Environment, Development and Sustainability (2020) 22:7153–7175

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-019-00471-9

Solar energy for institutional cooking in India: prospects

and potential

Sunil Indora1   · Tara C. Kandpal1

Received: 2 April 2019 / Accepted: 10 September 2019 / Published online: 19 September 2019
© Springer Nature B.V. 2019

Abstract
A framework to estimate the potential of solar cooking for institutional level applications
is presented. Using the weather data of a given location (such as solar radiation, ambient
temperature, and wind speed), the proposed framework estimates the number of days in a
year when solar cooking is feasible and consequently the amount of useful energy saved.
Around 57% of the annual useful energy required for cooking (5475 TJ/year out of 9562
TJ/year) in the institution-types considered in this study can be met with solar energy. The
adoption of solar cooking in these institution-types is expected to save 197 thousand tonnes
of LPG annually. The corresponding annual amount of ­CO2 emissions mitigation is esti-
mated at 592 thousand tonnes. Amongst the six institution-types considered in the study,
cooking of mid-day meal (MDM) in government schools of India has the maximum poten-
tial of solar cooking. The annual potential of useful energy savings with the use of solar
energy for cooking of MDM is estimated at 3881 TJ out of a gross requirement of 6960 TJ/
year. The framework developed and approach used in the study can be used for assessment
of potential of institutional solar cooking as well as identification of niche areas for imme-
diate intervention in any other country as well.

Keywords  Concentrating solar cookers · Carbon emissions mitigation · Institutional solar

cooking

1 Introduction

Cooking is performed at both household and institutional (including community/commer-

cial kitchens) levels, and a significant amount of energy is required for this purpose daily
(Mehetre et al. 2017). In the case of institutional cooking, food for beneficiaries is prepared
in a centralized kitchen. Cooking in the kitchens of hostels, orphanages, prisons, commu-
nity/spiritual trusts as well as in the canteens of hospitals, industries, hotels, railways is
some examples of institutional cooking. These kitchens very often utilize commercial fuels
(mostly fossil fuels) to meet the demand of energy for cooking. Table 1 presents a list of

* Sunil Indora
sunil.indora@ces.iitd.ac.in
1
Centre for Energy Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016,
India

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Vol.:(0123456789)

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Table 1  Fuel mix options for institutional cooking (UNHCR 2002, 2014)
Fuel type
Solid (fuelwood/charcoal/coal)
Liquid (kerosene/diesel)
Gaseous (LPG/PNG/biogas)
Electricity (conventional/renewable)
Solar thermal
Cooking appliance(s)
Traditional cookstove
Improved cookstove
Gasifier-based cookstove
Liquid fuel burner
Steam generator
Gas burner
Steam generator
Electric oven/induction stove
Solar cooker (box/concentrating)
7154
Remarks
High emissions
Non-renewable (sustainable firewood plantation is not economically attractive
and rarely followed)
Dirty in use (shoot formation on cooking vessels and kitchen interiors)
Handling, transportation, and storage is difficult
High emissions
Non-renewable
Import considerations (foreign exchange and energy security)
Handling, transportation, and storage are difficult
Robust infrastructure is required for distribution
Uncertainty of availability due to supply chain reliability
Non-renewable
Import considerations (foreign exchange and energy security)
Handling, transportation, and storage are difficult
Robust infrastructure is required for distribution
Uncertainty of availability due to supply chain reliability
Feedstoke availability concerns for large-scale production of biogas
Non-renewable if generated from fossil fuels
Electricity is more expensive than other fuels
Unreliable availability especially in rural regions
Special cooking equipments are required
Intermittent availability (storage is required to cook during off sun shine hours)
Socio-cultural barriers
Extensive awareness, training, and promotional activities are required
S. Indora, T. C. Kandpal
Solar energy for institutional cooking in India: prospects… 7155

different energy resources that can be used for institutional cooking in India. Combustion
of conventional fuel(s) in cooking appliances emits pollutants in the kitchen and degrades
the environment both at the local and global level (Malakar et  al. 2018). The pollutants
emitted during the combustion of cooking fuels depend on several factors that include reg-
ular cooking habits, types of cookstoves and the fuels being used (Herez et al. 2018; Wolf-
son et al. 2016). Approximately 4.3 million people are reportedly dying every year due to
emissions of harmful gases (such as C ­ O2, CO) during the combustion of commercial as
well as non-commercial cooking fuels (WHO 2016). Indoor air pollution, in the case of
institutional kitchens, is more severe compared to household kitchens as the bulk amount
of fuel is combusted with higher intensity for mass cooking (Ethio Resource Group 2015).
Inefficient utilization of fuels (both fossil and biomass) for cooking end use is also not
desirable as their availability and resources are limited. Therefore, clean cooking interven-
tions are required to reduce indoor air pollution and also to protect the environment.
Clean cooking programs around the world (especially in developing countries such as
India) are gaining momentum to reduce poverty and health-related challenges (such as
respiratory illness, eye diseases). Clean cooking technologies may include efficient use of
conventional fuels in improved cookstoves as well as the utilization of renewable energy
systems in cooking (Craig and Dobson 2015; UNHCR 2014). Given various environmen-
tal and financial challenges involved in using commercial and biomass fuels in developing
countries (Puzzolo et al. 2016; Urmee and Gyamfi 2014), use of solar energy as a viable
clean cooking option needs to be promoted wherever possible (Aramesh et al. 2019; Otte
2013). Suitable end-use applications, as well as niche areas, should be identified for pro-
moting solar cooking in all developing countries (Kassem and Youssef 2011; Mendoza
et  al. 2019). For example, there are a large number of cooking requirements at an insti-
tutional level that can be considered for promoting the use of solar cooking in the initial
phase (Indora and Kandpal 2018a, b). In India, interest for institutional solar cooking such
as cooking at pilgrimage centre, residential schools, and army camps has been steadily
growing in the last few years (CSH India 2016). Therefore, the potential of solar cooking
and expected fuel savings, as well as carbon dioxide mitigation potential with its adop-
tion, need to be assessed to motivate the stakeholders of institutional cooking in the coun-
try. Identification of niche locations with favourable conditions for solar cooking is also
expected to facilitate its dissemination in the early phase. In view of the above discussion,
the potential of solar cooking in six different types of institutional kitchens in India has
been estimated in this study.
The structure of remaining article is as follows: an overview of solar cooking prospects
and key findings of the studies conducted on solar cookers in some developing countries is
presented in Sect. 2. Section 3 describes a methodology developed to estimate the potential
of useful cooking energy savings with the use of solar energy in a few prominent institu-
tional kitchens in India. Results obtained from this study are presented in Sect. 4 followed
by the major inferences drawn from the study in Sect. 5.

2 Prospects of institutional solar cooking in India

Satisfactory performance of any solar cooking system depends on the adequate availability
of solar resource at a given location. Since the daily average value of GHI (global hor-
izontal irradiance) varies from 4 to 7  kWh/m2 at majority of the locations in India, the
utilization of solar energy for institutional cooking merits serious considerations (Purohit

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 7156 S. Indora, T. C. Kandpal

and Purohit 2007). As per one estimate, in arid zones of India, solar cookers are capa-
ble of cooking meals for more than 300 days in a year (Nahar and Gupta 1991). Another
study reports that depending on the locations about 50% of the total meals per year can
be cooked with solar energy in India (Rubab and Kandpal 1997). Similar such studies on
the prospects of solar cooking in other developing countries have also been reported by
the various researchers (Alam and Chowdhury 2012; Hernández-Luna and Huelsz 2008).
Besides technical feasibility, the adoption of solar cooking also depends on its financial
viability to the users (Indora and Kandpal 2019). Financial performance of solar cooking
at the household level is examined by the researchers (Chandrasekar and Kandpal 2005;
Kumar et al. 1996).
Since solar cookers are an add-on to existing cooking systems and require incremen-
tal investment, the role of government policies (such as awareness, promotion, incentivi-
zation) also plays a significant role in its widespread acceptance (Timilsina et  al. 2012).
The Indian government (through its various agencies) is providing financial and technical
supports to accelerate the popularity of institutional solar cooking systems. However, the
actual dissemination of the same in the country remains underutilized due to some inher-
ent operational and socio-economic constraints associated with its use. The operational
constraints include irregularity in solar insolation, cooking is possible during sunshine
hours only (unless some provisions for thermal energy storage are used), slower cooking
rate compared to the conventional systems (Pegels 2010; Reddy and Painuly 2004). On the
other hand, some of the socio-economic constraints that inhibit the dissemination of solar
cooking are lack of awareness, high initial investment, availability of low-cost alternative
cooking fuels, inability of solar cookers to fulfil traditional cooking habits (Ohunakin et al.
2014). While different organizations and governments around the world have been focusing
on promoting the solar cooking at the household level, the characteristics of institutional
cooking are more favourable to adopt solar cooking system compared to household users
(Otte 2013, 2014). For example, a significant share of overall food preparation in an institu-
tional kitchen requires boiling of raw food grains (such as lentils, rice, potato, etc.) in water
and solar cookers are relatively more suitable for such type of cooking compared to fry-
ing, baking. Also, institutional users have better affordability, and most of them are already
equipped with operational, functional, and alternative cooking facilities.
Some potential institutional kitchens in India along with their estimated numbers of
beneficiaries are listed in Table 2. For example, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism
Corporation (IRCTC) is operating four base kitchens (at Delhi, Howrah, Ahmedabad, and
Patna), 223 food plazas at various railway stations, and 13 Jan Ahaar (subsidized meal)
units to cater millions of its passengers (IRCTC 2017). The IRCTC has also commissioned
one large-sized central kitchen in Noida (Uttar Pradesh). This central kitchen serves 25,000
meals per day to railway passengers as well as to other clients in nearby offices and facto-
ries. Another important potential application of institutional solar cooking is the prepara-
tion of meals in hospitals. A cooked meal that mostly contains boiling types of food (such
as rice, pulses, milk.) is provided to the patients admitted in the hospitals. Approximately
196,300 allopathic and 3601 ayurvedic hospitals (including both government and private
sectors) are operational in India (Indian Healthcare Industry Analysis 2018). Out of the
total number of private hospitals, around 16% has total bed capacity higher than 30 (viz.
10% hospitals with 30–100 bed, 5% with 100–200 beds and 1% with more than 200-bed
capacity) (Economic Survey 2007). In addition, by the year 2025, an additional 3 mil-
lion beds would be required to achieve the target of three hospital beds per thousand peo-
ple (Indian Healthcare Industry Analysis 2018). Details of some private hospital that are
located in urban regions of the country are presented in Table 3.

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 Table 2  Potential institutions/community/commercial entities in India (Indora and Kandpal 2018c)
Potential institutions Number of entities (approx.) Expected number of beneficiaries (millions) per day

Government schools (mid-day meal scheme) 1,160,248 105.4

Residential schools 34,350 0.9
Student hostels (university level) 31,232 3.6
Hospitals (government) 35,416 1.32
Solar energy for institutional cooking in India: prospects…

Canteens in industries (with more than 250 workers) 3152 0.79

(assuming 250 as minimum per factory, actual
number would certainly be more than this)
Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) 250 (approx.) more than 0.6 million
Prisons 1387 0.4
Hostels for working women 916 0.07
Religious/spiritual centres – 0.63
Hotels and restaurants 2,200,000 –
7157

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 7158

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Table 3  Bed capacity in some private hospitals in India (Indian Healthcare Industry Analysis 2018)
Hospital Number of beds Location

Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd
Aravind Eye Hospitals
CARE Hospitals
Fortis Healthcare Ltd
Max Hospitals
Manipal Group of Hospitals
Narayana Health
9215 Chennai, Madurai, Hyderabad, Karur, Karim Nagar, Mysore, Visakhapatnam, Bilaspur, Aragonda,
Kakinada, Bengaluru, Delhi, Noida, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Mauritius, Pune, Raichur, Ranipet, Ranchi,
Ludhiana, Indore, Bhubaneswar, Dhaka, Bacheli, Bellary, Goa, Lavasa, Nashik, Nellore, Tiruvanna-
malai, Trichy
3649 Theni, Tirunelveli, Coimbatore, Puducherry, Madurai, Amethi, Kolkata, Dindigul, Tirupur, Salem, Tuti-
corin, Udumalpet
2100 Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Nagpur, Raipur, Bhubaneswar, Surat, Pune, Visakhapatnam, Jabalpur, Raigarh
10,000 Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Mohali, Noida, Delhi, Amritsar, Raipur, Jaipur, Chennai, Kota, Faridabad,
also the company present in Singapore, Dubai, Mauritius and Sri Lanka
2016 Delhi, NCR, Punjab, Uttarakhand
4900 Udupi, Bengaluru, Manipal, Attavar, Mangalore, Goa, Tumkur, Vijayawada, Kasaragod, Visakhapatnam
7452 Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Berhampore, Davangere, Dharwad, Durgapur, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur,
Jamshedpur, Kolar, Kolkata, Kuppam, Mahuva, Mysore, Raipur, Shimoga, Bellary, Palanpur
S. Indora, T. C. Kandpal
Solar energy for institutional cooking in India: prospects… 7159

Table 4  Meals served in few large religious/community centres in India

State Name of institution Meals served per day

Maharashtra Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust, Shirdi 40,000

Andhra Pradesh Tirupati Devasthanams, Tirumala 200,000
Odisha Jagannath Temple, Puri 25,000
Karnataka Manjunatha Temple, Udipi 50,000
Punjab The Golden Temple, Amritsar 100,000
Delhi Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, New Delhi 25,000

A large number of the religious/spiritual centres in India also provide meals to their visi-
tors (Table 4). For example, The Golden Temple in Amritsar (India) serves meals to around
100,000 visitors every day. The kitchen uses 100 LPG cylinders and 5000 kg of firewood on
a daily basis. Other gurdwaras (Sikh temples) spread all over the country also provides free
meals (called langar) to visitors. Institutional cooking is also practised in industries/facto-
ries to serve subsidized meals/snacks to their employees. As per the Factory Act (1948), it
is obligatory to provide canteen by the factory management wherein more than 250 work-
ers are employed. Around 3150 factories in India are equipped with such a facility in India
(Statistics of Factories 2014). While it is not obligatory, many factories having less than 250
workers also provide canteen facility to workers as a motivational measure. A substantial
amount of useful energy for cooking is also required in motels, restaurants, etc. The number
of registered restaurants in organized sectors in India is more than 2 million.
Thus, a huge potential of solar energy application in institutional cooking exists in India.
However, only a few initiatives for the same have been taken up by some organizations
(Indora and Kandpal 2019). One of the pioneering initiatives of institutional solar cooking
has been taken up by the Brahma Kumaris Trust at Mount Abu district of Rajasthan in the
year 1997 (CSH India 2016). Solar cooking of MDM in Ahmednagar district (Maharash-
tra) is reported by WOTR (Watershed Organization Trust) wherein 23 parabolic dish type
solar cookers of 4 m2 aperture area each have been installed. Each installed solar cooker
is capable of cooking meals for about 50 students and saves around 15–25 kg of LPG per
month (WOTR 2012). Apart from charitable organizations, some industrial/commercial
entities, for example, the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) of India at Dadri
(Uttar Pradesh) has a staff canteen to serve (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) for 350 people
(Sun Focus 2016). The staff kitchen at NTPC (Dadri) is using LPG as cooking fuel and has
been hybridized with solar energy in the year 2015 with two paraboloid concentrating solar
(M90) dishes having a total collector area of 180 m2. The solar concentrating system is a
dual axis tracked and delivers 80,000 kcal/h of thermal energy under standard test condi-
tions (CSH India 2014).

3 Methodology

Since most of the institutional kitchens are in the unorganized sector and details about
them are not available in public domain, in the present study, only six different types of
institutional kitchens that are uniformly spread across the country have been considered
for estimating the potential of solar cooking in this study. These include cooking of meals
in residential schools and hostels, prisons, hospitals, factory canteens, and mid-day meal
(MDM) in the government schools of India.

