Solar Technology: A Way to the Prosperity of Indian Dairy Industry

Abstract

India is the world’s largest milk producing country with an annual milk production of 142 million tonnes.  The demand for milk is set to touch 200 million tonnes by 2020. With the Increase in population, urbanization and enhancement in lifestyle, demand of milk and milk products is increasing day by day. As the milk processing industries extend their production horizons the energy consumption in the industry will tend to rise. In any industry, energy is the highest cost contributor and paradoxically the same energy becomes a scarce product just in times of need. Increasing population, high energy demand, shortage of conventional energy sources and high cost of fuels have created opportunities for using alternate energies for post-harvest processing of foods. This necessitates alternative innovations in energy. These innovations should be cheaper and involve easily available alternative energy from sources, such as sun, wind, gas, etc. Among the renewable energy resources, solar energy is the most promising in food processing applications that provides good quality foods at low or no additional fuel costs. This review covers the status of solar technology in India, recent developments in solar technology and their possible applications in Indian dairy industry.