A solar-powered fruit juice stall began functioning near the Sivaji Ganesan statue on the East Coast Road here on Thursday. The entire functioning of the mechanical devices —freezer, mixer and a light — is from the power generated by solar panels fitted on top of the cart.
Stall owner P Ramadass told Express the solar panels would also serve as a roofing for the cart and it has the capacity to generate around 1,000 watts. He said the power line from the solar panels are connected directly to the freezer while the mixie and light will work on power routed through the battery operated inverter.
The stall owner Ramadass, of Karuvadikuppam, claimed that the idea of the stall was conceived by him and it was executed by Phocos India Solar Private Limited.
Ramadass said the push cart was purchased by him and the fitting of solar panels and electrical connections were done by Phocos India. On operational cost, Ramadass, who belongs to Villupuram district, said he had spent only for the push cart and the rest of the fittings were done by the solar power firm. Silambarasan, assistant manager with the Phocos, said his firm in Puducherry, a branch of the Germany-based firm, had chipped in nearly `1.40 lakh for setting up the solar-powered fruit stall.
He said the aim of building the stall was to create awareness among the public about solar powered products. He said the solar powered products were getting a good response from North India, and was catching up in South.