Low-Cost Indian Solar Laptop Unveiled

The government in India has unveiled plans to provide thousands of low-cost solar-powered laptops to students. One day earlier, it announced proposals to generate 1,000 MW of solar power over the next three years: plans that could see the country ranked alongside the likes of Spain and Germany in terms of dominant global solar harnessers.

According to India’s Ministry of Human Resource Development, the solar laptops apparently represent a reply to similar, extremely low-cost laptops being developed in the US for use by undeveloped nations. However – at $35 each – they are much cheaper.

The laptops were designed through a collaboration between the Indian Institute of Science and the Indian Institute of Technology and there were two goals in mind: boosting education efforts and expanding India’s current presence on the technological front.

India’s Solar Laptops

Through ongoing discussions, it is possible that in the future, the solar laptops might become cheaper still, reports suggest.

India’s solar laptops are understood to be part-laptop, part tablet PC and they don’t feature a hard drive: rather, information is stored on memory cards as with digital cameras and cellphones. They also draw on the Linux operating system.

No deal has yet been established for the production of these laptops, but according to a spokesperson for the ministry, several manufacturers have expressed interest.

India: Solar Power

India’s wider solar power production plans were announced at a media event held on 25 July 2010. As per the information supplied, the 1,000 MW solar power project will be funded by several public sources including REC and IREDA: respectively, the Rural Electrification Corporation and the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency.

500 MW of the total will be produced by photovoltaic technologies and the other 50 per cent by solar thermal technologies.

Photovoltaic technologies transform solar energy directly into electricity, a process that gives them an alternative name – solarelectrics. Solar thermal technologies, meanwhile, harness solar energy and turn it into heat.

See also:

Indian Solar Energy Plan Aims for 20 GW by 2020

Indian Greenhouse Gas Emissions Data Released