Directorate General Trade’s Sustainable Development Unit and at the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency. She has studied at the University of East Anglia UK; Wageningen University, the Netherlands and Yale University and Harvard University, USA.

Sabine Cornieti, Senior Energy Specialist

Renewable Energy | Solar | Wind | Climate Change

Sabine is part of the Renewable Energy team and co-founder of the Sustainable Renewables Risk Mitigation Initiative (SRMI), leading global solar and wind deployment operations in Burkina Faso, Indonesia and Vietnam as well as providing strategic advice to over 25 SRMI countries. Previously, Sabine worked with the World Bank’s Climate Change Group engaged in renewable energy policies.

Before joining the World Bank, Sabine was an Associate Business Developer for EREN Renewable Energy in Jakarta, a large wind and solar independent power producer. She focused on market analysis, project acquisition due diligence, financial modeling, and technical development of solar and wind projects developed under feed-in-tariff and auctions schemes in Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. She also worked with GIZ in Indonesia on renewable energy policies, and with UNDP in New York on evaluating post-conflict programs. She holds a BSc in Economics from the University of Nottingham, UK, a MSc in Economics from Sorbonne Paris 1, and specialized in Renewable Energy Policies at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, USA.

Samantha leads the gender program within the access workstream.  Her experience expands the Poverty & Equity Global Department and Energy & Extractives in the Middle East and North Africa region, as well as Social Protection and Jobs in the Africa Western and Central region.  Samantha has worked with task teams on strengthening gender equality across the clean energy value chain, ensuring equity in efforts around decarbonization and promoting productive uses of energy among women and marginalized groups. 

Samantha has also supported strategic and operational policy dialogue, client engagement, and partnerships for Investment Project Financing, Program for Results operations, and Analytical products. She has delivered capacity-building programs, covering cross-cutting gender topics such as childcare, digital inclusion and women’s leadership.  Select publications include Women’s Entrepreneurship in Climate Tech: Insights from Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia (2024), Toward More and Better Jobs in Energy for Women in MENA (2022), and Gender in Energy Interventions in Fragile and Conflict States (2020). Prior to her work in the MENA and Africa region, Samantha served as Associate Director at the Wolfensohn Center for Development at the Brookings institution. Samantha received her MA in International Affairs: Middle East and North Africa Comparative and Regional Studies from American University, Washington DC. 

Sandeep is a Senior Energy Specialist with 3 decades of experience in energy infrastructure, extractives, and finance, in both the public and private sector contexts. He has served on the ground in Africa and South Asia and handled significant assignments in East Asia and Latin America.  Most recently he covered energy and green growth issues in the Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region, with focus on Kazakhstan, Moldova, and Ukraine (before the war). His extensive experience includes designing, negotiating, financing, and operating complex energy projects, nurturing multi-sectorial and institutional dialogue around decarbonization (as co-lead Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) for Kazakhstan), scale-up of energy-efficiency, supporting energy storage infrastructure for renewables integration, assessing financial viability of a national Transmission System Operator,  and engagement in industrial modernization through deep dive assessments and deployment of innovative clean technologies under public-private partnerships. 

He holds degrees from the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi, Cornell University in Ithaca, University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and the French Petroleum Institute (IFP) in Paris. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with practical understanding of project finance and power purchase agreements (PPAs).

Satyaki joins the ESMAP team to lead the technical and analytical work on Energy Storage systems under the Transitions Workstream.  He previously consulted with the South Asia Region and Africa Energy teams where he provided technical guidance on large grid-connected solar and battery energy storage systems. 

Prior to joining the World Bank, Satyaki worked both in heavy engineering Industry as an International Bid Manager and Project Controller for a global wind energy OEM handling the life cycle of setting up large grid-connected wind power projects from concept to commissioning (c2C) and Revenue management of $600 million annually. Post- industry, Satyaki worked as Strategy Manager for a niche business consulting firm providing business diversification advice to large corporates and state-owned enterprises on their decarbonization strategy and financing, focusing on acquisitions of large wind and solar generation assets and diversification of their energy mix using a pool of corporate PPAs and group captive assets. 

Satyaki holds a Bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering and a Master’s in Business Administration focusing on Finance and Business Economics from Asian Institute of Management, Manila.

Snorri leads the Geothermal Program under the Energy Transition workstream. Prior to joining ESMAP, Snorri held the position of senior geologist/geochemist at Reykjavik Geothermal working on geothermal development projects in various locations worldwide, in low to high income countries. This includes surface exploration in green field projects, resource assessment, drilling strategy, project revisions and due diligence. 

Snorri holds a joint PhD degree from University of Iceland and Paul Sabatier III, in Toulouse France in geochemistry, researching water rock interaction with relation to CO₂ mineralization.

Talal supports the ESMAP Energizing Renewables program and the Sustainable Renewables Risk Mitigation Initiative (SRMI) team. His work focuses on the integrated approach for scaling up effective deployment of renewable energy globally.

Prior to joining the World Bank, Talal’s work focused on designing and building grid-connected solar PV plants for commercial and industrial applications in Canada. Later, he worked on advancing off-grid and hybrid solar PV systems in the Middle East and North Africa region, and advised various organizations including UNICEF, WHO, and GIZ in the context of the deployment of renewable energy for critical services in humanitarian and stabilization.  Talal has field experience in development and implementation of renewable energy strategies in the Gaza strip, Sudan, and Syria.

Talal holds a Masters of Engineering from the University of Toronto focusing on energy systems, and a Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Nottingham.

Tamara Babayan is a seasoned expert in sustainable energy policy, planning, technology, and finance. She is experienced in design and implementation of renewable energy and energy efficiency projects, development of financing mechanisms for renewable energy investments and for energy efficiency in public and residential buildings. During the last three years, Tamara Babayan has been a Senior Energy Specialist in the Europe and Central Asia region of the World Bank, leading projects in Central Asia and Western Balkan Countries, Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, Croatia, Bulgaria, and Romania, covering overall energy dialogue, energy efficiency, renewable energy, and carbon pricing.

Tamara is a skilled project manager with nearly twenty years of experience in managing a portfolio of projects in the areas of heating, energy efficiency, small hydro, geothermal, solar PV area while working with governments, communities, private sector, local and international financial institutions, academia, and civil society.  Before joining the World Bank, Tamara led the R2E2 Fund (Armenia Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Fund) for 12 years (2006-2017); she was a consultant working with various countries and international organizations (ADB, AFD, EBRD, EIB, EU, WBG, UNDP/GCF); and served as Technical Advisory Group expert of ESMAP and CIFs Strategic Climate Fund Committee and SREP Sub-Committee member for several rounds. 

Tamara graduated from Yerevan State University (Physicist). She has a master’s degree in public administration. 

Tarek is part of the Accelerating Decarbonization, Energy Storage, Innovative Solar, and Utilities for the Energy Transition teams. He serves as ESMAP’s technical backbone for electric mobility, coordinates the knowledge work on battery sustainability, and contributes to the efforts on distributed photovoltaic systems. Tarek supports the World Bank operations on transport electrification and decarbonization in Europe, Southeast Asia, and in the MENA region. Prior to joining the World Bank, he worked for the German development agency GIZ on various sustainable energy projects in Africa and the MENA region. Tarek holds a Master’s degree in Electric Engineering and Information Technology from the Technical University of Munich.