From sunlight to savings, solar energy is the new game-changer in India’s dairy sector. Imagine using solar energy to cut down on your dairy production costs. Isn’t that remarkable?
For years, our ‘matribhoomi’ lived through a wastage of energy resources, despite earning the title of ‘World’s No. 1 milk producer’. Now, the time has arrived for our dairy operators to embrace solar fuels instead of fossil fuels.
Reasons why solar energy is crucial for India’s dairy sector
- Power cuts hindering milk testing process
- Fluctuation in energy costs impacting milk production
- Limited energy access for rural dairy farmers
- Poor security of dairy processing operations due to inadequate electricity
Let’s look at these amazing facts- cooling (20%) along with sterilization and spray-drying (16%) contribute to more heat demands in Indian dairy operations. Also, energy costs for dairy farming vary from 20-25% of total cost {based on farm size}. Sounds alarming? Well, the secret ingredient for dairy success lies in the sun’s power.
The heating potential in India’s dairy sector requires a total energy of 6.40 PJ/annum. Sharma et al. 2017 claimed this can be lessened to 4.50 PJ per annum in the pasteurization stage due to solar industrial process heating (SPIH).
Adoption of solar energy in dairy processing
| Application area | Temperature | Benefit |
| Heating | 60-80˚C or higher | The solar water heating (SWH) system performs crate washing and cleaning. This saves 14000 L of diesel every year to heat boiler feed water. |
| Pasteurization | 30˚C (ambient temp.) 85˚C (high temp.) | Within 2-3 hours, a heat exchange process of 65˚C-75˚C gets established. |
| Steam Generation | 290–436 °C (low temp.)436–517 °C (medium temp.) 517–550 °C (high temp.) | Parabolic trough collectors generate direct steam flash for high energy. |
| Cooling | Refrigeration effect: 1.19 kW (normal temp.)22.31 kW (high temp.) Thermal energy supply:31.01 kW (normal temp.)60.69 kW (high temp.) | Solar-powered water vapor absorption refrigeration (SVAR) performs chilling of ammonia water mixture with the highest capacity of 8 kg of ice/day. |
| Drying | 140°C and 220°C | Within a range of 150°C-180°C, heat application to remove water brings an atomized mist with hot air. |
| Pumping | 200–3000 W | It runs the CIP (cleaning in place) pumps and stores energy even during non-sunny hours. |
The bulk milk cooler is a popular application of solar energy. With a low system maintenance cost, it reduces the dependence of grid electricity on condensation and cooling processes. Dairy processors get the benefit of thermal energy storage with high charge from solar photovoltaic cells.
Solar Energy: Rise of a renewable horizon in dairy processing
Popular cases to look for
a. Bhuj Solar Pond– A 6000 m2 solar pond was constructed in Bhuj’s dairy processing plant. This pond got the capacity of attaining a max. temperature of 99.88°C.
b. Solar Heater-Mahanand dairy in Maharashtra provides a temperature of 30°C- 85 °C in solar water heating system (25000 LPD). The boiler is used to heat milk with energy generation under Maharashtra Energy Development Agency.
c. Off-grid solar plant– 200 kW plant installed in Sapiens, Kochi transforming the dairy plant with Integrated Energy Management System (IEMS). It also consists of battery charging stations, even during monsoon and low sunlight weather.
d. Solar concentrator system (SCT)-Chitale Dairy, Maharashtra uses the Fresnel Parabolic Dish for milk pasteurization at 152˚C. It also installed the Arun-160 solar boilers reducing 110-130 tons of carbon emission per year.
Upcoming projects you shouldn’t miss
AMUL
Amul’s team builds a roadmap to optimize energy for 36 million dairy farmers through solar energy. Its main vision is to install a renewable power machine reducing 21,00,000 kWh/annum energy. Mr. Amit Vyas, MD of Amul announces the sustainability mission for 2030 with 35% CO2 emission reduction and 50% in groundwater drawal.
NDDB
National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) plans for 15-20 projects in a solar thermal energy scheme for milk pasteurization. This will include the washer, boilers and feed water tanks for plant configuration efficiency.
Thus, to secure dairy processing functions, it’s really mandatory to gain control over energy emissions. Dollons looks to implement solar energy for sustainable growth in milk supply.
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