The project aims to deliver a novel 100% solar energy-driven, vacuum insulated cold storage facility for addressing the needs of the Kenyan smallholders. Banana is an important source of income and nutrition accounting for 36% of the fruit produced in Kenya and 11.1% of the total value of domestic horticulture. It contributes to 30-70% of household income of farmers, the majority of whom are women. In 2017, Kenya produced 1.6 million ton banana with a market value of $350m. There are approximately 1 million stakeholders, farmers and subsector employees, who are economically dependent on banana sector. Despite its immense importance in household economics and nutrition value, there is no scientific, climate-controlled storage facility leading to a loss of 25-45% of the banana crop every year.
At Kenya, level solar energy run cold storage (SolCoS) technology will benefit stakeholders in the banana sector and millions producing other horticultural products. Additionally, this project will unleash an opportunity for solar heat technology in African and global cold storage industry catering to horticulture farmers.
The project is funded through Round 9 of the AgriTech Catalyst which is funded jointly by the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), delivered by Innovate UK.
Dr Harjit Singh - Dr Singh, Professor of Sustainable Energy Technologies, received his BEng, and MEng (IIT Roorkee, India) with specialisation in Mechanical and Thermal Engineering disciplines and PhD (University of Ulster, UK, 2009) in concentrating solar energy generators. His research focusses onto solar energy technologies for heating, cooling, power, biogas and hydrogen; vacuum insulation systems and building/industrial retrofit for improved energy efficiency with over 100 peer reviewed publications in the area. As PI and/or CoI he has particpated in research projects securing over £26 Million in funding from UKRI, Newton Fund (UK-Egypt, UK-India), Horizon2020, Innovate UK (UK-Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, India), UKIERI-DST (UK-India) and several industry funders based in USA, Germany and the UK. Research outputs in vacuum insulation and solar energy technologies are currently licensed for commercialisation in global locations. Two patent applications are in porgress. He was consultant to a project for developing Vaccine Storage Devices funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He was the Chair of the SOLARIS international conference (2017), International Vacuum Insulation Symposium (IVIS2021) and the President of the IVIS Advisory Board (2022-2024).