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 7160 S. Indora, T. C. Kandpal

The utilization potential of solar cooking at an institutional level can be estimated at

several levels—theoretical (maximum), technical, and economic potential (Sharma et  al.
2017). The theoretical potential essentially defines the maximum utilization potential of the
solar energy technologies for specific end use. The technical potential, on the other, takes
into account the factors such as solar resource availability, any mismatch of time between
demand of energy and availability of solar resource, the capability of the solar energy sys-
tem to meet the perceived needs (for example the ability of selected solar cooker to cook
the desired food, etc.). Finally, the economic potential takes into account the affordability
and financial viability considerations. In this study, both theoretical and technical poten-
tials of solar energy utilization for institutional cooking in India have been estimated. An
approach developed for the estimation of potential of solar cooking in institutional kitchens
in India is described in this section (Fig. 1).
The annual amount of useful energy required for cooking foods in an institutional kitchen
is estimated from the number of its beneficiaries and useful energy needed per meal. Since
the feasibility of cooking meals with concentrating solar cookers essentially depends on
the availability of hourly DNI (direct normal irradiance) during the period of cooking, an
attempt to internalize the same has also been made in Sect. 3.2. In the next step, the annual
amount of useful energy likely to be saved with the adoption of solar cooking has been esti-
mated at each of the location considered in the study. Finally, the annual amount of fuel(s)
that can be saved and associated C ­ O2 emissions mitigation has been estimated.

Latitude and longitude of

capital city of each state
of India

Solar resource availability

at the selected location
Minimum acceptable
(threshold) value of DNI
during the period of
cooking
(i.e. between 10-16 hours)
Estimation of solar
fraction
(i.e. number of days when
available DNI ≥ threshold
DNI) • Number of institutions
• Number of beneficiaries
of institutional cooking
• Useful cooking energy
required per person per
Estimation of annual day
useful energy savings with
institutional solar cooking
• Calorific value of fuel
Specific CO2 emissions of
• Efficiency of fuel the fuel(s) replaced
utilization in existing
cook stove
Estimates of annual fuel
savings and CO2 emissions
mitigation

Fig. 1  A schematic of the approach used to estimate the potential of institutional solar cooking in India

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Solar energy for institutional cooking in India: prospects… 7161

Table 5  Cooking energy requirement per meal as reported in the literature

Meal ingredients Cooking References
energy/meal
(kJ/meal)

Rice: 1102 g + 2121 g water 300–600 Ravindranath and Ramakrishna (1997)

Ragi mudde: 853 g magi flour + 1554 g
water
Cowpea saru: 256 g cowpeas + 150 g
vegetables + 2463 g water
(for family of six members)
Specified mid-day meal 540–900 Watershed Organisation Trust (WOTR 2012)
Specified mid-day meal 207 Adamya Chetana Trust (2016)
Rice: 100 g, pulses: 50 g, vegetable: 50 g 355–376 Clique Developments Pvt. Ltd.
(meal for one person)

3.1 Estimation of annual useful cooking energy requirement per meal

The amount of useful energy required in cooking varies considerably with the type of
cooking appliance and fuel used. It also varies with the type of food and prevailing prac-
tices of the personnel involved in the cooking. The values of useful energy requirement
per meal as reported in the literature are listed in Table 5. van Ruijven et al. (2011) have
reported that the useful energy consumption for cooking in India varies from 1.7 to 2.7 MJ
per person per day.
Since a significant fraction of the institutional meal very often contains boiling types
food (such as rice, pulses, potatoes.), a value of 600  kJ/meal of useful energy required
­(UERi) to cook such type of meals has been considered in this study (Ravindranath and
Ramakrishna 1997). However, in the case of mid-day meal (MDM), only a partial meal
(consisting 100–150  g of food) is served to the students, and the value of useful energy
required to cook an MDM ­(UERmdm) is estimated separately on the basis of the constitu-
ents of the MDM (Kumar et al. 1996). As mostly rice, pulses or another boiling type of
foods are being served in MDM, the useful energy requirement (­ UERmdm) to cook a repre-
sentative MDM based on rice and pulses is estimated from the following expression:

UERmdm = {Mr Cp,r + Mp Cp,p + (Mw,r + Mw,p )Cp,w }(Tboil − Tin )

(1)
+ Mr Ech,r + Mp Ech,p + Fevap (Mw,r + Mw,p )Levap )

where Mr represents the mass of rice (in kg) cooked per MDM, Mp the mass of pulses (in
kg) cooked per MDM, Mw,r and Mw,p the amount of water (in kg) required to cook rice and
pulses per MDM, Cp,r and Cp,p the specific heats (in kJ/kg-°C) of rice and pulses, Tin and
Tboil the initial and boiling temperature (in °C) of water used for MDM cooking, Ech,r and
Ech,p the energy required (in kJ/kg) for chemical changes per unit amount of rice and pulses
being cooked, respectively, Fevap the fraction of water evaporated during cooking of MDM
and Levap the latent heat of evaporation (in kJ/kg) of water.
State-wise details of the number of institutions (hostels, schools, and prisons) and
the number of their beneficiaries are obtained for the year 2014–2015. The gross annual
amount of useful energy required (AUER) for cooking meals in each of the states is then
estimated as:

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 7162 S. Indora, T. C. Kandpal

(2)
( )( ) ( )( )
AUER = NBmdm UERmdm (220) + 2 NBi UERi (365)
where ­NBmdm represents number of MDM beneficiary students and ­NBi the number of
beneficiaries in other institutions of the respective state of India. Since the MDM is served
only once on working days of the schools, the required annual amount of useful energy
for cooking of MDM in a year is estimated using a multiplier 220 in Eq. 2, which is the
average number of days the schools are open in India (NUPEA 2012). The values of input
parameters are presented in Table 6.

