BigBasket Modular Cold Racks

Results

• BigBasket’s modular cold racks reduced electricity consumption by 14 percent. These savings are likely to increase because the modular racks can be controlled dynamically, in response to demand, whereas a conventional cold room must function continuously.
• The system maintained desired temperatures for up to six hours – reducing the need for backup fossil-fuel generators during grid power outages, a frequent problem in parts of India.
• The plug-and-play solution was easy to install, demount, and transport to new sites, and uses standardized factory-fabricated products. This proved valuable for business expansion as previously relocation of cold rooms resulted in a 30-40 percent loss in value.
• BigBasket plans to scale up the use of modular cold racks to meat chilling applications across its operations.

Lessons Learned

• India has a large climatic variance, and extreme summer temperatures up to 45 Celsius generally coincide with maximum consumer demand for temperature-controlled products. Product and component design must therefore account for various climatic zones and associated temperature/humidity conditions.
• Challenges, such as freezing of PCMs, were encountered during the pilot phase and were addressed by adding automatic defrosting and magnetic locking.