Phaesun together with its Kenyan partner WeHub Victoria Limited organized a Solar Cooling Conference and Tour on April 14-15, 2025 in Kisumu, Kenya. A two-day program guided the international participants from agriculture, politics and industry through presentations and panel discussions on agricultural supply chains and innovations in sustainable cooling.
High-level exchange among more than 40 participants during presentations, panel-discussions and bilateral meetings
Over the course of two days, participants—including representatives from politics, science, and industry, primarily from Kenya but also from neighboring countries and Germany—engaged in lively exchanges of experience. The event began with presentations, panel discussions, and bilateral meetings held in a conference room in Kisumu. This was followed by field visits to local markets and cooling projects in various communities around Lake Victoria.
Inauguration of the world`s first low-carbon cold room as a highlight of the Solar Cooling Conference and Tour
The highlight was a visit to the Homabay marketplace. Here, the “Low-Carbon Cold Room” was inaugurated in a festive ceremony. Alexander Fierley, Deputy Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in Kenya, emphasized at the inauguration: “The operation of the cold room is a close cooperation between German and Kenyan companies.” The cold room is operated by local partner WeTu and offers refrigeration facilities for market traders. They can rent individual crates in the cold room and store their fruit and vegetables there for several days.
Low-carbon cold room project
The aim of the cold room pilot project was to offer the benefits of a conventional cold room while significantly reducing the environmental impact. Architects, refrigeration technicians, solar engineers and stakeholders from the Kenyan economy improved the architecture and building materials of the cold room under the premise of minimizing the carbon footprint throughout the entire life cycle. For example, wood and straw were used instead of conventional insulation material, a rain collection basin with evaporative cooling was installed as pre-cooling and particular attention was paid to shading the side walls. SelfChill technology from the Memmingen-based solar company Phaesun was used for active cooling: solar-powered cooling units, which work with natural refrigerant, supply an ice storage and cool the 20 cubic meter cold room down to a constant 10 degrees Celsius at ambient temperatures of over 30 degrees Celsius.
The pilot project was funded by the Siemens initiative Cents4Sense with support from the Siemens Stiftung and the Efficiency for Access Research and Development Fund (EforA) and implemented locally by We!Hub Victoria Limited (WeTu). EforA has now published the findings in the report “Designing for Sustainability: Blueprint for a Low-Carbon Cold Room”.
The Solar Cooling Conference and Tour was part of the RES Project Kenya, operated by Phaesun and funded through the German Energy Agency.
The RES Project Kenya is supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy as part of the Renewable Energy Solutions Programme of the German Energy Solutions Initiative.
