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The solar-powered cooling systems will reduce the amount of wasted produce in India.
- In addition, farmers can rent daily spaces for their produce.
- The system utilises thermal storage capable of providing backup cooling for 36 hours.
Decentralized solar solutions provider, Oorja Development Solutions, has launched solar-powered cold storage as a service in the Indian state of Bihar. The system nicknamed “Oonnayan” allows small farmers to store perishable produce on a per-crate-per-day basis without paying high upfront costs.
Oorja is working with Ecozen Solutions, a decentralized solar cold room supplier, to deploy the systems. Solar-powered cooling-as-a-service will be beneficial for India, seeing as about 20 to 30 per cent of produce is wasted due to the unavailability of cold storage facilities, especially in rural areas without grid access.
Farmers often cannot afford the high capital costs required for cooling systems, even with government subsidies. With this deployment model, farmers can purchase access to refrigerated space within a cold room installed conveniently at the market.
Ecofrost solar-powered cold storage can contain up to 6 metric tons of perishable produce. It comprises a 5kWp solar panel array mounted on the container roof and stores power using phase-change-material-based thermal energy storage rather than batteries or diesel. The thermal energy storage system can provide backup cooling for up to 36 hours. The system can be operated and monitored remotely via an Android app and maintains a controlled interior temperature of 4 to 13°C