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What is the News?
India has planned to utilize solar power to offer uninterrupted power to cold-chain facilities for storing vaccines.
Storage of Vaccines and the need for solar power
There are over 29,000 cold chain storage facilities across India that are used to store both Covid-19 and non-Covid-19 vaccines.
However, due to unreliable electricity supply in several parts of the country, there is a problem in the storage of vaccines. Hence, the government has now planned to use solar power for cold storage facilities.
There are two ways to use solar energy to store vaccines —storage equipment that runs on solar power or a building that has a solar power facility.
Moreover, using solar power will also help India reach its target of 100GW of solar power generation capacity by 2022, with a significant focus on rooftop solar and decentralised solar installations.
What are the other steps taken by India to increase cold storage facilities?
The Indian Government is receiving cold chain equipment (CCE) procured by UNICEF from other countries. The Bihar government has received the first tranche of the CCE procured by UNICEF as part of the Japanese government’s assistance to India’s Covid-19 vaccination drive.
The Government of India has also roped in private firms to run cold-chain facilities on solar power.
Source: This post is based on the article “Govt aims to tap solar energy to power cold chain facilities” published in Livemint on 28th Sep 2021.
