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Summary

High school students in California explain how they built a portable solar charger unit and delivered it to Omprakash Partners.

Intended Audience

Students interested in technology and environmental issues in different contexts around the world

Materials Needed

1. Deep Cycle batteries
2. Solar Charge controller
3. A DC to AC inverter (over 250 watt recommended)
4. A solar panel (5.5-20 watt recommended for briefcase or other type of portable unit.

 

Main Content

There are four basic components to a Surya unit:

1. Deep Cycle batteries,
2. Solar Charge controller
3. A DC to AC inverter (over 250 watt recommended)
4. A solar panel (5.5-20 watt recommended for briefcase or other type of portable unit.

The attached files (solar schematic pdf + solar unit png) are a photo of a completed unit and the basic schematic for a Surya or any portable solar unit.

We are looking for student groups and classes to spread an easily reproducible solar charger that can be transported to partners in the Omprakash network. Our full story is told below, and we offer the following to any entrepreneurial individuals or groups:

1. design plans of all current models
2. a video manual
3. a paper manual
4. list of resources and suppliers

Our group’s story:

In many places in the developing world, electricity is a luxury that is not available all of the time or not available at all. With something as simple as a light source at night, some people can improve their lives through study or conducting activities that cannot be done in the dark. Having access to a reliable source of electricity can enrich many communities, such as the partners in the Omprakash network. To meet some of these needs, we created the Alternative Energy Sources group.

Alternative Energy Sources is a group of high school students at Pacific Ridge School, in Carlsbad, California. Our group’s mission is to develop and share new and better forms of alternative energy with people in need. To make this form of alternative energy available to more people around the world, we started the Surya (Sun) Project.

The Surya project revolves around a line of portable solar units that can travel around the world and supply electricity. The primary goal of the project is to send these solar units into rural communities that have very expensive or unreliable energy sources. By having a Surya unit, the community could power lights during the evenings for reading and schoolwork, charge communication devices, and power electric stoves for cooking.

To field-test our first model, in 2009 we teamed up with a group of students from Brunswick, Maine that went to volunteer with Yachay Wasi, an Omprakash Partner in Ecuador. This small briefcase-sized solar unit was able to charge their electronics throughout the trip. The people at Yachay Wasi requested a permanent unit once one becomes available. To continue the project, we would like to send more Surya units out into the field to continue testing. There are many communities all over the world that could use this technology, and we are continuing to gather information to make it better and see how it could be used in places other than Ecuador and the United States. Our hope is that we will be able to supply partners in the Omprakash network with these units, but we cannot do it alone.

We invite other social entrepreneurs to join in our efforts by building their own units, using our models as a starting point. We willingly share our research and designs with anyone who is interested in bringing this technology to others in an affordable form. Our purpose is not to “donate” or give away these units; rather, to promote ownership and to make this a sustainable enterprise, we hope to build future units cheaply enough to sell them at highly affordable prices. With the help of volunteers in the Omprakash network, we will deliver the chargers to as many communities as possible.

 

Additional Resources

If you have any questions or would like to learn more about this project or get involved, contact Alex Rodrigues at ARodrigues@pacificridge.org or Grant Nassif at GNassif@pacificridge.org.