Scene: Environmental Science Classroom at St. Joseph’s College, Bangalore.
Year: 2005
One fine, bright, sunny morning, as I was actively listening to the lecture without having dozed off like I usually do, I heard my lecturer say:
“”Did you know that 20% of electricity generated in India is lost in transmission and distribution? This makes grid connected systems quite inefficient; although it does make our lives as consumers of electricity, extremely convenient.””
“”Oh wow! 20%? That’s huge””, I thought!
I started reading a lot about decentralized energy management systems and micro-grids. What fascinated me was that renewable energy sources, being decentralized by nature, offer an excellent way to break-free from the centralized grid. They’ll bring energy (or electricity) production closer to consumption. The only challenges were the high costs associated with generating electricity from these sources and whether it can be done at a decent scale.
Nevertheless, I roped in my buddies Prince, Naresh and Daya and started exploring this further. In fact, it provided the perfect topic for a science exhibition and we started putting things into action. The fact that our project won the best project award across all disciplines, validated our belief that here’s a real problem for us to solve!
Fast Forward to 2020.
Renewable and clean energy sector in India had made giant strides and guess what, their prices, especially those of Solar Energy, were either at par or lesser than the traditional sources of electricity printed on the grid. “”That’s incredible!””, I thought, “”Does this mean we now have a chance to switch to clean energy completely?””
The government had ambitious plans of generating 100 GW of Solar Energy by 2022. 40GW of that was supposed to come from residential rooftop solar installations. That’s a perfect recipe for decentralized energy management and a wonderful milestone to achieve. Here’s the catch, though – 40GW roughly translates to ~1.5Cr households & THAT IS HUGE!
There were problems aplenty as well:
1. Are the existing companies equipped to handle such huge numbers?
2. Are homeowners willing to switch to Clean Energy and take on the role of ‘Prosumers’?
3. Is the cost barrier low enough and are there flexible payment options?
4. Is the process of buying Solar as easy and engaging as buying a car?
These are real problems that needed solutions, and, with a few ideas in mind I turned to my college buddies Prince and Naresh again who were ready to hop on. Within days, we had a valid business idea which needed to be fused with some technical wizardry. That’s where my cousin, Puneeth, came in with some wonderful ideas and a passion to put things into action. We all wanted to take it to the next level and create a bigger impact and that’s how the core team of Synergize Solar got together, on a journey to Synergize Households. One Rooftop at a Time.
A special shoutout to Pradeep Gulur for designing this website and a round of applause to Sunil, for trusting us enough, lending a helping hand and agreeing to hop-on-aboard so early. Watch this space, as we keep exploring and sharing our experiences during this exciting journey.
The Sun’s out but so is COVID-19 unfortunately. So, stay indoors and stay safe. See you at the other side soon. Until then, happy reading! 🙂
We’ll be elated to get your thoughts and feedback so please don’t forget to drop a note to hello@synergizesolar.com“