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Promethean Power Systems named to Food Logistics’ Top Green Providers List for 2020
Boston, USA / Pune, India: Food Logistics, the publication exclusively dedicated to covering the movement of product through the global food supply chain, has named Promethean Power Systems to the Top Green Providers list for 2020 in the Alternative Fuels category.
Food Logistics’ annual Top Green Providers recognizes companies whose products, services, or exemplary leadership is enhancing sustainability within the food and beverage industry. Each year, the criteria for earning a spot on the list become more stringent for applicants. For example, the editorial staff evaluates a company’s participation in such programs as the EPA’s SmartWay and other recognized sustainability programs; facilities that are LEED-certified, and/or feature solar panels, LED lighting and other energy-saving installations and retrofits that produce measurable reductions in GHG emissions, to name a few.
“Promethean is honoured to receive this coveted award for our sustainable and energy-efficient cold storage and refrigerated transport solutions powered by our patented thermal energy storage system that eliminates the use of diesel for cooling. Our cooling systems have been fully operational during Covid-19 and have enabled food companies and thousands of farmers to reliably preserve and transport produce,” said Jiten Ghelani, CEO Promethean Power Systems. “We are committed to reducing global food loss with innovative, environmentally-friendly and cost-effective technology and solutions. Through our suite of cold storage solutions, we are enabling a more sustainable and inclusive cold chain from farm to fork in India and worldwide. Our new line of energy-efficient refrigerated trucks eliminate the use of diesel for cooling and significantly reduce carbon footprint.”
“Our annual Top Green Providers award recognizes companies whose products, services, or exemplary leadership enhance sustainability within the food and beverage industry. From technology that reduces a fleet’s carbon footprint to software that helps shippers drive energy efficiency to systems and processes that help reduce the carbon and environmental impact of its customers’ supply chains, these top green providers continue to practice the ultimate in sustainability year over year,” says Marina Mayer, Editor-in-Chief of Food Logistics.
Recipients of this year’s 2020 Food Logistics: Top Green Providers award winners will be profiled in the June 2020 issue of Food Logistics, as well as online at www.foodlogistics.com.
About Promethean Power Systems
Promethean Power Systems, based in Boston, USA and Pune, India, designs and manufactures energy storage systems that are redefining the cold chain from farm to fork in a more sustainable manner. Its patented thermal energy storage technology enables energy-efficient refrigeration of fresh food items as they make their way from smallholder farmers in rural villages to processing plants and customers in urban centers. Promethean’s energy storage device uses proprietary phase-change materials to store large amounts of thermal energy. This thermal battery is designed to release energy at fast rates to cool food products quickly thereby preserving their freshness, while eliminating the use of diesel for cooling.
Promethean works with leading dairy and food companies to implement its cold chain technology in their supply chains to better preserve perishable foods and reduce costs. Promethean’s suite of cold storage products include farm and village level milk chillers, cold storages, and refrigerated trucks.
The company’s award-winning energy-efficient refrigerated trucks do not utilize diesel for cooling and eliminate the need for on board compressor, thereby significantly reducing carbon emissions. Its reefer vans and trucks are designed for intra-city/last-mile or inter-city food distribution and were recently awarded by RefCold India and Emerson.
Promethean works with premier food industry customers such as Hatsun, ITC, Amul, Fonterra, Parag, Akshayakalpa and Licious. The company has more than 1500 units in operation in India, South Asia and East Africa.
For media queries email: info@promethean-power.com
Visit www.promethean-power.com
About Food Logistics
Food Logistics is published by AC Business Media, a business-to-business media company that provides targeted content and comprehensive, integrated advertising and promotion opportunities for some of the world’s most recognized B2B brands. Its diverse portfolio serves the construction, logistics, supply chain and other industries with print, digital and custom products, events, and social media.
Keywords: Promethean, refrigeration, chilling, award, dairy, cold-chain, farm, cold-storage, fresh, thermal, cooling, diesel, food logistics, top green providers, eco-friendly, generator, off-grid
Acumen Invests in Promethean Power Systems
Acumen has invested $1 million in Promethean Power Systems, a company producing off-grid rural milk chillers in India.
Access to reliable power supply remains a challenge in rural India: in 2018, an average of only six of India’s 29 states had 24-hour power supply in rural areas. The lack of energy poses a storage and cooling problem in the dairy industry, which sources milk from small-scale farmers spread across remote regions. Inconsistent rural energy supply makes operating local milk collection centers cost-prohibitive for national dairy companies as they would have to use expensive diesel generators to chill farmers’ milk. Instead, these companies often pay aggregators to collect farmers’ milk and bring it to the nearest chilling center, which can be a few hours’ drive away.
