Feasibility assessment of using solar pre-heated water for institutional cooking in India

An assessment of the financial feasibility of using solar pre-heated water in institutional cooking applications in India is made. The use of solar heated water to reduce fuel requirement for institutional cooking applications is being proposed as the existing solar cooking options have not yet been acceptable. For example, hot water delivered by solar water heating systems (SWHS) installed in government schools can be used for cooking mid-day meal (MDM) to be served to school children. As an illustrative example, for 35 locations in India, spread all over the country, the annual amount of useful thermal energy likely to be delivered by the SWHS has been estimated using the system advisor model (SAM) and the same has been used to estimate the annual fuel savings. Financial feasibility of the proposed approach has been assessed. The annual amount of LPG saved varies in the range of 111–178?kg for a system for cooking of 100 MDM per day translating to annual LPG saving of 13,200–21,360 tonnes for about 120 million MDM beneficiary students in India. The payback period at all locations is found to be much lower than useful life of the SWHS.