RENEWABLEENERGY

SolarBiomass Hybrid Cold Storage-cum-Power

Generation system for Rural Applications
Mr. Amit Kumar, Director, Energy Environment Technology Development, Renewable Energy Technology Applications

Amit Kumar from TERI talks about the application of hybrid renewable energy
technologies in rural applications. Energetica India then discusses with Mr. Kumar, the
business aspects of such a project.

Background
In a tropical country
like India, with about
70% of population
of India is engaged
in agriculture, the
importance of refrigeration can hardly
be over-emphasized.
India is the 2nd largest producer of fruits
and vegetables in the world. Horticulture
provides 6.5% of the countrys GDP, 13%
of employment and accounts for more
than 9% of Indian exports with only 9%
crop acreage. However, while Indias agricultural production base is quite strong;
wastage of agricultural produce is massive.
It is estimated that, due to a lack of proper
storage and transit facilities, about 22%
of agricultural produce, especially fruit and
vegetables, is spoiled. The wastage in fruit
and vegetables is estimated to be worth
about Rs.330 billion. India, therefore, has
tremendous growth potential with respect
to rural-based food processing.
However, poor infrastructure, including the lack of integrated cooling facilities
(cold chain), has retarded the growth of
the food processing industry. The Ministry
of Food Processing in India has identified
refrigeration and cold storage facilities as
the weakest link in the whole value chain.
The lack of proper storage facilities
has led to the following consequences:
Excess produce either floods the market
and results in an oversupply or is totally
wasted; and
An artificial scarcity is created during
non-harvesting periods.
The cold storage facilities for Indias
agricultural produce are falling short by
more than 10 million tonnes. Moreover,
the conventional cold storages, which are
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being set up mostly in semi urban areas,

are of 100TR (Tons of Refrigeration) and
above capacity making them unviable for
small village level applications. Additionally, these cold storages consume 30,000
MW of the installed power capacity and
energy expenses account for 28% of costs
in cold storage.
Also, very often farmers have to resort
to distress selling due to limited shelf life of
the produce in absence of access to even
short-term cold storage facilities. As a result marginal and small farmers face difficulty in getting good returns from sales of
their produce. Furthermore, a majority of
Indias villages are unelectrified and even
the electrified ones have erratic power
supply. Hence there is need for small cold
storage facilities that are not dependent
on the grid electricity, to temporarily store
the farm produce till market prices are
more amenable to small farmers.
Since India is blessed with perennial
solar energy and a lots of surplus biomass
resources, developing a solar-biomass
powered cold storage can help meet this
shortage using abundantly available renewable energy that is best suited for rural/decentralized deployment.

Solar-biomass hybrid cold storage-cum-power

generation system at Solar Energy Centre, Gurgaon
(with biomass-gasifier system in the inset).

TERIs initiative
Against this backdrop, way back in 2006,
TERI started working on a concept whereby
indigenously available biomass and solar
resources could be used to operate small,
decentralized cold storage right at the village level (as opposed to commercial,
large-capacity cold storages at centralized
locations). In addition to providing the cold
storage facility to the farmers, such a system - it was envisaged- would also supply
grid-quality power to the village; thereby
offering a holistic solution to some of the
key problems facing agrarian India.
Finally, in 2009, TERI started the development work with support from the
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy
(MNRE), Government of India under the
aegis of Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean
Development and Climate: in partnership
with Solar Energy Centre, MNRE; Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research
Organization, Australia, and Thermax Ltd.,
India. For finalizing the design, TERI held
wider consultations with stakeholders
such the National Horticulture Board, District Horticulture Offices, and Central Food
Technological Research Institute in addition to undertaking an elaborate exercise
to understand the field requirements.
The cold storage system so developed,
comprises a 15 kW (~5 TR) Vapor Absorption Machine (VAM) coupled with a 50
kWe Biomass Gasifier system and a field
of solar concentrating collectors. The biomass gasifier produces synthesis gas using
locally available woody biomass, which is
then used to run an engine-generator to
produce electricity. The waste heat from
the biomass gasifier along with the heat
energy from the solar concentrating collectorsis utilized by the VAM to cool the
cold storage chamber. Since the cold
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RENEWABLEENERGY

storage can be cooled to temperature as

low as 0oC, a wide variety of fruit, vegetables, and horticulture produce can be
stored there. The electricity generated by
the system is enough to power domestic,
community, as well as productive loads in
a typical village.

