For Jaswant Pendem, the question of energy reliability begins with something as ordinary as turning on a light.
“A light switch looks the same everywhere, but the reliability behind it can be completely different,” the Perth engineering student says. “In some places, power feels invisible because it simply works. In others, it becomes part of how people plan their day.”
It is a distinction Pendem has experienced across countries and is now taking into an international policy arena.
The final-year Electrical and Electronic Engineering (Honours) and Data Science student at Curtin University has been selected as a 2026 Global Voices Fellow and will join the Australian delegation attending the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings in Bangkok from October 12 to 18. His policy research focuses on how developing economies can expand renewable energy without creating electricity systems that struggle to deliver reliable power.
For a university student still at the beginning of his career, the prospect of entering discussions involving governments, economists, development institutions and policymakers is something he approaches with some caution.
“It means a lot because it puts me in a room where the issues I study are being discussed at a global level,” Pendem says. “I am still early in my career, so it is less a moment to claim expertise and more a chance to listen carefully, contribute thoughtfully and bring back what I learn.”
The fellowship, he says, has allowed him to connect engineering with questions that extend well beyond electricity generation.
“For me, the fellowship connects my engineering background with a bigger question: how do technical systems shape people’s lives? Reliable energy, development finance and climate transition can sound abstract, but they affect whether communities can study, work, run businesses and access services.”
That connection is partly personal.
Before settling in Western Australia, Pendem lived in Brunei and Nigeria. The contrast between electricity systems in different countries stayed with him and eventually helped shape his interest in grid reliability.
“It taught me that reliable electricity is most visible in its absence,” he says. “When power is dependable, life has a certain rhythm: students can study, businesses can plan, food can be stored safely and essential services can operate without constant interruption.”
When supply becomes uncertain, he says, electricity stops being something people can take for granted.
“People begin to organise their lives around that uncertainty. It affects how families manage their homes, how schools function and how businesses make even basic decisions.”
Those experiences changed the way he thought about electricity long before engineering gave him the technical vocabulary to describe what he had observed.
“I do not see electricity as just infrastructure or a technical service,” Pendem says. “It is one of the foundations of stability, dignity and opportunity.”
His research now examines a problem confronting governments and development institutions investing heavily in renewable energy: adding solar panels or wind generation does not necessarily mean the electricity produced can be reliably used.
“A renewable energy project can be successful on paper but still fail to deliver reliable power in practice,” he says. “A country might build more solar or wind, but if the grid cannot absorb and manage that electricity, the benefit is limited.”
Power can be curtailed, storage can be inadequate and electricity systems can become more difficult to operate. Pendem’s work asks whether those weaknesses can be identified before large amounts of money are committed.
His current policy focus is AI-simulated grid stress testing for renewable-energy lending in the Pacific, with the aim of testing whether proposed projects would strengthen the electricity system rather than simply add generating capacity.
“I think of it as a rehearsal before a project is built,” he says.
“Before a government or lender invests in a renewable energy project, modelling can test how the local grid might behave under pressure. For example, what happens if solar generation is high but demand is low? What if a transmission line is constrained? What if there is not enough storage or system support?”
Pendem is careful not to present artificial intelligence as a substitute for policymakers, engineers or grid operators.
“The point is not for AI to make the decision,” he says. “The point is to give decision makers a clearer warning of what might go wrong, what extra support the grid may need and whether the project is likely to improve reliability once built.”
Australia provides an interesting case study for that discussion. Its rapid expansion of rooftop solar and large-scale renewable generation has also required investment and changes elsewhere in the electricity system.
“Australia’s experience shows that the clean energy transition is not won by building generation alone,” Pendem says. “Solar and wind can scale quickly, but the electricity system around them must mature simultaneously.”
He points to transmission, storage, system strength, inverter standards, market rules and skilled operators as parts of the system that have to develop alongside renewable generation.
“They are not secondary details. They are what turn renewable energy into reliable power.”
But Pendem does not believe developing economies should simply reproduce the Australian model.
“Their geography, resources and institutions are different,” he says. “The lesson is to avoid separating the renewable project from the grid that must carry it.”
That distinction matters particularly in developing countries, where policymakers may be trying simultaneously to expand electricity access, keep power affordable and meet emissions commitments.
“The hardest part is that none of those goals can be ignored,” Pendem says. “Cheap, unreliable power does not support development. Reliable power that is unaffordable excludes people. Cleaner power that cannot be delivered through the grid will not meet community needs.”
For him, the answer lies partly in the order in which investments are made.
“The balance comes from sequencing: what needs to be built now, what needs to be upgraded next and what choices avoid locking countries into higher costs later,” he says.
“Good policy is not about choosing one goal and sacrificing the others. It is about designing energy investments so reliability, cost and emissions are considered together from the start.”
It is an argument he hopes to carry into discussions surrounding the IMF and World Bank meetings.
His central question for policymakers and development lenders is straightforward: “Can the local grid reliably use this power?”
“Clean energy finance often focuses on how much renewable capacity a project will add,” Pendem says. “That matters, but it is not the whole story.”
If a network lacks transmission, storage, stability or the operational capability to manage new generation, he argues, a project can fall short of expectations after the investment has already been made.
“So my main message is that grid readiness should not be treated as a technical afterthought,” he says. “It should be part of the investment decision from the beginning.”
For Perth engineering student Jaswant Pendem, reliable electricity is “most visible in its absence”. Now headed to the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings in Bangkok, he is exploring how AI-based grid testing could help developing economies embrace renewable energy without compromising the power systems communities depend on
For Pendem, stronger technical safeguards are not an argument against renewable investment.
“Better safeguards do not weaken clean-energy finance,” he says. “They make it more likely to deliver what communities actually need: reliable, affordable and cleaner electricity.”
There is also a generational element to his participation in Bangkok. Pendem will enter discussions in which the institutional experience around the table will far exceed his own, but he believes engineers and younger participants can contribute a useful way of looking at policy.
“Engineers are trained to think about failure points,” he says. “We ask what happens under stress, what assumptions are being made and whether a design will still work outside ideal conditions.”
That approach can be particularly useful when ambitious policy announcements encounter the physical limitations of infrastructure.
“A project can sound impressive financially, but still face serious technical limits on the ground,” he says.
Young people also have another reason to participate, he argues: they will live for decades with infrastructure decisions being taken today.
“The decisions being made now about energy, climate and infrastructure will shape the systems we inherit. That gives students a real stake in ensuring those decisions are not only ambitious but also workable.”
Pendem sees Australia remaining an important base for his career, but his ambitions extend across the Indo-Pacific and into the intersection of engineering, data and public policy.
“I enjoy the technical side of engineering and data science, but what motivates me most is knowing that these tools can help make better decisions about things people rely on every day, like electricity, infrastructure and public services,” he says.
Bangkok will offer an education that cannot easily be replicated in a university lecture theatre.
“Being part of the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings will give me a better understanding of how governments and development institutions think about energy, finance and long-term infrastructure,” he says. “That perspective is something I cannot get from the classroom alone.”
Longer term, Pendem wants the technical work to lead somewhere tangible.
“I hope to contribute to projects where technical evidence is not just produced in a report but actually helps shape decisions that improve people’s lives.”
It brings him back to the deceptively simple light switch and the complicated system sitting behind it.
“Generation is only one part of the story,” he says. “The real challenge is whether the grid, operators and planning decisions can turn electricity into something dependable.”
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