Water on Tap

With its solar-powered water ATMs, Swajal, founded by Vibha Tripathi, is ensuring that clean drinking water trickles down to the needy.

- Manu Balachandran

Even as she was teaching at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Kanpur, Vibha Tripathi knew that her real calling lay elsewhere. “When I was in academics, I used to keep thinking that I have only one life and I must do more with it,” the 50-year-old mother of two tells Forbes India. “I wanted to take technology to the poor.”

In 2008, Tripathi quit her “calm and complacent life” at one of India’s premier institutes, in pursuit of opportunities in the solar energy sector. “I belong to a small village in Hardoi [Uttar Pradesh],” says Tripathi, a scientist who also helped develop IIT-Kanpur’s expertise in flexible organic solar cells. “I am aware of the frugal life there [in the villages] and the issues they face. I wanted to work in solar because electricity was always a problem.”

That year, she set up Saurya EnerTech, a Gurugram-based company primarily engaged in offering workshops, training and seminars on solar energy to organisations. Back then, solar energy was still in its infancy; today the country has over 23 GW of installed solar capacity. As Saurya EnerTech grew, Tripathi ventured out to distribute solar energy products such as modules, heating solutions and other products. The company also provided consultations and site assessments for solar energy companies in the country.

Yet, Tripathi wanted more.

“My work had taken me to the slums and rural areas. We realised that accessibility to clean water was still a major concern,” says Tripathi. “We kept thinking how solar energy can be used to generate clean drinking water.”