This is problematic for dairy farmers as well. To stop bacterial activity and preserve its quality, drawn milk must be chilled as soon as possible. However, because farmers’ milk waits for collection in unrefrigerated canisters—in vehicles with no cooling insulation—up to 30 percent of the milk can spoil, lowering the yield and decreasing farmers’ potential income.
India is the world’s largest milk producer—contributing as many as 167M tons each year—and farmers and dairy companies lose $1 billion of milk annually due to a lack of chilling facilities at the source.
Acumen’s new investee, Promethean Power Systems, was started to address the issue of rural cooling with its new milk refrigerators. Powered by efficient, thermal batteries, Promethean’s refrigerators chill batches of 1,000-2,000 liters of milk in areas with inconsistent power supply and reduce the cost of remote refrigeration by two-thirds. “While dairy is the largest ‘crop’ in India, the development of the sector has not kept pace with best sourcing practices from a quality perspective as well as value to the farmer. Promethean is a great opportunity for Acumen to learn from efficient energy use to improve the livelihoods of farmers,” says Mahesh Yagnaraman, Acumen’s India Country Director.
Promethean’s cost-effective solution makes it financially possible for large dairy companies like Hatsun and Heritage Foods to run local milk collection centers with the purchase of Promethean chillers. These centers eliminate the need for aggregators and have more accurate milk pricing machines—factors that together increase farmers’ incomes by up to 20 percent. Promethean has reached over 60,000 farmers across six states in India to date.
And they are just getting started. Acumen’s investment will be used to fund Promethean’s new business line providing dairy companies with technical support and data analytics along with the rental of a chiller unit—an offering allowing Promethean to reach and impact more low-income farmers. “Our core technology can be customized to serve diverse refrigeration needs. The investment from Acumen will support R&D and commercialization of some exciting new products and offerings in our pipeline.” said Jofi Joseph, Promethean’s VP of Sales and Operations.
“We are excited to partner with Acumen to accelerate the adoption of our decentralized energy-efficient cold chain solutions from first mile to last mile. As demand for safe, high-quality and convenient food products increase, our innovative cooling solutions will ensure quality, reduce food loss and redefine cold chain from farm to fork.” said Jiten Ghelani, CEO of Promethean Power Systems.
Promethean is Acumen’s sixth investment as part of our Pioneer Energy Investment Initiative (PEII).
For more information please visit: https://acumen.org/blog/promethean-power-systems/
Promethean Power: A chill pill for dairy farmers
The company’s tank-based milk refrigeration system is an alternative to diesel options, bringing cooling costs down from 50 paisa per litre to just 18 paisa
The total milk produced in India daily is close to 400 million litres, of which 100 million litres goes for processing. And, of the 100 million litres, only 20 million litres is chilled at the village level, as per the National Dairy Development Board.
Dairies don’t go to remote locations because the cost of setting up a milk chiller is high while farmers have no way of getting their milk to the bigger dairies. They end up going to the local market to sell it, in which case the chance of spoilage is high, or they sell it to a middleman who will take a cut.
It was as an attempt to solve this problem for dairy farmers that Sam White and Sorin Grama set up Promethean Power Systems in 2010, while working on a project for Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, in India.
“When they started, Sorin and Sam wanted to work in the space of solar energy, but soon they realised it was expensive. During their research they met someone from the Karnataka Milk Federation who told them about the problem of milk spoilage. That’s when they got the idea of setting up a milk chilling facility in villages,” says Jofi Joseph, vice president, sales and operations, at Promethean. The founders, who continue to be shareholders of the company, are based in the US.
Traditionally, milk chilling in villages is done using diesel generators while Promethean’s tank-based solution is attached to a thermal battery that can chill milk in about 2 hours and 15 minutes. The battery also continues to operate even if there is no electricity once it has been charged for four hours. “Due to the high cost and hassles of running milk chillers in remote areas, dairies were not interested in going to villages. So, we came up with the idea of using thermal batteries,” adds Joseph. Promethean’s chilling cost is 18 paisa per litre, whereas the one run with diesel costs 50 paisa per litre.
Promethean’s clients include Amul, Hutsun, Mother Dairy, Parag, Nestle and Heritage. The company also signs long-term contracts with clients to lease machines on a per litre basis for those who don’t wish to buy its technology. “When farmers come to deposit milk, they are given a slip mentioning the amount of milk and the dairy pays the farmer ₹25 per litre through direct bank transfer,” says Joseph who has put sensors in all systems that ensure there is no adulteration as well as send out alerts in case there is no electricity or there is a temperature fluctuation.
