Tech in Africa
Basel Agency for Sustainable Energy (BASE), based in Switzerland, selected ColdHubs Ltd as the winner of its Cooling as a Service prize. The award recognizes the leading providers of air conditioning and refrigeration services.
CaaS operates as a pay-for-use model helping users fund cooling projects that are in dire need for capital infusion. Equipment providers not only own but maintain and operate the right cooling infrastructure. BASE works alongside the Kigali Cooling Efficiency Program that focuses on contracts, marketing models, and pricing models that support the implementation of the right CaaS projects.
Launched in May, the CaaS prize requires equipment providers to share information on outsourced cooling projects they have implemented in Africa, Asia, or Latin America. The prize winner of the program, ColdHubs rents out a solar-powered R290 refrigerated cold storage space in Nigeria.
ColdHubs began in 2015 offering a pay as you store service model targeting small scale farmers, retailers, and wholesalers. The project aims at preventing food spoilage within the supply chain thus reducing waste and increasing quality.
In hubs scattered across clustered farmlands, the company has set ColdHubs that store vegetables, fresh fruits, and other perishables. This extends their shelf life from 3 to 21 days. Rental charges are apportioned daily, per crate.
In a statement, Thomas Motmans, a cooling specialist at BASE said, “ColdHubs’ solution is a perfect example of how Cooling as a Service can overcome key barriers to adopt clean cooling technology.”
More on the Original article at Hydrocarbons21.
