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Exploring geothermal for cooling apples in northern India

Exploring geothermal for cooling apples in northern India Apples in Kashmir (source: flickr/ Basharat Alam Shah, creative commons)
Alexander Richter 10 Apr 2021

Icelandic geothermal developer GEG has received a grant to explore the use of low-temperature geothermal for cooling of apples in a region of Northern India.

In the mountainous region of Kinnaur in northern India, low-temperature geothermal energy is being studied to determine whether it can be used as an energy source, as reported in a release by Iceland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has granted Icelandic geothermal developer GEG ISK 30 million in funding (approximately USD 240,000) to investigate the possibility of using low – temperature geothermal energy in northern India to establish cold storage for apples. The grant is provided by the Business Partnership Fund for the United Nations’ Global Goals, to Icelandic GEG. The project is to be completed by the end of 2023.

In the mountainous region of Kinnaur in northern India, low-temperature geothermal energy is found. According to Snorri Einarsson, CTO of GEG, the intention is to use that energy to run a steam-powered cold room. “We want to use that technology to run cold storage for apples. The direct use of geothermal energy for cooling is a cheaper way to cool the apples than to use electricity, ” he says.

According to Vijay Chauhan, CRO of GEG, “there are no cold storage in the district as of today. Therefore, farmers are often forced to sell apples at lower prices during the harvest season instead of being able to store them in refrigerators and sell them over a longer period of time, thus creating more value for society.”

The project is linked to four of the seventeen United Nations Global Goals: the Sustainable Energy Goal (7); the goal of good employment and economic growth (8); the goal of greater equality (10) and the goal of climate action (13).

Source: Visir