The challenge
Traders cannot justify a diesel generator for a single freezer, and shared cold rooms depend on a grid that is not there. The result is daily spoilage, distress selling and no way to hold stock for a better price. Any solution has to be small enough for one trader or a small group, need no fuel, and survive a market environment.
What we built
- FBE 250 L solar chest freezers, each paired with a 2 kW FBE solar generator and its own panels.
- Freezing by day on solar; overnight hold on the generator's lithium battery.
- Units deployed through FBE's distributor network, with local after-sales support.
- Shared-use arrangements so several traders can run one unit.
Delivery
Units are supplied as complete kits — freezer, power station and panels — through FBE's distributor channel and set up at the trader's stall or store. No installation crew, no permits, no fuel supply.
The result
- Traders hold unsold fish overnight at −18 °C instead of selling at a loss.
- Zero fuel cost; the sun does the work.
- Ice production for sales and transport.
- A model FBE is now taking to other coastal markets in Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Ghana.