I am writing to update the community on the current projects that Renewable Devices Charitable Trust (RDCT) are involved with, and also to promote some of the excellent work pioneered by the NGO's we are working alongside.

We have been meeting with local NGO's and working on projects around the Bangalore area for the past few months, and are now ready to implement some of our solutions. Effectively RDCT aims to enrich the lives of the energy poor by using renewable technlogies to provide power for lighting, computing, water pumps or any other application that can improve people's standard of life. Our commercial experience has been with solar panels, small wind turbines, biomass generators, large wind farms and hydro power, however our research has shown that around the Banaglore area solar PV generation works very well with the climate, so this has been our focus.

Our first project is at a rural school on Kolar. They require a solar lighting solution for the classrooms on their lower floor and a low energy computing solution to allow greater autonomy from their current UPS system. Another trust is now handling the computers and is looking to install a system similar to NComputing (please see an example at youtube.com/watch?v=0AAJdllrB5o), so we are working with Selco (selco-india.com) to complete solar lighting in 6 of the classrooms. This will give better light for studies during the day, but will also enable them to implement night classes for the students in the lead up to exams or for the spaces to be used for community meetings or training sessions in the evenings.

Our second current project is at an orphanage in Bangalore. I'm looking to install a biogas system with SKG Sangha (skgsangha.org) to replace their bottled LPG for cooking requirement. This will allow them to collect their waste organic materials from food preparation or maintaining plant life, and generate biogas to bottle and use in exactly the same way as LPG.

We have also visited a rural village South of Bangalore that only has a few hours of power per day. They need lights in the evening for their children to study, and also a renewable solution for their electrical water pump. We propose solar lantern lights for all 40 families, a small study light and larger lamp each, plus a small solar solution for the pump. We will work with Thrive (thrive.in) to supply solar products, which goes some way to supporting their excellent One Child One Light initiative (onechildonelight.org)

Our last current project is to help set up an organic farm and training centre in rural land South of Bangalore in partnership with Beacon (karmayog.org/ngo/beacon). The land needs to be prepared, ponds dug, fences built etc, but we are going to focus on providing a solar power solution to aid the water supply from a borewell and irrigation over the fields. The project will train farmers in the local area to use organic farming methods to provide a less poluting and more sustainable model for land use over the long term.

The scope for using sustainable renewable technologies to provide green and reliable power is so vast within India, and although there are many other organisations doing identical work to ourselves here and internationally, I hope that the sector will continue to grow within NGO's to find and support these technologies.

If anyone would like some further details about what we are doing, would like to offer financial support to any of the above projects, or would simply like some information about renewable technologies and their potential applications please get back to me directly at will@renewabledevices.com.