Gurgaon: Treading ahead with initiatives towards nurturing and building capacities amongst village communities, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) has set up a Solar Powered IT knowledge Center at Gual Pahari in Gurgaon.<!--more--> 

The highlight of the IT Knowledge Centre is its capacity of providing clean and reliable power solutions to a variety of rural applications, through a Hybrid Universal Solar Power Pack developed by TERI.

The solar power pack uses solar energy to charge batteries and provide reliable power for appliances like computers in the Centre.

TERI plans to make the centre a hub of development for Gual Pahari and the adjoining villages. Run by a local entrepreneur, this knowledge centre will provide various fee and non-fee based services to the local rural population using the power of information and communication technology (ICT) as a tool.

The IT Knowledge centre will provide services like computer education, Internet services, desk top publishing, library, spoken English and agricultural information to the local rural population in and around the vicinity, TERI stated in a press release.

The uniqueness of this solar powered centre lies in the fact that it pulls the community towards itself by offering services like water testing solution, sale of culinary herbs and solar products (torches and lantern), natural resource management and a small library for children.

The centre will also be a meeting ground for the farmers for information on agriculture produces and also exchange ideas and knowledge with the TERI experts on a wide range of subjects.

TERI is aiming to set-up more of these centres in different geographies and serve the population around the catchment area with its expertise and services, especially in renewable energy.

"The solar powered hybrid battery technology has been piloted at a few locations in India and has been found to successfully provide an average power backup of four to six hours," TERI said adding that it is useful for rural ICT initiatives as well as for other applications which depend critically on reliable power supply—rural banking, health clinics and water purification.

The Centre was inaugurated at Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner Rakesh Gupta.

Stressing on the need and importance of the TERI initiative, Gupta said that the centre will be particularly useful in terms of accessing e-Government services like land-record, accessing government forms and procedures in far flung villages. He also promised support for 50 such initiatives in the district.
—iGovernment Bureau