Design of modular cold storage unit powered by solar-wind energy for livestock products in Kenya

About the project

UK-registered Partner: Aston University – Dr Muhammad Imran
Africa-registered Partner: Baridi – Tracy Kimathi

Kenya Markets Trust reported the market size of the livestock and products to be worth £1.24 billion per year. The annual market share of meat and beef produce is 429 metric tonnes. There are approximately 700 livestock-products markets in Kenya, and about 80% does not have cold storage units. This leads to 23-30% meat/beef and livestock-product losses and waste.

For livestock cold supply chain, we resolved two major development challenges:

• Cost of input energy is biggest contributor in the operational cost of the cold storage. This cost offsets the profit gain and is therefore the less economically viable option.
• Capital investment cost of the cold storage is the biggest challenge.

Proposed technology will be launched via 1) easy finance 2) pay-as-you-go model. Easy finance will enable farmers to buy the product at zero capital investment through Baridi.

The purpose of this project was to develop a sustainable cold storage infrastructure that will not only contribute to reducing losses in the quantity and quality of livestock products (and as a result, waste), but can also improve the efficiency of food supply chains and compliance with food safety and quality standards, thus also reducing health problems and costs associated with consumption of unsafe food.

During this project, we developed a simulation tool and digital twins of the cold storage unit integrated with hybrid energy module. These models can be used to design the cold storage unit and predict its performance. A 5kW physical prototype was also built and field trials were conducted.

Learn more about the project in this recording from our recent GCRF AgriFood Africa Project Showcase event.