The majority of the RE (renewable energy) development efforts are directed towards power production. All the governments give high priority to electricity generation through RE sources, rather than to using them for meeting fuel requirements. Even common people have developed a great attraction towards renewable power, rather than fossil fuels.

Based on very encouraging experiences with SK-14 cookers, Prof. Ajay Chandak designed solar community cookers of 2.0 m and 2.3 m diametres. After removing few teething problems, a number of agencies were trained to manufacture these community solar cookers.

The author has been using solar dryers for food processing especially for making amla candy, for the last five years. Solar dryer is an innovative design with combined draught, natural and induced with fan.