Turning up the heat

Convinced that green energy would fuel the future, Jaicky Kumar decided to found a climate tech start-up after a decade of experience in e-commerce and fintech in West Asia. The Chief Executive Officer of Bengaluru-based Voltanova reckoned that just as the internet had vastly impacted industries in the past 25 years, climate technology would be the focus of business in the coming decades. 

Kumar and his friend Deepak Mishra — both engineers with a business management degree — discussed the challenges that businesses would need to resolve in transitioning to green energy. They soon realised that while the cost of renewable solar and wind energy generation had dropped over the years, the high cost of energy storage came in the way of a smooth transition. After assessing available energy storage technologies, they zeroed in on low-cost thermal energy storage, which suited steel, cement, chemicals, food and beverages, and other industries needing heat for operations.