Washington, DC - The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced that Dr. Sanjiv Malhotra will be the first Director of the Clean Energy Investment Center (CEIC), located within the Office of Technology Transitions (OTT). CEIC was established in 2015 as part of the Obama Administration’s Clean Energy Investment Initiative to advance private, mission-oriented investment in clean energy technologies that address the present gap in U.S. clean tech investment. CEIC will also help to enhance the availability of DOE’s resources to private sector investors and potential partners in the public.
“Dr. Malhotra’s unique experience as an accomplished scientist, entrepreneur, and businessman will be invaluable as the first director of the Clean Energy Investment Center,” said Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. “Under Dr. Malhotra’s leadership, the center will play a significant and vital role in the Administration’s Clean Energy Investment Initiative aimed at expanding private sector investment for innovative technologies that can reduce carbon emissions and combat climate change. Dr. Malhotra will further strengthen an outstanding clean energy finance team at DOE.”
As the center’s first Director, Dr. Malhotra will be responsible for standing up the CEIC, which will serve as a single point of contact for investors to access technical experts, acquire the latest reports on clean energy technology, and identify promising projects. He will also be instrumental in supporting Mission Innovation, an initiative that was announced at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris to dramatically accelerate public and private global clean energy innovation to address global climate change, provide affordable clean energy to consumers, including in the developing world, and create additional commercial opportunities in clean energy. Through the initiative, 20 countries, including the top five most populous nations, committed to double their respective clean energy research and development investment over five years.
Dr. Malhotra brings extensive leadership and experience in sales and international business development, establishing public-private partnerships, managing and directing engineering and research programs at various stages of product development, and attracting private sector equity investments.
He joins the center after most recently serving as a consultant with the Department’s Fuel Cells Technologies Office. Previously, from 2005-2014, he served as the founder, President, and CEO of Oorja Protonics, a global leader in the design, development, and manufacturing of methanol fuel cells. During his time at the company, he attracted more than $32 million in investments from private sector equity firms, and he brought the company to profitability.
Over the course of his diverse career, he has been an advisor at Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, served as part of the executive management team at DCH Technology and H Power Corp, and worked as a researcher at DOE’s Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory.
Dr. Malhotra holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, and he holds a master’s degree in business administration and a doctoral degree in chemical and biochemical engineering from the University of Iowa.
