IOC Chairman Presents 500 Solar-Powered Indoor Cooking Systems to Sri Lanka

IOC Chairman Presents 500 Solar-Powered Indoor Cooking Systems to Sri Lanka

The Chairman of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd Shrikant Madhav Vaidya had recently paid a visit to Sri Lanka. The Chairman presented 500 indoor solar cooking systems to the island country. The cooking system, named ‘Surya Nutan’, has been developed and designed indigenously by IOCL. It is a patented product. The Indian Oil Corporation presented the solar cooking systems to the Government of Sri Lanka through Lanka IOC PLC- a subsidiary of Indian Oil Corporation, which operates retail petrol and diesel stations in the country.

Sri Lankan President Wickremesinghe unveiled Surya Nutan while praising it for innovation.

The occasion saw the presence of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas Secretary of India, Pankaj Jain; Indian High Commissioner Gopal Baglay. An energy delegtation comprising other dignitaries also marked their presence.

It is a stationary, rechargeable and always kitchen-connected indoor cooking solution capable of catering to cooking needs of households. It has the capability to cook food by boiling, steaming, frying, and baking, and works on both solar and auxiliary energy sources simultaneously. The product gets charged and discharged simultaneously while performing its function of indoor cooking. This is a low maintenance, easy and safe to use cooking system and has a long life.

Last year in June, IOCL introduced the three models of Surya Nutan. These are priced in the range of Rs 12,000 and Rs 23,000, and are kitchen connected and rechargeable. In an upgrade to the previous version, IOCL unveiled the twin cooktop model that makes room for flexibility as it can function on both solar as well as auxiliary sources of energy at the same time. The model was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at India Energy Week which was held at Bengaluru.

The cooking system has been developed following a series of lab tests and intensive research and development at IOC’s R&D centre in Faridabad. It is being held that once the solar cooking system reaches 30 million households by 2025-26, it would augment savings of more than Rs 1 lakh crore in LPG. What’s more, it would promise forex savings of Rs 50,000 Cr. The CO2 emissions would witness a reduction by 50 million tonnes.

It may be noted that India and Sri Lanka have been stepping up cooperating in the area of renewable energy. Last year, the Sri Lankan government decided to utilise the line of credit worth $100 million granted by India. In July, 2021, India had signed an agreement with Sri Lankan Government to extend a USD 100 million Line of Credit (LOC) to Sri Lanka for various solar energy projects to help the island country’s 70 percent power requirements to be fulfilled by renewable energy sources by 2030.