State Bank of India to Deploy 300 Solar-Powered ATMs

Solar ATMs said to consume 100 watts of power and to require no air conditioning.

In India's first large-scale rollout of solar ATMs, State Bank of India plans to install 545 sun-powered ATMs across semi-urban and rural India. More than 300 will be solar-powered.

Vortex's solar-powered Gramateller Duo ATMs were developed in collaboration with IIT Madras to be low power consuming ATMs designed for semi-urban and rural areas.

A conventional ATM consumes about 1,000 watts of power and requires an air-conditioned environment — another 1,500 watts — for functioning. Thus, a conventional ATM consumes about 1,800 units of power every month.

Vortex says its solar-powered ATMs consume less than 100 watts of power and do not require air conditioning, thus consuming less than 72 units per month. This indicates a savings of 1, 728 units per month when compared to a conventional ATM installation, which translates to a reduction in CO2 emissions of 18,500 kg per year.

"With an ATM penetration of about 0.04 per 1000 people in India, there is a huge need for rural ATMs," noted V Vijay Babu, CEO of Vortex Engineering, in a statement.