The pilot plant has been set up in Solar Energy Centre, Gurgaon and is now
operational.
Successful implementation of this
system can open up avenues for its replication in other regions of India, thereby
helping in both saving valuable agricultural

Mr. Amit Kumar chats with Energetica India > The

What is the total project cost of the
pilot project set-up at Gurgaon; in terms
of market rates?
The total project cost of the system installed at Gurgaon is about Rs.1 crore, with hardware costs to
the tune of Rs.70 lakh. However, please note that
a. This was a developmental project and
b. Besides providing cold storage facilities, this system also provides 50 kW electricity.
The replication costs are expected to be in
vicinity of Rs.50 lakh.
Is the Government supporting such
private installations through any
subsidies/incentives?
The TERI vision is to work out innovative business
models so that project implementation does not
need external intervention. Having said that, given
the target audience and socio-economic implications of such a system, initial subsidy or loans at
easy terms coupled with cooperatively run models
can lead to sustainable systems.
However, government subsidy is available
under different schemes. 50% of the gasifier cost
is subsidized when owned by Co-operative Panchayat, NGOs & Central/State Agencies, while
100% subsidy is available for the producer gas
only engine and the power distribution system in
the village.

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produce and village electrification. Besides

providing cold storage facilities as a mean
for rural economic development, the system would also be providing electricity to
the rural households and communities.
The socio-economic impacts of this would
be multifold, namely:
Electricity for lighting, resulting in (a)
clean environment, (b) increased hours
for study and social interaction, and (c)
improved quality of life
Electricity for essential community applications like primary health centre and
ICT based rural knowledge centres
Electricity for commercial activities like
village market place
The use of electricity during the day
time for income-enhancing activities
like local entrepreneurship development
and irrigated farming.

project details

Apart from this National Horticulture Board

provides a subsidy of 25% for the cost of the cold
storage. Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is
also discussing with the Ministry of Food Processing Industries about some combined package for
such initiatives, especially for a few demonstrations
at villages.
What kind of biomass has been used
in this pilot project? Can the biomass
be changed without affecting the
equipment performance?
Woody biomass has been used in this project, this
is to ensure the gas quality in the engine, however
other avenues can also be explored. As such any
biomass gasifier work most optimally for the specific feed stock it has been designed for.
In todays business scenario, where
biomass fuel supply is proving to be
such a challenge for biomass power
plants, how do we look at securing fuel
supply for such solar-biomass hybrid
plants?
Sustainable biomass supply is certainly very critical aspect of such projects. But, fuel supply can
be secured through long term agreements or by
incorporating dedicated energy plantations as an
integral part of the system. Since these systems are

essentially meant for the benefit of the villagers

themselves, and when they see economic benefits
accruing to them, it is easier to convince them and
motivate them to take complete ownership of such
project. Essentially, if the users understand the importance of these services and how these can revolutionize their livelihood they will support the cause
to run it economically.
What other challenges can you foresee
in implementing Solar-Biomass hybrid
cold storage-cum-power generation
system for rural applications?
Developing and facilitating a technical support network is critical for success of these systems. Also it
is important to inculcate the importance of regular
revenue collection among the entrepreneurs and
village community for long term sustainability.
How is TERI supporting such initiatives?
TERI has not only been working on technology development and demonstration, but also been taking initiatives to sensitize policy makers and other
stakeholders. TERI has also contributed its experience in setting up biomass gasifier power producing systems for village electrification.
Realizing the importance of grassroots presence, TERI works closely with local NGOs and local
community.

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