ty and is suitable for individual homes, apartments, public water supply tanks, and industrial use.
Ramesh, who currently resides in Chennai, comes from a small town called Moreh, located at the Indo-Myanmar international border in the North Eastern state of Manipur.
Ramesh, who has had an interest in science and engineering right from his childhood, came to Chennai to pursue mechanical engineering. “After I had completed my engineering in 2011, I went to see my grandparents and relatives in Myanmar. There, I came across a monastery in a remote location, located on a hill. The sun sets quite early since the place is hilly. The monks residing there faced hardships due to the lack of electricity. They asked me if I could do anything about it since I was an engineer. There was a small stream flowing nearby, which I used to generate electricity using a small hydroelectric turbine. I then supplied that electricity to the monastery. I built the turbine using locally available materials and some funds collected from friends and relatives,” says Ramesh.
Soon, word spread that an engineer had come from India and that he could generate electricity from streams. Ramesh began receiving requests from village panchayats and farm owners for electrification. He spent the next two years in Myanmar working in this field and gained significant experience.
He later returned to Chennai and founded Silverboat Technologies along with his friend Ashok Baral.
“We engaged in manufacturing small hydro turbines and their electronic controllers for our customers. We also exported our turbines to Laos for a village electrification programme funded by the World Bank. Although Silverboat Technologies is innovative, it does not have potential to be a million dollar company, since we are targeting a niche market,” says Ramesh.
Although a mechanical engineer by training, Ramesh picked up electronics skills while working on electronic controllers for the hydro turbines. To gain more working knowledge in electronics, he started looking for common problems that can be solved and came up with Tank Buddy.
Campaign for Tank Buddy
Ramesh is currently running a crowdfunding campaign to raise funds for his innovation, which is at the prototype stage. Tank Buddy is expected to be launched in the market at a price of Rs 2,500. Ramesh, in addition to crowdfunding, is welcoming offers of contributing money to his initiative as an advance order, wherein the contributors will receive a Tank Buddy when the production begins.
Ramesh hopes that this fundraiser will give him a fresh breath of life, and hopes that with its success, he will have the opportunity to bring an innovative product to the market that can help save water and electricity.