3.2 Technical potential of institutional solar cooking

It is worth mentioning that it may not be practically feasible to perform solar cooking on all
days in a year due to intermittence and variability of solar resource at the location. Differ-
ent aspects of institutional solar cooking systems including scope, limitations, and financial
performance have been presented by Indora and Kandpal (2018c). It has been reported in
the literature that only concentrating type solar cooking systems are suitable for institu-
tional solar cooking as non-concentrating type (i.e. existing box type) cookers might not be
suitable for large-scale cooking especially when meals are to be served within a specified
time frame (Mahavar et al. 2013; Pohekar and Ramachandran 2006).
Commercially available designs of institutional solar cooking systems based on para-
bolic dish (Fig. 2) and Scheffler dish (Figs. 3 and 4) are suitable for cooking in institutional
kitchens. Concentrating type solar cookers utilize an only direct component of solar radia-
tion; therefore, in order to assess the potential of institutional solar cooking, it is neces-
sary to define a minimum (threshold) value of direct normal irradiance (DNI) for ensur-
ing satisfactory performance within the pre-specified period (Indora and Kandpal 2018a).
Few researchers have suggested annual threshold DNI values for concentrated solar power
(CSP) systems. Purohit and Purohit (2010), and Dawson and Schlyter (2012) have sug-
gested 1800 kWh/m2/year as threshold annual DNI, while 2000 kWh/m2/year is suggested
by Breyer and Knies (2009) and Ummadisingu and Soni (2011). A value of 480 W/m2 as
threshold hourly DNI for the concentrating solar cookers has been estimated by the Indora
and Kandpal (2018a).
In view of the above, an average value of 500 W/m2 between the periods of solar cook-
ing (i.e. between 10 and 16 h) has been considered in this study. In this study, solar resource
availability at the state capital headquarters (defined by their respective latitudes and lon-
gitudes) has been considered as the representative of the respective state. Direct normal
irradiance (DNI) in typical meteorological year (TMY) format for the capital city of each
state is obtained from the website of NASA-SSE (NASA 2016). Thus, at a given location,
the adequate solar resource availability factor (FDNI) has been estimated using the number
of days in a year with average hourly DNI value is ≥ 500 W/m2 between 10 and 16 h from
the TMY solar resource file of the location. The technical potential of institutional solar
cooking (PSC) in the country in terms of annual useful energy saved by the solar cooking
system can be estimated as:
(3)
( )
PSC = (AUER) FDNI
It is worth mentioning that in some cases, it may be perhaps possible to change the time
of cooking in the institutions and also the constituents of meals to benefit from solar cook-
ing. Also, with some design and operational modifications and/or inclusion of heat storage
in solar cooking systems, it may facilitate cooking during off sunshine hours (Domanski

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 Table 6  Values of input parameters used in the estimation of potential of solar cooking of MDM in India
Parameter Symbol Unit Value Remarks/references

Mass of rice cooked per student Mr kg 0.100 Quantity given per meal in MDM scheme. Amount of pulses
Mass of pulses cooked per student Mp kg 0.050 include vegetables and other ingredients also
Amount of water in rice cooking Mw,r kg 0.200 Water ratio for rice is 1:2 and for pulses it is 1:3
Amount of water in pulse cooking Mw,p kg 0.150
Calorific value of rice Cp,r kJ/kg 1.84
Calorific value of pulses Cp,p kJ/kg 1.84
Calorific value of water Cp,w kJ/kg 4.2
Energy required for chemical changes in rice Ech,r kJ/kg 252 Kandpal and Garg (2003)
Solar energy for institutional cooking in India: prospects…

Energy required for chemical changes in pulses Ech,p kJ/kg 275

Latent heat of evaporation of water Levap kJ/kg 2270
Fraction of water evaporated during the cooking of rice Fevap fraction 0.10 Estimated from actual cooking tests under atmospheric condition
and pulses
Boiling temperature of water Tboil  °C 100
Initial temperature of water Tin  °C 10
Useful energy required per meal UERi kJ 600 Ravindranath and Ramakrishna (1997)
Useful energy required per MDM UERmdm kJ 300 Estimated in this study
Calorific value of LPG CVf MJ/kg 46.3 Indora and Kandpal (2018a)
Carbon fraction in LPG CFf fraction 0.82
Efficiency of utilization of LPG for cooking ηf fraction 0.60
7163

13
 7164 S. Indora, T. C. Kandpal

Fig. 2  Parabolic dish (SK type)

direct solar cooker. Courtesy:
Taylormade Solar Solution

Fig. 3  Scheffler dish-based direct

solar cooking system. Courtesy:
MNRE/CSH India

et al. 1995). However, the same would depend on the willingness and affordability of the
end users. Therefore, in the present analysis, such possibilities have not been considered.

