Storage facilities for fruits and vegetables consume a lot of electricity. Today, their work has become much more difficult. However, there is a way out even during periods of planned blackouts. The main thing is the reasonable management of the technological equipment of storage facilities, says Andriy Marushchak, commercial director of Van Dyke Technics. The expert spoke about this during the conference “Vegetables and Fruits of Ukraine-2022”, organized by the APK-inform: Vegetables and Fruits project, writes SEEDS.
“No one was not ready for this, but we had done some work before. We are given schedules (power cuts – ed.), but they do not always work. Storages are different and the features of their use are different, too. For example, the situation for the storage of onions and potatoes is much better than for anything else. Thanks to our energy-efficient equipment, there is quite a small power, and you can get by with a generator twice, thrice a day for 1-2 hours. As our customers say: “We monitor CO2, humidity, and temperature. If there is a fluctuation, we turn on the generators.” Mostly these are generators of 5 – 15 kilowatts. In a small room, when used two or three times a day, they give a good effect. This is not the best solution, but it works much better than being without electricity at all,” – Andriy Marushchak tells.
According to the expert, it is more stable in regions where electricity is switched off according to the schedule. A special software element that all storages are equipped with can help in this case.
“If you know the schedules and they work, you can set a schedule for the operation of the equipment, ensuring switching on at a time when there is electricity. These are the simplest settings. Such technologies are mostly used in onion and potato vegetable storage. Also, an emergency closing damper system is provided in storages for the last 12 years, which can be installed additionally as an option and some customers have chosen it. Although we didn’t have such power outages before, if the storage facilities are in the fields and the products are left there, say, for the New Year holidays, which is about 2-3 weeks, there is a risk that the electricity may disappear. And if the dampers remain open, frost can damage the products,” the commercial director of Van Dyke Technics notes.
For more information: east-fruit.com