Can a 23-year-old really develop an idea that could revolutionise the power sector in rural India? Minutes into a conversation with Yashraj Khaitan, founder and CEO of Gram Power, any question about his age, and how it correlates to his achievement, becomes superfluous. Yashraj is like no other youngster you might come across: Immensely gifted, incredibly driven and passionate about his work, and with a deeply ingrained sense of social responsibility.
The idea for Gram Power took hold when Yashraj — then a 19-year-old, second-year student in electrical engineering and computer science at the University of California, Berkley— visited several Indian villages for a project. He was inspired by the ingenuity that people in these areas displayed in overcoming challenges. Already committed to the idea of using technology for social welfare (he was part of Engineers Without Borders), Yashraj knew that he wanted to return to India and work on putting conviction into practice.
Through Gram Power, Yashraj and a friend (Jacob Dickinson) set up a “smart micro grid” in Khareda village in Rajasthan in 2012. The grid generates, stores and distributes renewable energy on-site. Over 200 villagers now have on-demand power, all day and night, through the Gram Power grid. Any pilferage or theft from the grid is detected immediately, and curtailed. But the innovation didn’t end there. Noting that those who depended on daily wages preferred to buy what they needed on a day-to-day basis, Gram Power allowed consumers to similarly buy power for smaller amounts from vendors. The plan was genius.
But Yashraj shrugs off all praise. “It made intuitive sense to use what had worked in telecom (prepaid phone recharges of various small denominations) in power as well. We tried it out, and it worked,” he says. Very well in fact.
For as less as Rs 10 a day, a Gram Power customer can buy enough electricity to run household appliances for up to nine hours. Smart meters then help consumers track how much power they have in their “balance”, and how much each appliance is consuming. Yashraj was named a TEDx Gateway Fellow in 2013, and Gram Power has already been named among the top-10 clean tech innovations in the world by Nasa.
For Yashraj, whose interest in engineering blossomed at the age of 12 when he worked with his father at their manufacturing units in Jaipur and Kolkata, the Gram Power journey is just “a start”. His aim is to get the technology to as many people as possible and Yashraj has put in enough 16-hour days to make that happen.
“It’s a little more orderly now. My typical day stretches from 9 am to 7 pm, but sometimes it goes much beyond that. Gram Power is something I eat, breathe and dream. It’s part of who I am.”
