Energy Swaraj Foundation

About Us

Energy Swaraj Foundation (ESF) is a section-8, not-for-profit organization, formed to establish Energy Swaraj or Energy Self-rule or Energy Independence across the world through adoption of the AMG approach. The motto of the ESF is “Energy by Locals for Locals”

Our Team

PROF. CHETAN SINGH SOLANKI

Entrepreneur and Author

A renowned solar scientist, a professor of IIT Bombay, Dr. Solanki has been referred to as “Solar Man of India” by Times of India, The Hindu and India Today. Some people also call him “Solar Gandhi”. Known for his remarkable work in the field of Solar, he is an educator, innovator, researcher, author and and loves to talk about the philosophy of life. He is the author of 8 books and over 100 research papers.

Following Gandhian ideals, he has coined the word ‘Energy Swaraj’. His Energy Swaraj Movement is a stepping stone towards energy access, energy sustainability, and climate change mitigation.

Currently he is on an 11 years long Energy Swaraj Yatra through a solar bus to bring awareness about climate change to masses and encourage them to switch towards 100% solar powered life. During this 11 years of yatra he has pledged to live on a bus and not go home until the goal is achieved. Prof. is Solanki believes in practising yoga, breathing exercises and meditation for physical and mental well-being as a teacher of Art of Living.

Dr. VENKAT RAJARAMAN

M. S. in Electrical Engineering

Dr. Venkat Rajaraman is an Advisory Committee member of the National Center for Photovoltaic Research and Education (NCPRE), India. He has over 25 years of experience in Product Design and Engineering Management. Prior to that, he was the CEO of Su-Kam Power Systems, leading power back-up and RE solution provider from India. Before moving to renewable energy space, he was the Vice President of Engineering at Portal Player, a company that was acquired by NVIDIA Corp in Jan 2007. He worked at Sun Microsystems, USA. He has a BE degree from Madurai-Kamaraj University and a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. He specializes in Renewable Energy, Engineering Management, Product Design, and Development.

Mr. Amit Raje

Chairman and Managing Director

He is the Chairman and Managing Director for Aartech and its subsidiaries with a focus on innovation, entrepreneurship and prudent management with multiple initiatives across various domains and ecosystems. He has 10 Years of R&D experience followed by executive responsibilities and leadership roles. He has also designed and developed BTS 2000 Microprocessor Based Numerical Fast Bus Transfer Systems for Utilities and Process Industries. He has also worked extensively on developing Specialized and Selected Energy Applications in a multi-technologist environment by sharing a platform for technology and business development.

Parag Patankar

Co-Founder & CTO of Covalent Capital

Parag Patankar is Co-Founder & CTO of Covalent Capital, a Fintech SaaS company backed by Singapore Stock Exchange and Temasek. He has 2 Decades of Technology Leadership roles at Oracle, Cisco and is an IIM Ahmedabad MBA, and an Electronics Engineer. He is passionate about giving back through education for underprivileged youth, and has mentored over 6000 students to create better education and work opportunities, and trained over 2000 teachers to be more effective in teaching online. He led technology strategy for a Gates foundation effort to provide better education to kids in Indian slums and inner city U.S. schools. He is an avid cyclist, braving the Bangalore traffic to commute to work, was founding member of Bangalore Brevets, has been a Super Randonneur twice, and is active in cycling evangelism through Bangalore Bicycling School and Cycle to Work initiatives.