Those of us who worry about mobile phones draining out of charge while travelling may have a solution – solar mobile rechargers that use sunlight instead of electricity. Among the innovations on display at ‘Renergy’, a two day international conference and expo on renewable energy inaugurated on Monday, the most attractive was the solar mobile charger.

“It has a battery to store power and a small solar cell. It generates power from sunlight and charges the battery,” said T Sriraman, managing director of Soltech Equipment that specializes in products running on solar power. Auser just has to hook the phone to it and it gets charged in a matter of time. “It doesn’t require direct sunlight. There is electrical charging, too, to help on rainy days when there is no light,” said Srinivasan.

The company also has solar-powered laptop rechargers “to help people who travel alot and can be used even during power cuts. In trains, not all compartments have chargers. So people can use these to charge mobile phones or laptops. There are multiple pins available for different types of phones,” said Srinivasan.

A proposal suggesting that solar panels be installed atop train coaches has been submitted to the railways and is expected to be taken up in the coming budget. “Airconditioning and other electrical equipment can run using the power generated. They do not have to rely on grid,” he said.

A proposal is likely to be sent to banks asking for solar panels to be set up in district branches. “The outages last long in small towns and they cannot run computers. The ATMs also do not work and people cannot withdraw money. If power is generated from solar panels, they can function normally,” he said.