NASADYA: Excess Energy into Hydrogen & Oxygen

Chaitanya Gulati, founder of NASADYA.

“Usually, there is a strong rainfall, and my power goes out,” Chaitanya Gulati, founder of NASADYA stated. “Luckily, we have generators but a majority of India doesn’t have that.”

While working on an underwater breathing device, the team researched energy and batteries. After considerable research and learning about the duck curve, the team agreed to change direction. “We needed to pivot. Excess energy is a much bigger problem to solve,” Gulati stated.

Energy is the core of making the world run and much of the world does not have access to reliable energy. Excess energy is part of the problem. Poorly managed power plants waste excess energy and lose money. Of the energy generated in the US, the US uses about 30% of that energy. The other 70% of energy is lost and a large chunk of the wasted energy comes from excess energy.

“Anything and everything is going to need energy systems to back it up,” Gulati said. Gulati works towards a world where everyone has access to a clean source of energy. The team is creating an energy management solution for power plants by converting costly excess energy into valuable hydrogen and oxygen.

“Power plants shut down whenever there’s excess energy which has huge operating opportunity costs,” explained Gulati. NASADYA is converting the money-losing by-product of the power generation excess capacity into money-making co-products: hydrogen and oxygen instead. 

The hydrogen can be sold to other markets such as hydrogen cars, petroleum refining, and upcoming fuel cells. In the medical space, oxygen can be used for Manual Pulmonary Resuscitator (MPR). These are markets with high demand.

During the pandemic, the team is struggling with obtaining certain equipment and an environment where it can test its concepts. Fortunately, NASADYA has a dedicated team and continues to work hard despite the pandemic and long building phase.


What I Wish I Knew Before Starting my Company

The TE classes offered at UIUC and iVenture resources provided insights to Gulati for running a company. “If I knew all those things before, I would have just gone directly to work,” stated Gulati.

Through his startup journey, Gulati understood, “The importance of team and the mindset around developing a good team.” From multiple office hours, he learned how to look for the right talent and onboard new members. Now the biggest thing Gulati looks for in team members is tenacity and passion for the venture and vision.

 

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