New Delhi: In pursuance to the challenge to developing a viable solar solution for the kitchen, Indian Oil and Ministry of Petroleum & Natural gas have developed an indigenous solar cooktop Surya Nutan. Officials demonstrated the use of solar cooktop at the residence of Union Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Housing Hardeep Puri and his other colleagues on Wednesday.
Indian Oil officials said that Surya Nutan is a stationary, rechargeable and always kitchen connected indoor solar cooking. It is patented product designed and developed by Indian Oil research and development centre, Faridabad.
It offers online cooking mode, while charging through the sun, which maximizes the system efficiency and ensures high utilization of energy from the source. It works on a hybrid mode and hence it can work on both solar & auxiliary energy source simultaneously. The innovative hybrid operation makes Surya Nutan a reliable cooking solution for all weather.
Insulation design of Surya Nutan minimizes radiative and conductive heat losses. The solar cooktop is available in three different models: The premium model (breakfast +lunch+dinner) can cook all the meals for family of four.
Initially, cost of the product is around ₹12,000 for base model, and ₹23,000 for top model. However, the cost is expected to reduce substantially with economies of scale. At a price of₹12,000-14,000/- for top model, assuming annual consumption of 6-8 LPG cylinders, this product can pay back the buyer in first 1-2 years itself, claimed the Indian Oil officials.
All the safety aspects required in any indoor appliances are inbuilt in Surya Nutan, which is also a low maintenance system and the product has a long life. It is a modular system designed to suit the Atmnirbhar Bharat drive and can be fabricated in different sizes as per the requirement.
Surya Nutan has the potential to transform our energy security situation, as India currently imports 50% of its LPG requirements. It also reduces India’s CO2 emissions drastically and keeps our citizens insulated from the vagaries of the high international fossil fuel prices.
Union Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Giriraj Singh, Minister of State for Commerce & Industry Som Prakash, MoS for Housing & Urban Affairs Kaushal Kishore, Minister of Finance and Parliamentary Affairs of Uttar Pradesh Suresh Khanna, IndianOil Chairman Shrikant Madhav Vaidya and Indian Oil’s Director (R&D) SSV Ramakumar were present during the demonstration.
