Rohit Kalyanpur, 22, is the Founder and CEO of Optivolt Labs, a company building a solar integration platform that enables electric machines—including sensors, devices, electric vehicles, and deployable generator—to self-charge in ambient light. Optivolt Labs has developed “Ghost”, a portable 10 kW (persistent power output) solar + battery generator which completely eliminates the need for a diesel generator. The modular system has unmatched power density, packing 70 kW of solar and a 240 kWh battery inside a standard ISU-90 container that is transportable by air and sea.
Ghost is being used by the U.S. Air Force to replace diesel generators used across Departments of Defense to save lives lost in ground energy re-supply missions, eliminate the reliance on recurring diesel shipments, and enable rapid deployment of perpetual power for forward operating bases. For every 10kW (persistent power output) diesel generator replaced, Ghost offsets 25 metric tons of annual carbon emissions.
To date, Optivolt Labs has raised $2.57M. Since dropping out of the University of Illinois after sophomore year, where was a Computer Engineering major, Rohit has gone on to become a Forbes 30 Under 30 Honoree in Energy (2020), a Thiel Fellow (2019), and the youngest founder to go through the Techstars Chicago Accelerator (2018).