Managing energy usage in apple cold storage in Kent

Business-led

Project objectives

AC Hulme is a mixed-farm based in Canterbury. As well as beef cattle, they grow cereals, potatoes, asparagus and tree fruit, including apples. They also import fruit to offer customers a year-round supply. Growing apples is a resource-intensive operation that needs lots of energy to cultivate, harvest and store fruit so we can have a near year-round supply of British apples. This project will look at ways to improve the energy efficiency of the apple cold stores, without compromising the quality of the fruit. It will adjust the temperatures of refrigeration processes to reduce peaks in use and synchronise energy use with when on-site renewables are available. It will also help to use electricity when it is cheaper.