Keeping the Catch Fresh with a Solar Minigrid

In Kiguna, Nigeria, a partnership between Husk Power and Coldbox Store, supported by the REA-RMI Energizing Agriculture Programme, has deployed a 3-ton walk-in cold room powered by a solar-hybrid minigrid. The facility maintains temperatures of -30 degrees Celsius, extending the shelf life of fish from days to months. This infrastructure allows local fishers and traders to avoid selling spoiled catch at a loss and instead access high-value urban markets. The project is expected to reduce annual post-harvest losses by over 30 metric tonnes and increase fishers' income per catch by over 30 percent.

• Artisanal fishers in rural Nigeria contribute 80 percent of the total fish production but lose up to 50 percent of their capture to spoilage due to a lack of cold storage and electricity.
• A 3-ton walk-in cold room powered by a solar-hybrid minigrid in Kiguna maintains a temperature of -30 degrees Celsius, extending the shelf life of the local catch from days to months.
• The project utilizes a cold chain consisting of the minigrid-tied cold room, temperature-controlled trucks, and urban cold storage centers to distribute fish to cities where prices can be up to five times higher than local prices.
• The cold room is projected to decrease annual post-harvest losses in Kiguna by more than 30 metric tonnes and increase the income of fishers by over 30 percent per catch.
• The availability of cold storage reduces the reliance on wood-fire smoking, which exposes traders to harmful levels of carbon monoxide and fine particulate pollution.

APA

RMI (2023). Keeping the Catch Fresh with a Solar Minigrid. https://rmi.org/resources/keeping-the-catch-fresh-with-a-solar-minigrid/

Chicago

RMI. Keeping the Catch Fresh with a Solar Minigrid. 2023. https://rmi.org/resources/keeping-the-catch-fresh-with-a-solar-minigrid/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Keeping the Catch Fresh with a Solar Minigrid |date=27 June 2023 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/keeping-the-catch-fresh-with-a-solar-minigrid/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2023keeping, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Keeping the Catch Fresh with a Solar Minigrid}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2023}, month = jun, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/keeping-the-catch-fresh-with-a-solar-minigrid/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }