BHAVE Power Systems, a clean-tech start-up founded by an ex-IIM Kozhikode Visiting Professor, demonstrated a solar cooking solution today at the IIM Kozhikode campus. The demo was witnessed by faculty, staff, programme participants and other invitees, who saw tea, roasting of chapatti s, puri s and dal being cooked!
Developed by Dr Mahesh Bhave, founder of the start-up, the solution uses solar photovoltaics plus Li-ion batteries dedicated for cooking. The system is powerful enough to support three meals for a family of five, for roadside commercial cooking, or for use in a small restaurant. It progressively eliminates the use of LPG and other conventional energy for cooking.
“This is the first solar+Li-ion battery-enabled cooking event in India, as a dedicated solution,” said Dr Bhave, who has authored the book The Microgrid Revolution . “The overall goal of BHAVE Power Systems is to launch a commercially viable solution as quickly as possible throughout India and the rest of the world. By leveraging India’s plentiful sunshine, the company expects to reduce bio-mass burning, GHG emissions, to improve the health of children and women who cook in poorly ventilated kitchens filled with smoke, and offset the import bill for LPG.”
IIM Kozhikode’s business incubator and entrepreneurship development centre, IIMK LIVE, provided the forum and the resources to enable the demonstration. “Our purpose is to provide platform for a technology or an idea into a practical product that solves problems. Dr Bhave is passionate about clean energy and that is reflected in his work at IIM Kozhikode,” said Keyoor Purani, Executive Director of IIMK LIVE and professor at the institute.
While the product still needs to undergo various technical and market tests before commercialisation, it boasts of benefits such as no grid electricity, no electricity bill, ability to function during load shedding, no fossil fuel burning, being environmentally friendly, and offering emergency lighting and phone and laptop charging. And all of this is more affordable than LPG cylinders.
Jwala Solar, a company led by Adarsh NC, Ranjith KJ, Sreekanth PV, was critically important in the systems integration and logistics involved in the demo. An integral part of BHAVE Power Systems launch efforts, it has a long association with IIM-K, being responsible for the pathway lighting projects on campus in the past.
“IIM-K has always supported on-campus experiments for environment-friendly solutions, be it the rainwater harvesting system, solar pathway lights or solar-powered e-bikes. IIMK LIVE is conceived as a venture laboratory and I am glad it is supporting such ideas aimed at the core problems of Indian households,” said Kulbhushan Balooni, Director (In-charge) of the institute.
The ONGC’s Solar Chulha Challenge was important in affirming the validity of the overall concept of photovoltaics plus battery based cooking. BHAVE Power Systems is a finalist in the ONGC’s Challenge.