The company clocked a turnover of $3 million this financial year and installed 330 units all over India. They also export their units to Tanzania, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. They hope to increase the number to 500 units by next year. It intends to become an end-to-end cold chain solution provider. This year it installed 20 cold-storage rooms for farm or dairy produce.
1000th unit despatched by Promethean Power Systems
Today was a significant day for our young and small company as we despatched the 1000th Milk Chiller from our factory in Pune. It is an awesome milestone which has only been achieved due to the efforts of the team with support from all our customers and partners.
In the last 5 years our milk chillers have prevented spoilage of nearly 10 million litres of milk and saved 3 million litres of diesel while connecting over 50000 farmers from remote villages to the milk collection network.
We believe that the journey has just begun and we will continue to develop new products and business models which will enable us to achieve our mission of “Improving farmer incomes through our Innovative Cold Chain Solutions”
Dairy Farmers Reap Benefits of Milk Chiller Technology
Since the installation of Promethean Power Systems milk chillers, the lives of farmers have changed for the better.
The thermal-energy based technology was installed at PRAN Dairy milk collection centres at Shahjadpur and Khamar Shanila in Sirajganj in December last year.
An official of PRAN dairy complex at Shahjadpur, said: “Although this machine requires more space and electricity, it has made dairy businesses more profitable.”
“This power system plays an important role in reducing loss that we faced earlier due to inadequate refrigeration and poor storage. The waste has reduced to 0.01% from 8%,” he added.
Afzal Hossain, farmer of Shahjadpur, decided to buy better quality cow breeds to expand his farm. He also made a pucca cowshed last year.
He expressed satisfaction at the higher prices he now gets by selling milk.
“Sometimes the milk that I sold would be returned as they would perish without proper refrigeration. But now I do not face this issue as the company has installed a new machine in our area’s milk collection point which prevents milk from perishing fast,’’ Afzal said.
Selina Akter, another farmer, said: “Before installation of the new machine at our locality, I provided milk to other ‘samity’ (company) where I got lower prices.”
She is content with the current prices and plans to enlarge her farm, and buy lands for her family’s better accommodation.
“Earlier the dairy farmers did not get the fair price for milk. We only got an average price while providing milk to other companies. But now we get a fixed price based on milk fat, thus facilitating better prices for us,” Afzal said.
After the installation of this machine, production cost has come down. It works without generator during power outage and provides backup for hours, officials at Pran dairy complex said.
The machine has not only benefited the company but also the farmers, they said.
Sobuj, operator of milk chillers of Khamar Shanila milk collection point, said: “It is quite easy to operate the machine. It is eco-friendly, and emits no smoke. It is accessible and efficient.”
National Conference on Doubling Farmer Income
Promethean invited to participate in National Conference on Doubling Farmer Income.
CII Confers honour on Promethean Power Systems
ST Correspondent | Sakaal Times
September, 2017
Promethean Power Systems, India’s leading cold chain company, was awarded the “Significant Achievement in Innovation” award for its innovative cooling solutions by CII (Confederation of Indian Industry).
Promethean Power Systems, one ofIndia’s leading cold chain companies,was honoured by CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) for Significant Achievement in Innovation recently. The company has manufacturing and testing facilities in Pune, with a technology and research centre in Boston, USA.
The award recognizes Promethean’s accomplishments in developing cold chain solutions for India’s leading food processors that are cost-effective and eco-friendly, based on its patented thermal-energy storage technology for milk chilling and cold-storage applications.
The prestigious 7th National Cold Chain Summit and Awards were held by CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) on 25th September, 2017 in New Delhi and showcased emerging technologies and advancements for the cold chain sector in India. One of the most notable awards granted for the “Significant Achievement in Innovation” was presented to Promethean for its years of persistent hard work, dedication and belief that technology could create a win-win-win solution for food and dairy processors, smallholder farmers and consumers.
According to officials, Promethean’s products enable its customers to reliably chill and preserve perishable food by eliminating the need for diesel generator backup. “The company’s Rapid Milk Chillers, Bulk Milk Coolers and Cold Storage Solutions are creating cost-effective solutions for cold-chain food distribution in emerging markets along with delivering social and environmental benefits. Promethean has now installed over 600 milk chillers and cold storage solutions across India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka,“ they stated.
“We are honoured to be selected by CII for this prestigious award as it further validates the impact of our technology on food quality in India’s agricultural sector”, said Jiten Ghelani, CEO, Promethean Power Systems.
Jofi Joseph, Vice President, Promethean Power Systems, accepted the award and added “We strive to be the first choice for clients requiring cold chain solutions by adapting our technology to solve significant challenges in the agricultural supply chain for our customers”.
