|
About Us
Who We Are
Our Team
Prasanna Karhade
Co-Founder
Prasanna is the Co-Founder of SolarJunction.ai.
Prasanna is an Associate Professor at CUHK Business School. He did his BE in Computer Engineering from Sardar Patel College of Engineering (now Sardar Patel Institute of Technology), MS in Computer Science from Georgia State University, and PhD in Business Administration from UIUC (University of Illinois Urbana Champaign). Prasanna has published 8 FT50 research papers and was in the top 1% MIS scholars worldwide for productivity from 2020-2024.
Prasanna is interested in doing research in G.R.E.A.T. (Growing, Rural, Eastern, Aspirational, and Transitional) economies. The main purpose of SolarJunction.ai is to apply his research expertise and bring about a tangible impact in the solar industry.
Prashant Karhade
Co-Founder
Prashant is the Co-Founder of SolarJunction.ai.
Prashant is a multi-talented and multi-faceted professional with 27+ years of experience in hardware, software, and pretty much everything in between. In his career, he has played many different roles, worn many different hats, worked on many different tools and technologies, got exposed to many different domains, and loved every minute of it!
He did BTech in Electrical Engineering from IIT Bombay and MS in Electrical & Computer Engineering (with a minor in Computer Science) from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
Prashant is a hardcore techie and is passionate about using technology to solve real problems for real people. Prashant is passionate about the renewable energy sector which is why he decided to start SolarJunction.ai.
Pranav Pandit
CEO
Pranav is the Chief Executive Officer of SolarJunction.ai. He owns and drives the vision of SolarJunction on a day-to-day basis.
Pranav did Mechanical Engineering from IME Mumbai. He was passionate to work in the renewable sector and so he started his solar journey in 2016 doing installations of solar water heaters, solar street lights, and small/medium solar PV systems. In 2018, he decided to get into MW-scale projects. Upto 2023, he completed projects with a total installed capacity of 10+ MW. In 2024, he started journey as an investor for SPV power plants and offering two commercial models: EMI and PPA (Power Purchase Agreement).
Pranav’s strengths are in operations and overall management. He developed teams in 125+ cities all over India for Amper, his family owned business that does EV charger installations. He developed tie-ups with 13 leading companies in India for audit, installation, and maintanance of EV chargers.
His tryst with the renewable sector continues with SolarJunction.ai.
Our Partner
CoReCo Technologies
CoReCo Technologies is an IT Services company founded in 2018 and based in Pune.
The specialize in using cutting-edge technologies for solving real-world problems and adding value to their customers and their customers’ customers.
They offer ‘5D’ services:
Deep tech – Application of Generative AI and ML (Machine Learning)
Data Management – ETLs, Analytics to Data Science
Development – Web and mobile application development using various technologies
DevOps & Testing – DevOps, Automation & Performance Testing
Digital Consulting – Strategy consulting for adopting Digital Systems for business Transformation & Growth
Why
Why are we doing this?
To do our bit in the transition to solar
Since the industrial revolution started in the late 18th century, we have been burning fossil fuels for energy. However, it has come with significant environmental and health costs. It has also led to climate change.
So, there is an urgent need to transition to cleaner and renewable sources of energy. The renewable energy source that has the most potential is SPV (solar photovoltaic).
Cost of SPV has decreased significantly over the past decade. That, combined with the ever-increasing demand for electricity with its ever-increasing cost, has made solar PV very lucrative.
To help MSMEs
Since the industrial revolution started in the late 18th century, we have been burning fossil fuels for energy. However, it has come with significant environmental and health costs. It has also led to climate change.
And yet they face several challenges, the most important of which is the lack of adequate finance. The other challenge is the rising cost of electricity, which is one of the main costs for manufacturing MSMEs.
Since cost of SPV has decreased significantly, MSMEs can generate their own electricity and save big on electricity costs. That can give a boost to their business. We are driven to help them do that.
To help solar installers (SIs)
SIs play a crucial role in the energy transition process by doing the SPV installations. But it’s a tough business to be in with low conversion rates and wafer-thin profit margins. So, they deserve all the help that they can get.
One area where they SIs could use help is technology, but most don’t/can’t get that help because they are very small organizations themselves (many times a one-man army) with very little resources at their disposal.
We are driven to develop technology that can help SIs become more organized and efficient. Only when they do well will the entire solar sector do well in India.
To help ‘Build for Bharat’
A lot of the activity that is happening in the solar sector is happening in the urban areas (referred to as “India”). But it needs to happen a lot more in the semi-urban and rural parts as well (referred to as “Bharat”).
Today, there are ~25,000 SIs in India. We will consider ourselves successful when we are able to create 25,000 more in Bharat!
This will also create job opportunities for unskilled labour who can be utilized in the maintenance of solar plants, which mostly involves cleaning the solar PV modules on a regular basis.
What
What is our mission?
At SolarJunction.ai, our mission is to use our expertise in developing cutting-edge AI solutions and knowledge of the solar domain to build products that help solar installers, especially the smaller outfits who don’t have access to good technology.
What have we built?
Online store
At SolarJunction.ai, our mission is to use our expertise in developing cutting-edge AI solutions and knowledge of the solar domain to build products that help solar installers, especially the smaller outfits who don’t have access to good technology.
When you place an order, the complex optimization and fulfillment engine behind the storefront gets to work and identifies the suppliers from whom to source the products so that you get the products at the lowest landed cost.
Last but not the least, we do ‘demand aggregation’ with the help of technology so that we get the best prices. And then we pass on the savings to you so that you get unbeatable prices, every single day!
Installer App
We have built an ‘installer app’ for all you solar installers with the following tools:
BoM Builder
We have built the BoM Builder using cutting-edge AI technology. It accepts your high-level project requirements and generates a BoM (Bill of Materials) in seconds. If you make tweaks to it, it remembers your ‘preferences’ and will use them the next time it generates a BoM for you.
And best of all, it has a voice interface which will allow you to ‘say out loud’ your reauirements. You can do it in your native language too! How cool is that? You can also tweak the BoM using voice commands.
BoM Builder will allow you to create a BoM in minutes instead of hours and save you a lot of precious time which you can utilize to generate more business!
Proposal Maker
We have built a Proposal Maker which will allow you to create a very impressive proposal in minutes instead of hours.
The proposal has the BoM embedded in it and its look-and-feel of the proposal is customized to the look-and-feel of your logo and business.
An impressive proposal will help you stand out against yoru competition and increase your chances of converting the prospect to a customer.
That’s what we have as of now. But you can be sure that we will go from strength to strength and add more tools in the future! So, we are not done by any stretch of imagination. In fact, we are just getting started!