3.3 Fuel saving and carbon mitigation potential of institutional solar cooking

While it is not possible to completely replace the existing cooking fuel with solar energy, it
would substitute some amount of the existing fuel(s) being used in cooking. The annual fuel
saving potential (AFSP) with the use of solar energy for cooking in the institutional kitchens
is estimated as:
PSC
AFSP = ( ) (4)
(CVf ) 𝜂f

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Solar energy for institutional cooking in India: prospects… 7165

Fig. 4  Scheffler dish-based solar steam cooking system. Courtesy: Taylormade Solar Solution

where ­CVf represents the calorific value of the fuel replaced (in MJ/kg) and ηf, the fuel
utilization efficiency (in fraction) in the existing cooking system. In case of stoichiometric
combustion, 12 units of carbon (C) combine with 32 units of oxygen (O) and produce 44
units of C­ O2. Thus, the gross annual amount of carbon dioxide (­CO2) emissions likely to
be mitigated (ACM) is estimated as:
44 ∑
ACM = (AFSP)(CFf ) (5)
12
where ­CFf represents the fraction of carbon in the fuel substituted by solar energy. Sim-
ilar to any other appliances/equipment, energy is required in the manufacturing of solar
cookers also, which can be referred as the energy embodied in the solar cookers. A value
of 1111.4 MJ/m2 for the embodied energy of solar concentrators with an energy payback
period of 2–4 years depending on the location is reported by Krishnamurthy and Banerjee
(2012). As per another estimate, approximately 0.072 MJ of energy is embodied in SK-14
per cooked meal (Andrianaivo and Ramasiarinoro 2014). Based on these studies, as a pre-
liminary approximation, it would be safe to assume that about 20% of the gross C­ O2 emis-
sions mitigated would account for embodied emissions in the solar cooker. The net amount
of annual C­ O2 emissions mitigation would therefore be 80% of the gross ­CO2 emissions
mitigation potential in a year with of institutional solar cooking (Eq. 5).

4 Results and discussion

Results of the study based on the approach presented in the previous section and the input
parameters (Table 6) are presented in this section. As expected, the adequate solar resource
availability factor (FDNI) is high in the states having good DNI availability throughout the
year (mostly situated in hot and dry, and warm and humid climatic zones of the country) as
compared to the north and north-eastern states (cold and cloudy climatic zones). The value

13
 7166 S. Indora, T. C. Kandpal

of solar resource availability factor (FDNI) is highest (0.79) at Jaipur (Rajasthan), while the
lowest of 0.30 is estimated at Delhi.
State-wise solar cooking potentials in six types of institutional applications considered
in this study (viz. student hostels, JNV residential schools, prisons, government hospitals,
factory canteens, and MDM) are summarized in Tables 7 and 8. The gross annual amount
of useful energy required for cooking in these six types of institutions is estimated at 9562
TJ. The technical potential of solar cooking based on the solar resource availability of the
locations is obtained at 5475 TJ/year. Thus, solar energy can satisfy approximately 57% of
the annual useful cooking energy requirements in these institutional cooking applications.
A 57% potential of institutional solar cooking is substantial considering the environmental
and health benefits associated with its use. A comparison of useful energy savings with
institutional solar cooking at four locations in four climatic zones of India is presented in
Fig. 5. In the case of cooking of MDM in schools, approximately 3881 TJ of useful energy
out of the 6960 TJ of gross useful energy requirements per year can be replaced with solar
energy. Since cooking of MDM is carried out during the period of high DNI availability
(i.e. between 10 and 14  h), a significant amount of useful energy and consequently the
conventional fuel(s) can be saved annually with the adoption of solar energy for MDM
cooking.
The annual amount of LPG (fuel considered in this study) expected to be replaced by
solar energy for institutional cooking in the six categories considered in this study is esti-
mated at 197  thousand  tonnes. The corresponding gross amount of C ­ O2 emissions miti-
gation is 592  thousand  tonnes per year. As mentioned earlier that approximately 20% of
the gross amount of C ­ O2 mitigated annually accounts for embodied emissions in the solar
cooker. Therefore, the net ­CO2 emissions mitigation potential would be around 473 thou-
sand tonnes per year.
To facilitate a comparison between the annual amounts of fuel savings estimated in this
study with the values reported in the literature, a specific case of cooking of MDM in the
state of Maharashtra has been reviewed. The state of Maharashtra has 10.5 million benefi-
ciary students for whom the present study estimates annual useful energy saving potential
of 479 TJ with the adoption of solar cooking. It translates into the annual saving of 1.70 kg
of LPG per student. For comparison, in one case involving 25,000 students in the tribal
schools of Maharashtra (as mentioned in Sect. 3), the annual amount of LPG saved with
the solar cooking of MDM is reported as 54 tonnes (i.e. 2.16 kg as against an estimated
value of 1.7 kg of LPG/student/year in this study). Another study reports 15–25 kg of LPG
savings per month for 50 students in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra (WOTR 2012).
For 220 working days per year in the schools of India, the LPG saving, in this case, would
vary between 2.20 and 3.66  kg/student/year. Thus, considering a conservative approach
being followed in the present study, the estimated values of annual LPG savings match rea-
sonably well with those reported in the field studies.
It is worth mentioning that in the present study only six types of institutional cook-
ing applications have been reviewed. Considering the fact that the population of India is
around 1.25 billion and many institutional cooking applications (such as an orphanage,
old-age homes, religious/spiritual centres.) are spread all over the country, the overall
institutional solar cooking potential in India would be much higher than that estimated
in this study.

