A Step towards energy transition: WWF India’s initiative to solarize Dairy Cold Chain

• 10 solar based milk chillers have been installed at Asha Mahila Milk Producers Company in Sirohi, Rajasthan having a combined capacity to chill 5000 litres of milk per day using 33.5 KwP of solar power

 New Delhi: In order to promote energy transition in dairy cold chains, WWF India have installed solar based milk-chillers at village level milk collection centres with each system having capacity to chill 500 litres of milk per day powered by a battery supported 3.35 kWp of solar unit. The launch event for the same have been organized at one of the milk collection sites in Velangari village, Sirohi, Rajasthan.
 
WWF-India, in partnership with the Asha Mahila Milk Producers Company Limited, which provides livelihood oppurtunities to rural women employed in the dairy sector, has installed these chillers to demonstrate the improvement in quality of milk. The unis which have been supplied by a Gujarat Based organization Prompt Innovation that will reduce the dairy units dependency on diesel generator.

The dairy industry in India is one of the major livelihood sources for 80 million rural households. The farm-level collection centers are rudimentary in the facility - partly run on electricity from the grid and the rest of the time on Diesel Generators, making the process of refrigerating the milk in a chilling center energy intensive. Adopting solar-based and efficient chilling technology/solutions can help increase production efficiency and reduce wastage in the supply chain and can play a crucial role in making the transformation possible.
 
WWF has been working in this area in partnership with HSBC under Climate Solution Partnership for over two years. Under this initiative, WWF India has worked closely with Dairy Co-Operatives, and Producer Companies for the installation of Solar Based IMC. So far, WWF-India has installed 38 such chillers across Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan with a total installed capacity of 175 KW with capacity to process about 26,000 Litres of milk per day. Overall Climate Solution Partnership, it is targeted to install 1000 kW of solar powered dairy cold chain.
 
WWF India’s vision to de-carbonize and transform the dairy cold chain sector to adopt energy-saving mechanisms. We intend to work on policy and finance mechanisms with government institutions and other key stakeholders to scale this up. It will help build a knowledge base and capacities of the existing dairy players and contribute to the de-carbonization of the dairy sector cold chain in India.
 
Mr Vishal Dev, Director, Sustainable Business, WWF India said, “in order to impact the wider dairy sector for emission reduction, WWF-India is in the process of identification of large milk chilling and milk processing centers and is looking forward to solarizing their operations on a co-funding basis that will support them with uninterrupted power supply, reduction of Diesel Generator usage and cost savings. These propositions are lucrative for dairy units also and have a high possibility of adoption and replication driven by a short payback period and improvement of milk quality”.
 
Shri Parshottam Rupala, Hon’ble Cabinet Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Govt. of India through a virtual address to farming community at Velangiri, Sirohi district in Rajasthan congratulated women Dairy farmers and support organizations for the installations. Shri Rupala highlighted Prime Ministers’s vision for milk quality improvement for India. He also highlighted the importance of on-time milk chilling and how it benefits the improvement of dairy farmers’ income driven by lack of wastage of milk and use of solar power. He mentioned that Government will look into the program results, and if found positive will support further expansion of the program.

Speaking on the occasion through a virtual address Dr. Meenesh Shah, Chairman, National Dairy Development Board congratulated on the successful installation of the project. He suggested that this installation will pave the way for improvement of milk quality through chilling at source and will empower women dairy farmers through enhancement of livelihood. He further mentioned that with such innovative programs, India can truly achieve its vision of becoming the Dairy to the World and praised the efforts of WWF India and Prompt Innovation for installation of these solar based instant milk chillers.
 
For further information, please contact:  
Vishal Sukhija
Senior Expert - Energy Transition, WWF-India 
Email: vsukhija@wwfindia.net
Phone: 011-41504792