A few months back, we wrote about a Seattle neighborhood’s experiment with a solar-powered ATM — and how it didn’t go quite as well as hoped.

Now a bank in Mumbai, India is giving it a try.

A private sector bank launched the city’s first solar energy-powered ATM at its Opera House branch on Friday. The machine is expected to work on solar energy for at least eight hours a day. Through this green initiative, the bank will be able to save around 1,980 kilowatt hours of energy every year and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1,912 kg per year, a bank representative said.

The ATM has been fixed with large solar panels powered by eight photovoltaic cells mounted on the bank’s building. “The panels harness sunlight and turn it into electricity. Electricity is stored in batteries located within the building which will be used to power the ATM,” a bank official said. The ATM will enable the bank to save around Rs 20,000 per year.

20,000 Indian rupees is about $428.

For the first 30 years of their existence, ATMs were simply an extension of an existing service: an automated way to get cash from your bank account.

With ATMs now so common that they’re part of the landscape, they’ve finally reached the level of platform: a reliable, familiar technology that serves as the launching pad for additional services.

Case in point: payroll cards.

Payroll cards are an alternative to paychecks. Instead of giving employees a paper check, or electronically depositing their pay in a bank account, the employer loads the value of the check on to a debit card. The employee can then use the card for cash or shopping.

Employers like them because they eliminate the need for paper checks. And since payroll cards can act like credit cards and don’t require employees to have a bank account, they’re very popular with lower-income workers, people who have poor credit, or any worker who for whatever reason can’t or won’t get a bank account or credit card.

Government is getting in on the act, too: many states provide food stamps and other welfare benefits using a card, so-called Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT).

Jim Penza is president of ATM manufacturer WRG, a company that started life in the vending business before moving into cash machines. He wrote an article for the November issue of Playmeter magazine specifically about payroll cards and what it will mean for the ATM industry. Key excerpts:

ATMs are not just for convenience anymore…they are becoming a necessity. Why? More and more people receive their monthly income via debit cards. The need to access these funds is what drives transaction revenue for ATM owners and operators….

More than 20 states have launched pre-paid debit card programs for child support payments. In fact, over a dozen states—including Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, New York and Virginia—have made it mandatory for child support disbursement to be made via debit card and direct deposit….

Wireless telephone companies, such as AT&T and Alltel, issue rebates in the form of debit cards….

The future of the ATM industry lies not only in the customer who needs fast cash to make a purchase, but also the person who needs the ATM to access their monthly income….

Payroll card programs are becoming increasingly popular among retailers who view it as a cost saving tactic. In August of this year, Wal-Mart employees who declined direct deposit received their earnings in the form of a MasterCard debit card….

What does this mean for ATM owners? It means they’re increasingly part of a complex financial network that will draw in customers. ATMs won’t just attract people looking for quick cash. They’ll attract people who need access to their paycheck. In the past, many such people would go to check-cashing businesses and pay a hefty fee. If your ATM is convenient, reasonably surcharged and well advertised, they’ll now come to you instead. They get more convenience at a lower cost; you’ll collect increased surcharge revenue as well as boosting sales in your store.

In California, an ATM is being use to cut down on fraud, theft and mismanagement — in jail.

With help from new kiosks installed at the Mendocino County jail, staff no longer have to put an inmate’s money in an envelope and count it two or three times.

The “EZ” booking kiosks allow jail staff to put money into a machine that counts the money, generates a receipt and then puts the money into the inmate banking system.

“Basically we are trying to get out of the money handling business,” Corrections Lt. John Bednar said. “We are trying to get the human error part out of it.”

Sheriff Tom Allman … noted that the system frees up time for staff. He also said he expects problems with errors or inmates who claim possession of $1,000, for example, to be eliminated by the machines.

“I expect a zero percent mistake ratio with this system,” Allman said.

…Right now, there is one kiosk in the intake area of the jail and another in the booking area, as more money often shows up during booking.

A third kiosk is in the lobby area where deposits can be made to inmate accounts. (The) kiosk in the jail lobby has the capability to accept inmate bail payments and kiosks can accept bail paid with credit cards or debit cards.

Family members can even load money into an inmate’s account online.

These are specially-designed kiosks, not general purpose ATMs. But it shows the increasingly creative ways people are using basic ATM technology.

Star Network, one of the nation’s largest transaction-processing networks (and one which all ATM Network machines have access to), has rolled out a new service: allowing Star-branded prepaid cards to be “topped off” at an ATM.

While many of Star’s prepaid cards are payroll cards that are reloaded through direct deposit, the market for the new service, dubbed Star Reload, is the “spontaneous reload,” Saville says. That would include cash, miscellaneous checks consumers receive, and DDA account transfers. Most reloads at POS locations are likely to involve only cash. At ATMs, “the form of the deposit is up to the ATM deployer,” says Saville. Star Reload ATMs and other locations will have a special logo indicating the service is available.

A major target audience for this service are the “unbanked” — people without checking accounts. Without a bank account, everything from paychecks to cash payments can turn into a hassle. Cashing checks can often involve a large fee at a check-cashing business, and walking around with large amounts of cash causes its own problems.

Some unbanked workers are issued payroll cards, with the worker’s paycheck automatically added to the card’s balance through direct deposit. Star’s new service would let those workers take other payments they’ve received — cash, check, money order — to a nearby merchant and have the value of those payments added to the card. But it could be used by people without payroll cards as well — any Star-branded prepaid card would work.

For merchants, it’s a way to draw people into their stores and earn incremental revenue by charging a small fee for the reload service. On the other hand, in order to reach the core unbanked audience, their ATM will have to be capable of accepting deposits, not just dispensing cash. The service will let people electronically transfer funds from bank accounts to their prepaid card, but that market is probably pretty limited — people with bank accounts probably have debit cards, and little need to use a prepaid card.

A big factor in the success of the new service will be pricing, which Star has not yet disclosed.