Accelerating the dairy cold chain’s transition to renewable energy in India

India is the largest producer of milk in the world. But, it wasn’t always this way. On the eve of the White Revolution in 1968-69, India produced 21 million tonnes^[1] of milk annually. Two decades after independence, it was still a dairy-deficit nation, dependent on imports. With the implementation of Operation Flood, the dairy co-operative structure was strengthened, technology adapted, and farmers supported with subsidies and fair pricing. Today, with an annual production of around 209 million tonnes, India produces almost a quarter of the world’s milk. This staggering quantity is nearly equal to the production of the next four major milk-producing countries combined.

The production of this mammoth amount of milk makes up the livelihoods of millions and fulfils the dairy needs of billions. However, a side effect of this thriving system is the emission of large quantities of greenhouse gases.

In 2015, the global dairy industry was responsible for about 3.5% of total greenhouse gas emissions. This is more than the emissions released by the entire aviation industry that year, at roughly 2%^[2]. While cattle rearing and the methane released as a part of their digestive process are the primary sources of emissions in dairy farming, substantial energy resources are needed for milk chilling, transport, processing, and distribution.

In the dairy industry, the second largest contributor to carbon emissions is the dairy cold chain.

Most of India’s milk comes from a large rural population of small dairy farms. There are over 7.5 crore such dairy farms in India and 95% of India’s milk is produced by small and marginal farmers with a herd size of 1-5 cows or buffaloes^[3][4]. However, it is still a fairly unorganised sector.

Within this informal set-up, there is still a clear flow of how the milk reaches its consumers.

FROM FARM TO FRIDGE - INDIA’S DAIRY SUPPLY CHAIN

Small farmers do not have the infrastructure to rapidly chill the collected milk to ensure preservation. The chilling facilities at collection centres bridge this gap in the cold chain, ensuring the quality and safety of raw milk.

However, the electricity required to chill the milk at these facilities is not cheap and isn’t constant. Unreliable and erratic electricity supply results in at least 2% of India’s annual milk production being wasted^[5]. This is equivalent to all the milk produced by Bangladesh and Nepal combined. Since electricity from the grid can be unreliable, diesel generators are used as backup sources of power. This raises costs and increases greenhouse gas emissions.

These challenges result in high wastage and inconsistent milk quality, which significantly impacts farmers’ incomes. A solution to these problems is the transition to renewable sources of energy to power the cold chain. Installing solar-powered instant chilling facilities will reduce supply-chain waste, cut farmers’ costs, and bring down the dairy sector’s carbon footprint.

WWF India’s project ‘Energy Transition in Dairy Cold Chain’ has put this concept to practise.

WWF India has worked closely with dairy co-operatives and Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) to install such solar-powered milk chillers across Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. A chilling capacity of 26,000 litres of milk per day has been developed, which is supported by a solar capacity of 160 kW, with the aim of building up 1000 kW of decentralised solar-powered cold chain in the dairy sector.

In Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh, a 1500L milk chiller with 7 kW solar capacity has been installed at a site. While they could use up to 5 litres of diesel per day to run the chiller, it has now been dropped to zero.

In a year, this site in Jaunpur will save 1.9 lakh rupees, save 27,000 kWh of energy, and avoid 20.2 metric tons of CO2.

These results are consistently seen across installation sites, helping dairy farmers seamlessly transition to a solar-powered dairy cold chain.

By adopting technological solutions powered by renewable and reliable energy supply, a solarized dairy cold chain will result in reduced operational costs, decreased emissions, and higher income for dairy farmers.

Sources:
[1] Milk Production in India - The Journey of India’s Dairy Sector, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying
[2] “Can dairy adapt to climate change?”, BBC Future Planet
[3] Global Dairy Sector: Status and Trends, FAO
[4] Dairy and Products Annual - 2022 Report, USDA
[5] Climate Solutions Partnership, Energy Transition For India's Dairy Sector, WWF India

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