SMS for solar energy, then own your panels

A Gujarati family landed in Basaveshwaranagar in the city early in 2011, but could not access electricity because they couldn't provide a clear identity proof. Today, this family runs a successful cricket bat making business, and they have adequate power, courtesy solar panels which cost them only Rs 1,000 and the SMS mode of solar power consumption.

Solar water heating panels or solar energy panels range anywhere between Rs 10,000 and Rs 15,000, depending on the requirement and size of roof, but ThoughtWorks and Simpa Networks brought the idea of bringing solar power close to the people: deposit Rs 1,000 and then start accessing power by sending SMS through pre-paid mode. Once the consumer has used solar power equivalent to the cost of the set-up - solar panels, battery and other paraphernalia - through this pre-paid mode, the installed system belongs to the consumer. The consumer gets free power supply and pays only for the equipment.

The system requires the user to send a single text message via phone to a software which generates a code. This code has to be fed into a regulator which comes along with the panels and a battery. The regulator then allows the battery to transmit only that amount of solar power which the consumer wants, for the value mentioned in the sms.

"You can avail of the power for a day or a week. If you sms for Rs 50 worth of solar power, the amount gets deducted from the paid-up currency. Once the consumer pays up Rs 10,000 or the complete amount through pre-paid mode for the system, it becomes his own," said Rohit Bansal, head of Social Impact Programmes, ThoughtWorks.

ThoughtWorks provides the software applications, and the solar panel, battery and regulator is provided by Simpa Networks. "Everyone faces the question of paying up a big amount to install the system, but if that can be brought down and payment made simpler through mobile phone technology, solar energy becomes a way of living," said Bansal. There are more than 120 such success stories in Bangalore, Peenya, Kundapur, Shimoga and Gulbarga.