BRAC Dairy Eliminates Milk Spoilage
The partnership between BRAC and Promethean Power Systems to reduce spoilage of raw milk produced by dairy farmers has proven a success. Buoyed by the success of their initial investment in five Rapid Milk Chillers, BRAC has recently purchased 19 more similar units from Promethean. The aim is to link more dairy farmers to key markets while maintaining the quality of raw milk, said a statement.
BRAC collects milk from over 100 village-level chilling centers, where at least 50,000 dairy farmers pool their daily produce, to sell packaged dairy products under its Aarong brand. In the long run, this is expected to bring more consumers into the fold of the formal, processed and packaged milk market in Bangladesh.
Promethean Power’s Rapid Milk Chillers use a patented thermal energy storage technology that instantly chills raw milk to 4 degrees centigrade at the milk collection centers even in the absence of grid electricity and without using a diesel generator, has revolutionized quality assurance mechanism by helping farmers preserve milk it is collected for processing by overcoming common limitations faced by farmers in the developing nations – irregular electricity supply, poor infrastructure, and expensive diesel generator backup.
As milk spoilage rates have dramatically dipped following the installation of the Rapid Milk Chillers, BRAC has been able to instill greater confidence among dairy farmers about finding guaranteed offtake of their milk every day. As timely milk chilling continues to bring better returns to farmers based on the quality of milk, many have made profits substantial enough to afford an investment in new cows — a mark of both progress and prestige in the local community.
Nour-E-Alom, Manager, Milk Procurement, BRAC Dairy and Food Enterprise, said that they were looking for a solution that would be cost effective, eco-friendly, and scalable. “Promethean’s solution for our milk collection center is both cost effective and eco-friendly and we are extremely happy with the results. By installing Promethean’s Rapid Milk Chillers in the villages, we are able to eliminate wastage by over 90% and increase the volume of our collection,” he said.
Jofi Joseph, Director of Sales and Marketing, Promethean Power Systems, said, “By helping chill raw milk at the village collection center without the need for a diesel generator, Promethean’s Rapid Milk Chillers present a simple and cost-effective solution to similar problems that developing milk-producing nations face. BRAC, with its Aarong brand, is doing a commendable job of helping farmers augment their income by linking them to urban markets. We are pleased to help BRAC realize its mission to channel quality milk from rural to urban areas.”
Promethean Power’s innovative solutions have already attracted attention and is gaining in popularity across the subcontinent.
Promethean Installs Thermal Energy Based Bulk Milk Coolers at Thirumala’s Collection Sites in TN
Promethean Power Systems recently installed its patented energy-efficient bulk milk coolers at village-level collection centers run by Thirumala Milk Products (P) Ltd, a subsidiary of Groupe Lactalis S.A.
Promethean’s innovative bulk milk coolers will now help Thirumala Milk Products (P) Ltd. chill raw milk efficiently without diesel generators at village level collection centres in Thirumannamallai district of Tamil Nadu and bring quality dairy products to consumers.
Why Promethean’s Bulk Milk Coolers?
Thirumala was seeking a village-level milk cooling solution that would help procure and preserve high-quality milk while being both cost- and energy-efficient. The company chose Promethean’s bulk milk coolers over other products available on the market due to overall energy efficiency, low operational costs, and diesel-free eco-friendly operations.
Promethean’s patented thermal-energy storage technology entirely eliminates the use of diesel generators for power backup, resulting in a significant drop in chilling expenses, and operational and maintenance costs for Tirumala Milk Products.
The installation of the milk chillers, each with a cooling capacity of 2,000 liters per day, was marked by a festive inauguration ceremony.
In addition to the bulk milk coolers, Thirumala installed Promethean’s solar pack add-on to maximize energy efficiency, reduce its carbon footprint even further, and eliminate the need for batteries to run the lights, milk analyzer and other essential equipment in the centers. A significant advantage of using the solar pack is that the milk tanker will be able to collect the milk even when there is no electricity available at the site.
A Snapshot of Thirumala Milk Products (P) Ltd
Thirumala Milk Products is one of the largest manufacturers and suppliers of dairy products in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu. Tirumala was founded in 1996 and was acquired by French dairy giant, Groupe Lactalis S.A., in 2014. The company is focused on producing high-quality milk products with an emphasis on freshness, taste, and healthiness at the best possible price. The company produces a range of assorted products including fresh milk, curd, flavored milk, lassi, buttermilk, ghee, UHT milk, ice-cream, and paneer. These are produced at nine state-of-the-art manufacturing plants spread across southern India. Tirumala has also built a strong presence in Telangana, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.
Have questions or comments? Please send them over to info@promethean-power.com.