13
 Table 7  Potential of useful energy savings with institutional solar cooking in student hostels, prisons, government hospitals and industrial canteens in India
Name of Number of Number of Inmates in Number Number of Total ben- Gross useful Number of Factor of Technical
capital city students students prison of beds in workers in eficiaries of energy saving days when solar resource potential of
residing residing in government industries institutional potential (TJ/ average DNI availability institutional
in hostels residential hospitals cooking year) value ≥ 500 W/ (FDNI) solar cooking
(higher stud- schools m2 (between 10 (TJ/year)
ies) (JNV) and 16 h)

Warm and
humid
A. & N. 1847 545 1249 1075 1000 5716 3 153 0.42 1.0
Islands
Aizwal 3316 1191 1311 1064 – 6882 3 171 0.47 1
Agartala 5439 1805 2173 3485 7500 20,402 9 165 0.45 4
Amaravati 278,994 6693 8883 37,961 55,750 388,281 170 251 0.69 117
Chennai 649,417 NA 22,201 62,229 – 733,847 321 251 0.69 221
Solar energy for institutional cooking in India: prospects…

Daman & 380 552 160 200 – 1292 0.6 260 0.71 0.4
Diu
Hyderabad 131,034 4247 7065 – 42,250 184,596 81 251 0.69 56
Imphal 7591 4384 970 1385 – 14,330 6 194 0.53 3
Kohima 6599 2011 1450 2427 – 12,487 5 129 0.35 2
Kolkata 123,535 5111 20,916 77,210 – 226,772 99 128 0.35 35
Lakshadweep 25 116 64 120 – 325 0.1 153 0.42 0.06
Mumbai 343,214 14,222 26,303 47,217 524,750 955,706 419 252 0.69 289
Panjim 3180 759 1095 2510 2750 10,294 5 243 0.67 3
Puducherry 13,042 1338 416 2103 8250 25,149 11 239 0.65 7
Trivendrum 163,859 6763 6190 37,021 – 213,833 94 256 0.7 66
Hot and dry
Ahmedabad 180,785 9671 12,332 35,470 – 238,258 104 275 0.75 79
Bhopal 101,661 24,133 27,507 30,302 – 183,603 80 268 0.73 59
7167

13
 Table 7  (continued)
7168

Name of Number of Number of Inmates in Number Number of Total ben- Gross useful Number of Factor of Technical
capital city students students prison of beds in workers in eficiaries of energy saving days when solar resource potential of

13
residing residing in government industries institutional potential (TJ/ average DNI availability institutional
in hostels residential hospitals cooking year) value ≥ 500 W/ (FDNI) solar cooking
(higher stud- schools m2 (between 10 (TJ/year)
ies) (JNV) and 16 h)

Dadar & 390 389 60 281 22,000 23,120 10.1 249 0.68 6.9
Nagar
Haveli
Jaipur 113,347 16,563 19,619 38,617 34,250 222,396 97 288 0.79 77
Composite
Bangalore 715,168 13,158 14,046 51,986 – 794,358 348 207 0.57 197
Bhubhnesh- 173,237 12,511 18,012 16,683 – 220,443 97 222 0.61 59
var
Chandigarh 92,279 9379 16,718 7879 250 126,505 55 244 0.67 37
(Haryana)
Chandigarh 159,047 9221 20,067 11,419 – 199,754 87 183 0.5 44
(Punjab)
Chandigarh 15,725 499 1120 1750 1500 20,594 9 244 0.67 6.0
(UT)
Dehradun 57,055 5375 3188 7965 – 73,583 32 222 0.61 20
Delhi 41,830 979 6250 22,961 – 72,020 32 109 0.3 9
Guawahati 46,551 11,068 8292 10,179 11,000 87,090 38 164 0.45 17
Lucknow 289,258 30,866 52,572 56,384 – 429,080 188 145 0.4 75
Patna 37,960 16,053 37,809 13,231 3250 108,303 47 155 0.42 20
Rachi 44,254 10,411 15,408 5414 14,500 89,987 39 223 0.61 24
Raipur 42,284 7534 7552 10,770 27,250 95,390 42 244 0.67 28
Cold and
cloudy
S. Indora, T. C. Kandpal
 Table 7  (continued)
Name of Number of Number of Inmates in Number Number of Total ben- Gross useful Number of Factor of Technical
capital city students students prison of beds in workers in eficiaries of energy saving days when solar resource potential of
residing residing in government industries institutional potential (TJ/ average DNI availability institutional
in hostels residential hospitals cooking year) value ≥ 500 W/ (FDNI) solar cooking
(higher stud- schools m2 (between 10 (TJ/year)
ies) (JNV) and 16 h)

Gangtok 5588 1586 253 1560 – 8987 4 127 0.35 1

Itanagar 5406 4180 212 5010 – 14,808 6 149 0.41 3
Shimla 36,323 5087 1787 8485 31,500 83,182 36 198 0.54 20
Srinagar 20,821 5846 3001 7318 – 36,986 16 126 0.35 6
Shillong 5689 2907 530 2957 250 12,333 5 122 0.33 2
Total 3,916,130 247,153 366,781 622,628 788,000 5,940,692 2599 – – 1596
Solar energy for institutional cooking in India: prospects…
7169

13
 Table 8  Potential of useful energy savings with solar cooking of mid-day meal (MDM) in schools of India
7170

Name of capital city Annual average Number of Schools MDM beneficiary Gross useful energy Factor of solar resource Technical potential of solar
DNI (kWh/m2) students (millions) requirement (TJ/year) availability (FDNI) cooking of MDM (TJ/year)

13
Warm and humid
A. & N. Islands 1580 338 0.03 1.9 0.42 0.8
Agartala 1708 6566 0.35 23.2 0.69 16
Aizwal 1745 2571 0.13 8.8 0.47 4
Amaravati 1913 47,704 3.15 207.9 0.69 143
Chennai 1854 42,626 4.8 316.8 0.69 218
Daman & Diu 2424 81 0.02 1 0.71 0.7
Hyderabad 1913 28,924 2.05 135.3 0.69  93
Imphal 1730 3639 0.19 12.4 0.53 7
Kohima 1281 1773 0.2 13 0.35 5
Kolkata 1526 82,344 12.08 797.3 0.35 280
Lakshadweep 1978 41 0.01 0.5 0.42 0.2
Mumbai 1949 86,273 10.51 693.9 0.69 479
Panjim 1931 1508 0.15 9.6 0.67 6
Pondicherry 1931 447 0.06 3.8 0.65 2
Trivendrum 2000 12,376 2.52 166.3 0.7 117
Hot and dry
Ahmedabad 2144 36,965 4.23 278.9 0.75 210
Bhopal 2048 117,037 7.19 474.3 0.73 348
Dadar & Nagar Haveli 1938 283 0.04 2.5 0.68 1.7
Jaipur 2029 73,199 5 330.2 0.79 261
Composite
Bangalore 1945 55,820 4.71 311.1 0.57 176
Bhubhneshvar 1740 62,640 4.93 325.2 0.61 198
Chandigarh (Haryana) 1750 14,807 1.94 128.1 0.67 86
S. Indora, T. C. Kandpal

Amritsar (Punjab) 1661 20,247 1.8 118.7 0.5 59

 Table 8  (continued)
Name of capital city Annual average Number of Schools MDM beneficiary Gross useful energy Factor of solar resource Technical potential of solar
DNI (kWh/m2) students (millions) requirement (TJ/year) availability (FDNI) cooking of MDM (TJ/year)

Chandigarh (UT) 1750 116 0.05 3.3 0.67 2.2

Dehradun 1829 18,151 0.73 48.2 0.61 29
Delhi 1566 3077 1.14 75.3 0.3 22
Guawahati 1748 56,930 4.45 293.6 0.45 132
Lucknow 1559 168,411 11.37 750.3 0.4 298
Patna 1595 71,956 13.62 899.2 0.42 382
Rachi 1785 40,888 2.85 188 0.61 115
Raipur 1956 47,710 2.98 196.7 0.67 132
Cold and cloudy
Gangtok 1535 872 0.08 5.2 0.35 2
Itanagar 1464 3353 0.25 16.3 0.41 7
Solar energy for institutional cooking in India: prospects…

Shillong 1391 12,089 0.54 35.4 0.33 12

Shimla 2059 15,337 0.54 35.8 0.54 19
Srinagar 1778 23,149 0.79 51.8 0.35 18
Total 1,160,248 105.4 6960 – 3881
7171

13
 7172 S. Indora, T. C. Kandpal

400
348
Useful Energy for Cooking (TJ)
Useful energy saving
350 potential with solar cooking
300
Gross useful energy required
250 for cooking
197
200

150
104 94
100 79
66
50 36
20
0
Bangalore Ahamdabad Shimla Trivendrum
(composite) (hot and dry) (cold and cloudy) (warm and humid)

Fig. 5  Useful energy saving potential with solar cooking in different climatic zones of India

5 Conclusions

An approach to estimating the solar cooking potential at an institutional level based on the
solar resource availability, ambient conditions, and design and performance characteris-
tics of concentrating solar cookers is presented. Out of the 9562 TJ of gross useful energy
required for cooking in the six institution-types that have been considered in the present
study, around 5475 TJ per year can be met with the use of solar cookers. It is observed that
in western and southern parts of India (for example, in the states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, and
Tamil Nadu), the solar fraction is reasonably higher (0.65–0.79) compared to other areas
of the country due to good solar resource availability throughout the year in these regions.
Since the cooking of MDM is mostly performed during the peak hours of DNI availability
(i.e. between 10 and 16 h), this institutional application is particularly more attractive for
solar cooking. Around 3881 TJ out of 6960 TJ of gross annual useful energy demand for
cooking MDM in schools of India can be met with the solar energy.
Because LPG is mostly imported and a major share of fuelwood consumption for cook-
ing in India is unsustainable, these useful energy savings for cooking are expected to result
in large amounts of monetary as well as environmental benefits. The gross potential of C ­ O2
emissions mitigation with solar cooking in the six institution-types applications considered
in the present study is estimated at 592 thousand tonnes per year. It is observed that some
of the states that have huge demand of energy for institutional cooking are situated in high
solar intensity zones of the country. Some of the most suitable states for the adoption of
institutional solar cooking as identified in this study are Amaravati (Telangana), Chennai
(Tamil Nadu), Bangalore (Karnataka), Ahmedabad (Gujrat), and Jaipur (Rajasthan). These
states are more appropriate for the deployment of institutional solar cooking systems in the
early phase of their dissemination.

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