YASHRAJ KHAITAN

DAIS Alumni, Yashraj Khaitan is the founder of Gram Power. Yashraj, IB Class of 2008 and an alumnus of the University of Berkeley, received the Times Now Amazing Indians Award 2016 by the hands of Hon'ble PM Shri Narendra Modi in the 'Global Indian' category on 14th January. His company ‘Gram Power’ is changing the face of rural electrification and addressing one of its key challenges- that of power theft. Gram Power has installed solar micro grids in isolated rural districts of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh to provide a sustainable source of power to places where electricity is a far flung dream. Gram Power operates by building 5-10 kilowatt micro- grids and provides households with ‘smart meters’ that allow them to regulate their power consumption and therefore minimizes the chances of a power theft. This also allows the villagers the flexibility to recharge their power, much in the same way as they recharge their phones. Khanpuria is one of the villages near Kota that has benefited from Gram Power and now the village is no longer reeling under darkness. Providing them an off-grid solar power system using these smart meters, Gram Power is truly changing the face of rural electrification in India. So far 30 micro grids has been installed across India. Gram Power has commissioned one entrepreneur in each village who recharges the smart meters from house to house. The villagers have adopted this practice with ease and use electricity accordingly. Based in Jaipur, Khaitan keeps a check on all power grids and smart meters through a web network and monitors the functioning of these meters. Whichever meter is tampered or dysfunctional - a red signal on their web systems alerts them and they automatically cut the power supply.