Aditya Dave prides himself on the terrace of his Ahmedabad home — it’s where a striking sunflower now stands tall. Not a real one, but a solar tree designed to resemble the flower, complete with a gazebo.

It looks beautiful, yes. But for Aditya, its value goes beyond aesthetics; it also saves him Rs 5,000 every month on electricity.

How, you ask?

Instead of installing large solar panels across his rooftop, Aditya chose a more compact solution — a solar tree and gazebo designed by Shani Pandya, a 30-year-old engineer and founder of Imagine Powertree Private Ltd. “The gazebo and solar tree look like a sunflower,” Aditya says. “They’ve turned our terrace into a beautiful and functional space.”

This innovative setup is part of a growing shift toward vertical solar solutions — solar trees, gazebos, and tiles — that generate clean energy while conserving space. By rethinking how solar panels are installed, Shani is helping city homes make the most of limited rooftops. A single 20-kilowatt solar tree, for instance, can power up to six homes in a day.

But while rooftop solar often brings to mind urban terraces and city skylines, its impact is just as powerful in places far removed from the grid.

In Mulshi taluka, a subdivision of Pune district in Maharashtra, Sonu Shitaram Jadhav’s life was dictated by sunlight. After sunset, his village surrendered to darkness by 7:30 pm, forcing residents to depend on kerosene lamps.

For Sonu and his fellow villagers, nights stretched endlessly, filled with the eerie calls of wildlife, the anxious barks of the village dogs, and a persistent, underlying threat of crime. Until six months ago when something extraordinary began to unfold in their community.

That’s when Tanveer Inamdar (28), a mechanical engineer from Pune, chose to change their story. Through his ‘Mission Urja’, he brought electricity via groundbreaking portable solar solutions. These panels can be effortlessly attached to different surfaces using tie clips. When it’s time to relocate, families can simply pack them up and carry them along.

Reflecting on the transformation, Sonu beams with gratitude, “Thanks to solar power, we have light bulbs, fans, and can even charge our mobile phones.”

In an insightful conversation with the founders of startups in the solar energy sector — Tanveer Inamdar, Shani Pandya, and Shilpa and Suneet Kotwal — we explore how these entrepreneurs are reshaping the way Indians harness solar power, right from their rooftops.

The challenge: Unreliable electricity and financial strain

Despite these promising developments, issues in access to reliable power remain. “Consistent electricity access in rural India is fraught with challenges. Many households face frequent fluctuations and maintenance issues, resulting in month-long power outages, especially during the monsoons. This unreliable infrastructure leaves many in darkness, especially in smaller communities not deemed viable for grid connections,” Tanveer........

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