The parabolic trough collector will address National Solar Mission's aim, says a note Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras have developed a low-cost solar power system that can be used in areas such as desalination, space heating and space cooling. The lightweight, indigenously designed parabolic trough collector (PTC) system will address the National Solar Mission's aim of providing 20,000 MW through solar power by 2022. One of the main hitches in achieving the target was the low rate of energy generation, a release said. K. Srinivas Reddy, professor at the Heat Transfer and Thermal Power Laboratory at the Department of Mechanical Engineering in the Institute along with team member C. Ananthsornaraj, came up with a system that can collect solar power in huge concentration. The PTC systems concentrate sunlight onto a small area where it is absorbed and then used for heating and subsequently for energy generation. Mr. Reddy said the technology could "meet the thermal and electrical energy demands due to its high dispatchability and reliability." According to him, Bihar, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat, among others, had a great potential to harness this energy, which could reduce the combustion of non-renewable and polluting sources of energy such as coal and petroleum. Mr. Reddy said the aim was to commercialise the product and demonstrate the application of the technology with energy storage for sustainable energy solutions in agriculture, food, dairy and industrial process heat sectors. The researchers said the system with its high energy efficiencies in varied climatic conditions could pave way for sustainable energy solutions in agriculture and industrial process heat sectors.