Earlier this year, Icelandic company GEG announced an exciting and likely a bit unusual project in India partly funded by the Icelandic Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The project targets using low – temperature geothermal energy in northern India to establish cold storage for apples using absorption chilling technology, similar to the technology used today in fridges at home.
Apple farming came to the Northern Himalaya region in the the late 1800s, yet the sour types grown then were not quite as popular. This changed in the early 1900s with an American introducing the first Red Delicious apples Over long, his vision for a sustainable local economy made apples the region’s primary produce, and has had a profoundly positive impact fo the farming families. Today, the region is known for producing the tastiest and most expensive apples on the Indian market.
As of today, there are no cold-storage facilities for apples by local farmers, forcing them to sell apples at lower prices during the harvest season. Cold storage could allow them to sell apples over a longer period of time, thus creating more value for farmers and the local economy. The intention of the GEG Cooling project is using geothermal energy to run a steam-powered cold room for storage. Utilizing low temperature resources it provides direct use of geothermal energy for cooling, a more sustainable and cheaper way to cool the apples than using electricity.”
We were curious to learn more about the project and the key driver behind the project. For this purpose we sat down with Chief Research Officer (CRO) Dr. Vijay Chauhan, an Indian national he has been the driving force for the project within Icelandic geothermal development company GEG.
From earlier discussions, one can sense a personal connection with the project, can you fill us in?
Throughout my geothermal studies and work on my PhD in Iceland I have seen the many opportunities geothermal energy provides and started thinking about ways to do a project back home in India as early as 8 years ago. While high temperature resources are not available everywhere, low temperature resources and the use of them for heating applications or cooling clearly provides a broader way of introduction to local development in India. I dreamt about doing a project in my home state that would benefit local businesses.
Apple farming came to the Northern Himalaya region in the the late 1800s, yet the sour types grown then were not quite as popular. This changed in the early 1900s with an American introducing the first Red Delicious apples Over long, his vision for a sustainable local economy made apples the region’s primary produce, and has had a profoundly positive impact fo the farming families. Today, the region is known for producing the tastiest and most expensive apples on the Indian market.
As of today, there are no cold-storage facilities for apples by local farmers, forcing them to sell apples at lower prices during the harvest season. Cold storage could allow them to sell apples over a longer period of time, thus creating more value for farmers and the local economy. The intention of the GEG Cooling project is using geothermal energy to run a steam-powered cold room for storage. Utilizing low temperature resources it provides direct use of geothermal energy for cooling, a more sustainable and cheaper way to cool the apples than using electricity.”
We were curious to learn more about the project and the key driver behind the project. For this purpose we sat down with Chief Research Officer (CRO) Dr. Vijay Chauhan, an Indian national he has been the driving force for the project within Icelandic geothermal development company GEG.