Que: Tell Energetica India Magazine readers in brief about Sheru including its vision.

Ans: Sheru’s vision is to enable the growth of India’s renewable energy and create a positive impact on society. We are thus working on creating a virtual energy storage platform for energy companies to store power. Since our inception in Delhi in 2019, we have been growing rapidly and are now an organisation with 50+ employees and over Rs 20 crores of annual revenue, and scaling up.

Que: Shed some light on your educational background, achievements, and experiences across sectors, along with other founders.

Ans: Sheru was founded by me along with my two friends Shikhar Sharma and Nakul Mehan. We all are graduates of India’s premier engineering school BITS Pilani. Prior to founding Sheru, we worked at the robotics startup GreyOrange robotics and helped grow it into the unicorn that it is today.

Que: How did the idea of forming Sheru come into existence?

Ans: Since our college days, we wanted to work on sustainable technologies that make an impact on society. We later realised the opportunity in India’s energy sector and took the entrepreneurship plunge and started Sheru in 2019.

Que: Kindly shed some light on virtual energy storage on the cloud.

Ans: Virtual energy storage on the cloud simply means that we aggregate storage capacity from various sources and present it to users. Customers who require energy storage solutions do not have to build out storage capacity for their needs. This significantly reduces their CAPEX requirements and makes energy storage affordable.

Que: Significance of energy storage in the grid.

Ans: India’s renewable energy capacity is set to grow to 500 GW by 2030, from a current installed base of over 160 GW. However, renewable sources such as solar or wind are intermittent and need the power to be stored during periods of peak production to be used during times of peak demand. The ambitious renewable energy targets thus require an equally ambitious amount of energy storage to support it.

Que: What is the company’s current client base, along with the supply capacity?

Ans: Our client base consists of energy companies such as Tata and BSES. We have a supply capacity of 6 MWh.

Que: In the initial phase, did you face any challenges being a startup entrepreneur?

Ans: There is a dearth of sufficient non-dilutive capital available for startups in India. This means that funding for prototyping new technologies is not easily or sufficiently available. It is something that we still see as a challenge, and hope to see a solution for.

Que: What are your views on government support for the start-up ecosystem in the country? Any suggestions?

Ans: The government is proactively working on increasing the ease of doing business for international investors looking to invest in startups in the country. We feel that, along with ongoing efforts, the ease of raising capital for startups from foreign entities can be increased.

Que: In your view, what are the various bottlenecks in the energy storage industry in India? your key suggestions for boosting the sector.

Ans: The energy storage industry in India is adversely impacted by an unclear policy framework. For the country to reach its renewable energy targets, there needs to be sufficient storage capacity that supports it. We would like to see a clear and simple framework that makes the rules clear for the ecosystem. The setting up of that would go a long way in decarbonizing the energy sector and in increasing the renewable capacity in India.

Que: Kindly share details about Sheru’s investment and funding. Any new funding plans?

Ans: We’ve recently raised the pre-series A, and are in active talks for a series A funding round.

Que: What will be the company’s growth plans for the next five years?

Ans: We want to become India’s largest energy storage network. We also have plans to establish our footprint in international territories.