The IIT campus was not ready when Saroj Nayak moved to Bhubaneswar from the US in 2012. The condensed matter physicist had been a professor at Renssealer Polytechnic when IIT Bhubaneswar made him a job offer.
Nayak worked for some time from an old government building without any power backup, struggling with the heat and frequent power cuts. His response? A creation to harness this heat.
Dissatisfied with the existing UPS systems, Nayak invented one that ran on solar power, got a patent and founded a company called Karma. He and his colleagues also took electricity to Odisha’s villages, all the while being closely watched by the Naxalites in the hills.
During these trips, Nayak discovered that small farmers had no solar pumps either. Since larger pumps are not economical for small holdings, he developed a smaller solar-powered version that was ideal for 90% of the farmers in Odisha
Today, Nayak is not alone. Although solar energy installations have been in the country for over two decades, few companies were practising serious technical innovation. This is changing now, as researchers in good institutions are developing ways of improving efficiencies and finding new applications for solar.
Specifically, some IIT professors have used their expertise to bring significant energy efficiencies in solar installations, while creating new markets as well.
By Baishakhi Dutta
