The energy that drives Enzen

When people get bitten by the entrepreneurship bug, they choose to do something related to food, e-commerce, software, travel, hospitality, and more famously aviation, lest we leave out ‘flying captains' such as Mr G. R.Gopinath. Ask Mr Satheesh Kumar K.R. why he is into something as dreary as what he does, far from the electronics that he first chose to study.

“We want to create the third wave.” The next big thing after IT and biotechnology, he says with eyes aglow at the e-word, “is going to be energy.”

Fodder for Enzen

Electricity, water, renewable energy and gas — these are fodder for Enzen Global Solutions, the company he founded and based in Bangalore with some angel help in 2006. “I saw too much of energy starvation. I myself fell sick as I travelled; I [cringed] when people burnt rubber tyres or kerosene to cook; or died in hospitals — all for lack of these resources. I decided to move from services to consulting” to be able to do something there, says the man who had until then managed Wipro's utilities business in the UK and overseas.

“My blood boils when I hear or read about how precious resources are being wasted,” Mr Satheesh Kumar continues. “There is going to be a lot of social unrest because of improper planning of water, energy and gas. Today people are aware of their rights. For their lifestyles have changed, their demands on these resources are rising, but only 60 per cent of the population has no access to power; 73 per cent does not get quality [consistent or steady] supply.”

What are we going to leave for future generations, he asks. The talk is passion-charged. In a country where unaccounted water or power leakage or waste is each officially estimated at a conservative 35 per cent, he laments that, “we have no holistic approach.”

“Take energy. We buy world-class electrical products and technology from developed countries, we are not bad investors, yet we have not caught up with the 11th Plan targets. Only about 35 per cent has been complied with in terms of generation. In spite of spending crores of rupees on subsidy or putting up ultra mega projects.

“It's the same with water. Here, sourcing and consumption are isolated and there is no organised consumption. The [official] machinery struggles. There is no top-to-bottom, end-to-end planning. That's why we want to make a difference, in the country and globally.”

Does he see himself as an energy messiah? What draws Enzen, he says, is inefficiency in resource management, be it electricity and water or gas as in the UK. If Enzen has the zen of energy and environment to offer, Mr Satheesh Kumar calls himself a social engineer out to join the dots the right way.

And so Enzen's teams have raised power efficiency by about 8 per cent in 2.5 lakh households in parts of semi-rural Orissa for the local discom (distribution company).

They have created surplus water and power (where neither existed) for 70 homes in North Karnataka's Bhairanapada village through a World Bank-funded project of the Karnataka Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency. In Dodballapur near Bangalore, they have “broken the water-energy nexus” where each commodity drags the availability or efficiency of the other — and released both under a USAID-funded WENEXA project for the Bangalore Electric Supply Company.

There is no short supply of energy gyan: all these were locally relevant creative models. They have to be sustainable, not necessarily low-cost. Five-star-rated pumps won't give or save energy by mere installation, but innovative re-jigging of processes, systems, people or supply patterns can make the difference.

“In Orissa, in six months' time, we were able to release about 35 lakh units [of electricity] each month from our operating area. Not because we cut down on power availability time, but by eliminating inefficiencies in the system. We did not put up great infrastructure, but focussed on conservation, automation, some network redesigning and training of people in modern practices.” And they changed the mindset of looking at the user — from that of a taken-for-granted consumer — to that of a paying customer who deserves to be served.

Huge impact

He vouches that while energy is a huge business, it has a large impact on all sectors and economies. With efficiency of 30 per cent compared to the West's 90 per cent, the India market is large. Many more companies like his could be coming into this niche. “There is place for a lot of people to come in and make a difference.”

In five years, Enzen has grown into a 2000-strong company with 80 public and private utilities as clients; a last annual turnover of Rs 200 crore is set to double this year. “Don't call us Indian company,” he corrects, “We are international consultants.” The Enzen dream is big, too; by 2017, it wants to be a $ 1-billion company, that is, with revenues of about Rs 4,500 crore.

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