Prof. Chetan Singh Solanki is a distinguished educator, researcher, innovator, and a certified teacher of the Art of Living's Happiness program. Currently, he is on unpaid leave from IIT Bombay. Since November 2020, he has embarked on the Energy Swaraj Yatra, a remarkable 11-year journey aboard a solar bus, set to continue until 2030 with a pledge to not return home throughout this entire duration.

The Energy Swaraj Yatra, designed to address urgent climate change challenges, aims to spark a broad movement for 100% solar energy adoption. Prof. Solanki's remarkable journey has earned many accolades, including a personal letter from Prime Minister Modi.

The Government of Madhya Pradesh has also honored him as the Brand Ambassador of Solar Energy. Furthermore, he is popularly known as the "Solar Man of India" and some call him "Solar Gandhi." Embodying the principles of Mahatma Gandhi, Prof. Solanki has introduced the concept of 'Energy Swaraj' and established the Energy Swaraj Foundation (ESF) to foster energy independence globally.

Prof. Solanki has led major solar projects at IIT Bombay including the National Centre for Photovoltaic Research and Education (NCPRE). Through his Solar Urja through Localization for Sustainability (SoULS) project he has reached 7.5 million families providing them clean light. There are several awards to his credit, including IEEE’s global grand prize of US Dollars 100,000, Prime Minister’s innovation award for SoULS project, first prize in Solar Chulha Design Challenge by ONGC, three Guinness World Record, two Young Scientist awards, CSIR Science and Technology award, Guardian of Humanity by the Brahmakumaris, top 15 must follow thought leaders by LinkedIn, ‘Hero of the Environment’ by Network18 media, Excellence in RE Skilling, “Outstanding Green Activist” and many more.

Recently, he was invited at the United Nations, Geneva where he presented Energy Swaraj Model proposing the AMG approach at the global platform. He is also a TED speaker and has been invited for talk at global corporations like Google, Intel, TCS, Shell, BlackRock, etc.

He was the Chairman of the committee of CBSE and AICTE for solar curriculum development and member of National Focus Group on Environmental Education. Prof. Solanki has written 8 books and published over 100 research papers internationally. He has 4 US patents to his credit.

During 2019 Prof. Solanki travelled across the world covering 30 countries to spread the message of solar energy. In his ongoing Energy Swaraj Yatra, he has already travelled more than 1500 days, covering 65,000 kms. reaching to over 3,50,000 people. The 11 years yatra is expected to travel across the country 4 to 5 times. The yatra aims to bring energy literacy to over 100 crore people and encourage over 1 crore families to switch to 100% solar energy. Prof. Solanki has described in his book “Energy Swaraj – my Experiments with SOLAR Truth” that adoption of Energy Swaraj or energy independence should become a public movement. His Energy Swaraj Yatra is sowing the seeds for this movement so that we all can create a better and beautiful world.

He is currently in Indore with his Energy Swaraj Yatra leading the “Indore Climate Mission”. In partnership with the Indore Municipal Corporation, the mission aims to position Indore as the world’s No. 1 city in climate correction.