Through the hours of loadshedding, a group of innovative students have been working to design an alternative energy option - a solar battery charger for areas with no access to the grid.

Under the British Council's first Skills for Employability project in Nepal, Balaju School of Engineering and Technology, Bharatpur's Nepal Polytechnic Institute, and Nuwakot's Trade School partnered with Dundee College of Scotland in 2008 to develop technical and vocational skills training for students. Dundee College is the sixth largest vocational education college in Scotland.

The project involved sharing of research, skills and technical experience in order to develop an innovative and cost-effective product for Nepali villages, and to equip students with vocational skills. One of the outcomes of the project is a prototype solar battery charger with battery tester � the Munro Solar Power Pack. The pyramid-shaped portable solar pack weighs 10 kilos with a battery. A 24-watt product with a potential of 96 watts, the pack can power 25 LED light units for 15 hours.

"We believe that this product will be an asset for Nepali villages as a source of electricity, in places where hydroelectricity is not available or feasible," says Anil Bajracharya, College Partnership Project Coordinator at Balaju School of Engineering and Technology. "It is a milestone in terms of learning, shaping the skills of trainees, and sharing knowledge and experience." Over 100 students will be trained every year in the technical specifications of Munro and each of them will make at least one unit .The students are also trying to develop a solar battery charger to operate high voltage home appliances such as computers.

The colleges intend to copyright this design and introduce it to the market commercially next year for Rs 12,000-13,000. They also have plans to recommend that the curriculum board of CTEVT introduce a course for solar technicians in the curricula of vocational and technical colleges.