The encyclopedia · Engineering & Operations · Technical decision · 2025
Amul cooled milk at the village with solar, not a grid
Amul deployed battery-backed solar milk chillers at rural collection points, cutting spoilage and saving farmers about INR 1 per litre.
Amul (GCMMF)
the move
Much of India's milk is produced by smallholders whose milk can spoil en route to a distant chilling plant, and under 2% of rural India has adequate milk-chilling capacity.
Amul installed solar-powered milk chillers with battery backup across Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, cooling milk from ~35°C to 4°C in minutes and making the cold chain independent of grid outages and diesel prices.
The installed units cool about 26,000 litres a day on 160 kW of solar, with plans to scale to 1,000 kW; milk spoilage in Uttar Pradesh dropped nearly 3% and farmers save roughly INR 1 per litre. Refrigerated vans were also fitted with IoT temperature monitoring.
why it works
- Chilling milk within minutes stops the spoilage that a long truck journey starts.
- Solar plus battery removes dependence on an unreliable grid.
- Less spoilage and less diesel mean farmers are paid for what they actually produce.
what transfers
Where infrastructure is unreliable, move the intervention to the point of failure (the village) rather than waiting for the network to reach it.
what came after
Amul expanded the solar cold chain through 2025 and wants to push capacity to 1,000 kW. The model faces real limits: too few trained technicians, high upfront capital, and lingering gaps in rural chilling, which Amul addresses through subsidy schemes and partnerships with farmer producer organisations.
references
- Amul Embraces Solar-Powered Cold Chain to Strengthen Dairy Supply Amid Climate Risks
- Amul expands its solar-powered cold storage to reduce milk spoilage
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