Sudhir Manchanda

2013 - 2015

Alumni

Legatum Fellow

From:

India

Sector:

Energy/Utilities

Location:

India

Degree:

MBA, Sloan School of Management

Sudhir Manchanda’s goal is to commerialize a solar water heater that can deliver water at higher temperatures to hilly and rural areas of India. It will be positioned as a family/community-based water pasteurizer and as a hot water generator for industries. He cofounded Ambicales, a clean energy consulting company, in 2009.

The company began by developing energy saving and alternate energy solutions for industries, facilities, and communities, but has steadily moved higher in the value chain. Sudhir worked with telecom companies to develop service solutions in clean energy, assisted numerous corporations in their strategy to establish Independent Power Producers (IPP), and helped government agencies plan for state-wide reduction in fossil fuel consumption.

During his project-related travel, however, he met people in rural areas who grappled with problems of lack of potable water and water heating sources on a daily basis. He began to believe that the efforts to develop solar thermal technologies are broadly misdirected towards producing electricity. The company is now venturing into developing innovative products, such as its water heater, that will enable rural households to meet hot water requirements at an affordable cost. It is designed to concentrate sunlight to heat water to higher temperatures and utilize standard construction materials to lower costs.

Sudhir is currently an MBA candidate at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He previously received a BTech in Production and Industrial Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee.