How This Solar Refrigerators Are Helping Small Businesses And Enterprises In Rural India
Nibedita Nag is a 19-year-old girl from Kalahandi, Odisha. The family's main source of income is a small vegetable shop in Bishwanathpur, on the edge of a dense forest. Due to the remoteness of the village and weather conditions, power outages are frequent, which meant that she could not store easily perishable goods for long.
But last year she got a solar refrigerator installed at her small grocery shop.
Today the teenager has been able to expand her business to add more products and according to Nibedita, hers is the only shop on a 15 km stretch to offer cold bottled water and drinks.
She is one of the several small business owners who recently switched to using solar refrigerators and have seen their savings increase.
Ghummar Farmer Producer Organization based in?village Nana of Pali district in Rajasthan, is a collective of 948 women shareholders.
The small enterprise collects and partly processes fruits like custard-apple, ¡®ber¡¯, and ¡®palash¡¯.?One of their main products is the custard apple pulp which is a crucial ingredient in the ¡®sitaphal¡¯ flavor for ice creams.?
But storing the pulp was a big challenge for the collective due to the unreliable power supply in the village.?
Last year, Ghummar received eight solar refrigerators?and one cold van.
Since then, the production capacity of Ghummar?has tripled. The cold van has contributed significantly to collecting the pulp from village collection centres and bringing it to the two facilities for hardening and initial storage and, after that, transporting the hardened pulp to a larger cold storage in Udaipur. Ghummar had estimated that their average cost for electricity from both grid and diesel generator was Rs 8,000 per tonne. This has now reduced to Rs.2,500 as fuel expenses for the entire production of nine tonnes.
The solar-powered refrigerators are designed by Mumbai-based venture Devidayal Solar Solutions (DD Solar), keeping in mind, the needs of small businesses and enterprises across rural India.
Devidayal Solar Solutions was established in 2015 by Tushar Devidayal.?
"We have a portfolio of products including Solar Refrigerator, Street Lights, Solar Home lighting systems and Solar Fan. But our flagship product is the solar DC Refrigerator available in different capacities. Our refrigerator is a finalist for Global Leap Awards, 2019 for consumer affordability price. We piloted our product in different segments like Dairy, Fisheries, Fruit Pulp & Kirana stores under the R&D fund awarded us by Energy Savings Fund," Devidayal told?Indiatimes.
According to him, DD Solar's refrigerator is the most efficient of its kind product in this range.
It comes with features like a digital display, rugged construction, environmentally compliant refrigerant.
The refrigerator is powered by DC 12V/24V solar and has a temperature range of 1 to 11¡ãC and -18 to 10¡ãC.
Devidayal Solar has deployed 300+ solar refrigerators in 12 Indian states, and across various sectors such as dairy, fisheries, restaurants and retail.?
Though the initial investment may look higher for solar refrigerators when compared to conventional ones, Devidayal said his company's products benefit small businesses in the long-term as they don't have to pay electricity bills anymore.
"The starting package of our 100 L Solar Refrigerator is Rs 75000 including batteries, panels, charge controller and installation. The AC refrigerator against it is available from starting Rs 15000. But the Solar Refrigerator nullifies the recurring charges of electricity bills completely and it is perfect for locations where a reliable energy source is still a challenge," he explained.
A study by the company has suggested that the solar refrigerator has directly resulted in an average increase of income of Rs 5000 per month for small business owners.
Devidayal Solar also works with several groups and initiatives across India who also work with rural communities.
"We follow an ecosystem approach. We partner with organisations and companies that work with rural communities.?We also work with companies like Selco Foundation, DAPTA (Orissa), and farmer producer companies who also work with rural communities for generating livelihood opportunities. DD Solar is one of the 6 companies selected for the ¡®Powering Livelihoods¡¯ programme jointly run by Council On Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) and Villgro Innovations Foundation which has supported the installation of several refrigerators," Devidayal said.
According to him, in the coming days, solar products like these will play a key role in India's transition into clean energy.
"Decentralised renewable energy (DRE) systems like solar refrigeration which are imperative not only in off-grid areas,?but also to reduce demand on possibly overburdened grids.? While the scale of DRE is small, energy-efficient appliances running on solar with storage are now becoming increasingly affordable and available to rural?communities," he said.
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