There has been enough dialogue on the topics concerning pollution, global warming, climate change and sustainability. This dialogue has had its necessary effects too in the form that people and organisations around the world have been trying to find out solutions to these problems. With so many efforts being put in for this pursuit, it is only obvious that the world turned towards technology to find an effective and efficient solution to the concerns. In such a bid, the Tata Trusts and Social Alpha launched the Social Alpha Energy Challenge in 2018. The second edition of this challenge culminated recently with 15 startups being awarded for their efforts towards finding sustainable solutions to these concerns. 

The selection process involved thorough screening of the applicants focussing on the technological application, their business model, the sustainability and of course the affordability of the solution at the offer.  The selection was made under two categories- Pre-Pilot and Post-Pilot.

The startups selected under the Pre-Pilot stage would be provided with early-stage support including handholding and mentorship for product development as well as prototype creation. The Post-Pilot stage startups are those which have crossed the proof of concept stage and will be supported in their GTM execution. 

These startups will be incubated by the Clean Energy International Incubation Centre commonly known as the CEIIC.

The 15 winner startups are as under:

Elicius Energy:

A cleantech startup which is working towards the provision of resources to companies using or considering the usage of energy storage technologies like hydrogen fuel cells.

Grassroots Energy:

Grassroots Energy is a Bangalore based startup that is working towards the generation of Bio-CNG at a distributed scale in order to give small-scale farmers and operators an opportunity for turning their respective agricultural wastes into energy

Temperate Technologies:

Temperate Technologies is a Hyderabad based startup working towards proprietary energy-efficient air conditioning and cold storage technology which would lead to a reduction in the overall energy consumption

Offgrid Energy Labs:

Offgrid Energy Labs is based out of Kanpur and has developed ZincGel battery which has the potential to outperform the usual lead-acid batteries in the overall battery life, cost as well as efficiency. The startup has filed for a patent for this technology

Gtarang Energy Solutions:

Gtarang is a Mumbai based cleantech startup which has developed an efficient biomass-based furnace solution which can fule small sector enterprise clusters such as jaggery making, rice mills, dairy etc.

Stallion Vortex:

Stallion Vortex is a Delhi based cleantech startup which provides small scale hydropower solutions.

Feynman Innovations:

Founded by Nihal Revankar, Feynman Innovations provides a light-weight and energy-efficient robotic cleaning solution that can clean solar panels with zero water usage.

Himalayan Rocket Stove:

Himalayan Rocket Stove provides energy-efficient, affordable and clean heating and a cooking system suited to Himalayan conditions.

Krishna Arya Tech Corp:

Krishna Arya Tech Corp has developed ‘Annapoorna cookstove’, a zero-emission, low-cost, and energy-efficient cooking solution.

Tan90:

Founded by IIT Madras students, Tan90 provides a portable, solar-powered cold storage system which is powered by a thermal battery that can reduce wastage of farm produce and increase farmer incomes.

Maclec:

This cleantech startup has developed a hydro-kinetic turbine technology that enables to harness hydropower from water streams like rivers, hilly streams, even running urban wastewater from canals and sewages without the need to create bigger civil structures.

Doorastha Analytics:

Delhi-based cleantech startup Doorastha Analytics has developed a solar-power grid monitoring system that can do a full performance monitoring of the power network within the micro-grid and generate live data that can help improve its performance.

Meladath Auto:

Another Bangalore based startup, Meladath has built an innovative retrofit table conversion kid which can replace the front wheel of the scooter and convert it into an electric scooter without any modification.

NRG Village:

NRG village is modelled on the IoT principles and has built a microgrid platform which allows users to control their energy use

SwitchDin:

Based out of Australia, this startup helps energy companies with tools for securely integrating and managing diverse mixes of small scale distributed energy resources (DERs) for optimisation of system-wide outcomes.