I am currently leading the Combined Smart Energy Systems (CoSES) research group at Technical University of Munich. I was born and brought up in Rourkela, India. I basically never left the place until I finished my bachelor's.

Thereafter, I made the obvious next step of relocating to Perth, Western Australia to work as an electrical engineer in the Pilbara mines with Rio Tinto Iron Ore. A few years of digging dirt was enough for a lifetime and I had started to miss university.

So, I said goodbye to the great friends I had made and in 2015 I moved again, this time to Munich to study at the Technical University of Munich. Here I found the Chair of Renewable and Sustainable Energy Systems of Prof. Thomas Hamacher and started working with them as a student assistant.

After I finished my master's, Prof. Hamacher offered me a rare PhD opportunity - "There is an empty hall in the basement of this very building. We must convert that into the most unique sector-coupling laboratory in the next five years. Would you like to be a part of this?". I was not alone - a few excellent engineers joined me in this bizarre yet unmissable PhD journey.

Today, we are in the third generation of CoSES PhDs, and I am proud to lead a fantastic group driven by curiosity, unafraid to use their hands.

CoSES is a unique laboratory which combines a real 1.5 km low voltage(LV) distribution grid with a small district heating network. The lab has five electrical and heat prosumers of both the programmable and commercial kind. It is as far as you can go to a field validation while remaining in a controlled lab environment.

I was responsible for the commissioning of the distributed control system - spread over six embedded targets for the electrical grid. I also focused on real-time programming framework for the laboratory and commissioning of our seven Power Hardware in the loop(PHIL) emulators.

I am always excited to convert a new theoretical contribution in LV grid control or operation into its equivalent PHIL experiment - thus bringing the idea closer to reality. Have a look what CoSES can do by checking our general slide deck below.

Download Lab Overview (PDF)

I have always enjoyed teaching and breaking down complex ideas into basic analogies. I believe that the obsession with jargon, formulae, theorem gatekeeps the world of science to many children who are slow or late bloomers in their school days. Teachers worldwide are focusing on rote learning instead of explaining the metaphor behind a lesson.

Additionally, a well-designed syllabus outlasts great teachers. In developing countries, access to both is scarce. Science education suffers most — renewable energy even more. Without structured, scalable learning, the gap grows. We must break this cycle.

With this in mind, I am currently part of an initiative called EduGrid. Our motivation stems from a simple axiom - Education is a right, not a privilege!

You can learn more about this initiative by clicking the EduGrid tab on the banner above. Feel free to reach out to me if you want more information on EduGrid.

Beyond this, I have a passionate interest in the art of filmmaking and the hard science fiction.