Evolution of Solar Concentrator Technology in India

India has set a very ambitious target of 100 GW solar power by 2030 and
solar thermal technology is going to play a vital role in achieving this
goal. Though the widely perceived solar power - solar photo voltaics, is
doing well in terms of lowering cost of production, its efficiency and
storage still pose challenges. Box cookers and hot water systems based on
flat plate collectors are some of the initial success stories of the solar
thermal systems. Solar concentrators have now filled the missing gap of
getting higher temperatures and are therefore now being used for process
heating, cooling and cooking Systems.

In this talk the speaker Deepak Gadhia will walk through evolution of
solar concentrators in India in terms of their  technologies, economics
and applications. A few case studies will be presented in the process.

About Mr. Deepak Gadhia:

Mr. Deepak Gadhia studied Process and Environmental Engineering,  Energy
Consultancy and Energy Management at Technical University, Berlin and MIT,
USA. He worked for various leading German companies in the field of heat
recovery and energy conservation. In India, he was the founder of
International Center for Networking, Ecology, Education and Re-integration
(ICNEER) and Gadhia Solar Energy Systems Pvt. Ltd. This company became
world leader and has undertaken prestigious projects like the world’s
largest solar steam cooking system at Shirdi temple which cooks 50,000
meals per day with steam generated from Solar Concentrators.

Mr. Deepak Gadhia is a social entrepreneur and had founded or helped
several NGOs in attaining self reliance by deploying state-of-the-art of
energy technologies. Mr. Gadhia received BlueSky Award  (China), Solar
Entrepreneur Award by the Solar Thermal Field by Solar Energy Society of
India (SESI), etc. He also serves on boards of several Government and non-
Government bodies and committees as advisor and mentor.