With the constant expansion into semi-urban and rural areas, Bank of India (BoI) faced a herculean task, that of finding power for its branches and equipments. Most of the regions beyond the metros are subject to acute power shortages, load shedding , erratic power supply or “no-power” at all. Conventional systems like UPS, inverters or gensets, are not only expensive to run but also harm the environment with their toxic fumes. “In fact, the erratic power supply in many rural branches was even insufficient to charge the batteries of the UPS. Thus we could not depend on them, as in most cases, UPS even if fully charged could suffice for a fixed and short duration. That is when we started looking at alternatives, that was dependable and cleaner. That is where solar power comes into play,” says PA Kalyansundar, GM (IT), BoI.
As a result, few years back, BoI started the solar energy pilot. Based on its success, the pilot was extended to 200 branches across India. The results have been truly amazing. Earlier, due to dependency on electric power to function in the computerized environment, non-availability or acute power shortage led to scenarios where the total branch working along with customer service was unable to function properly. The Bank discovered that gensets were proving to be hazardous to the health of the employees and also that generating conventional power was un-economical as the kerosene, diesel or petrol was not easily available due to the shortages of stock in rural areas. Branch personnel had to travel long distances to procure the fuel required to run generator set.
Thus, by usage of renewable, non-polluting, clean, eco-friendly source – Solar Power computerized branches are able to offer un-interrupted Banking services to all its customers.
“By implementation of solar energy our desire to contribute and to do a little bit for the environment has also been fulfilled,” says Kalyansundar. According to him expected returns from the solar power project can be classified into two parts: – 1) subjective or cost (visible) benefits and 2) objective (invisible) benefits. The normal life cycle of the system is estimated to be approx. 25 years. While calculating the financials the Bank found that the payback period is approx. 4-5 years. Hence for the remaining life-cycle, cost will be nominal for annual maintenance. In addition, the burden on the profit and loss of the branch is reduced on account of zero expenditure on Gensets, fuel for gensets and also maintenance of these gensets.
The invisible benefits include un-interrupted power supply enhances and assists in efficient customer service. Clean, eco-friendly environment no-smoke & sound pollution in the branch premises decreases the health risks & increases the efficiency of the staff members. “This solution to paucity of power is very unique in the entire financial sector and has the potential to revolutionize computerization in the rural sector of the entire country. It is a matter of pride that our banking services are functioning on eco-friendly power – Solar Power at the remotest location,” he adds. Based on the success of this project, BoI intends to go even more strongly on the solar energy road.
(Shashwat DC. Published in Dataquest)
