Oct282021
Posted by:admin
Caspian Climate Conversations | Episode 6
Featuring Bharti Singhla- COO
Bharti is the Chief Operating Officer at Chakr Innovation. She is a chemical engineer from IIT Delhi and has worked with the Boston Consulting Group before joining Chakr
Featuring Parth Sarthi- Customer Engineering Head, Chakr Innovation
Parth is the Customer Engineering Head at Chakr Innovation. He is a mechanical and automation engineer. He has been associated with Hyundai motors and Mercedes Benz Research & Development before joining Chakr.
Chakr Innovation has developed Chakr Shield, an innovative emission control device that captures pollution at source from diesel generators and converts it into useful products.
To tune into the recording, please use the available link here: https://www.mentza.com/circles/4198
Here is a summarized transcript of this interesting conversation:
What does your product do and who are your customers?
Bharti– Our product aims to solve the problem of air pollution in India. Air pollution is one of the leading causes of death globally, and one of the primary pollutants is unburnt hydrocarbons that come out in the air from diesel generators. Our product captures 70-90% of the particulate matter that is creating ambient air pollution. We install our device on stationary diesel generators. Any application- domestic or industrial, which uses a diesel generator, is a potential customer for us.
How did you and your founders encounter this problem, and what has been the thought process behind coming up with this solution?
Bharti- It started in 2015 when a report published by WHO mentioned that 12 out of the 20 most polluted cities in the world were in India. (The number has now increased to 14.) This motivated us to look for solutions to this problem. We started mapping the sources of air pollution and identifying how we could make a difference. We identified diesel generators as an unaddressed source of air pollution where the emission norms were also very primitive. We developed some prototypes, filed patents and conducted pilots with a few telecom industries as well as some industrial houses to establish the product. Then we were able to raise funds to scale it up. Since then, we have onboarded some large customers and have over 100 installations across India to date.
Do you have any personal experiences that led you to this quest?
Bharti– I come from a small town in Himachal where the air is clean and the sky is blue. When I stepped out of my hometown for higher education in Delhi, I was baffled to see people living in such a toxic environment. The experience that hit me most came during a road trip on the Delhi Gurgaon highway with my 6-year-old niece. A car, slightly grayish-blue in color, passed by and she pointed to it identifying it with the color of the sky. That’s when I realized that the children raised in metros only know gray as the color of the sky, not blue, and I decided to bring the blue skies back into the lives of these children.
Can you help our audience understand the climate impact of short-lived climate pollutants?
Parth– The main impact of short-lived climate pollutants globally is the greenhouse effect that they cause, which is next to carbon-di-oxide, contributing 45% of the current global warming. In terms of their potential to create the greenhouse effect, they are 460 times more potent compared to carbon-di-oxide. These short-lived pollutants are classified as Class-I carcinogens by WHO and responsible for health issues like cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases, pre-term births.
Caspian Debt has a varied portfolio of companies in sectors like healthcare, Agri, etc., therefore, for the benefit of our portfolio companies, we would like to understand if companies in these sectors can use your product? Let’s take the example of a healthcare facility in a remote location that has a diesel generator of 100 kVA.
Parth– Our product Chakr Shield 2.0 (retrofitted emission control device) can be retrofitted on diesel generators of any capacity. Our current installations range from diesel generators of 25kVA to 2500 kVA.
How long does it take to retrofit your product?
Parth– Our installation time is less than one day.
There are many kinds of air pollutants like construction dust, vehicular pollution, burning of residues etc., how important is it to tackle the problem of diesel generator exhaust?
Parth– There are two aspects to this question:
- The contribution of diesel generators to overall pollution: The contribution of various pollutants to the overall air pollution would vary with geography but to give an idea, according to the studies conducted by the emission inventory of Delhi NCR, 16-20% of the particulate matter in metro cities like Delhi, Mumbai etc. is contributed by the diesel generator.
- The focus of governments and manufacturers in controlling this kind of pollution: Currently the policy focus and the technologies for diesel generators have been scarce. Emission norms are not very strict as well. The particulate norms for automobile exhaust and diesel generator exhaust have a 600% gap.
Therefore, solving the problem of diesel generators emissions needs a strong focus.
With other forms of reliable electricity coming in from utilities and solar roof-tops gaining traction, how do you see your market for diesel generators for power back-ups in the future? How have the sales trends of diesel generators been in recent times?
Parth- Undoubtedly, the electricity grid is getting stable by the day and we also hope that the world progresses to emission-free electricity in the future. However, the current reality is that there are multiple remote locations where DG sets are the only means of electricity. In addition, certain critical application areas like in hospitals, research institutes, nuclear power plants, etc. need diesel generators as backups. Market trends show a CAGR of more than 5% for diesel generators currently.
Can you summarise for our audience, the progress you have made in the last few years?
Bharti– Over the last 5 years of Chakr’s existence, we have:
- Developed the product, launched it, and received a patent.
- Done close to 100 installations and are working with large corporate customers.
- Raised a few rounds of funding.
- Set up our engineering and production unit in Pune.
- Have a team of 65 people working full time for us.
- Working to develop new products.
Are the OEMs open to adopting your products and integrating them with their offerings?
Bharti– The blunt response to that would be ‘Not Yet’. However, we have been in talks with quite a few manufacturers and run some successful tests as well. We are now hoping to make some headway in this direction. Meanwhile, an interesting development in the market is that quite a few large companies are asking for an emission control facility in their tenders, especially the PSUs. The demand, therefore, is driven by increasingly aware users and proactive governments.
Do you have or intend to build a solution for pollution caused by stubble burning?
Parth– Not yet, but we might consider it in the future.
Does your product impact the performance of the diesel generators?
Parth– No, it does not interfere with the working of the diesel generator in any way.
Is the industry working to make diesel generators more efficient and reduce emissions altogether?
Parth- The government-mandated policies are the strongest triggers for the industry to act. Therefore, until the next emission norms kick in, a status quo on the diesel generators’ efficiencies and emissions is expected.