What is the electricity use and CO2 of the Kundli cold storage cluster?
About 19.7 million kWh a year, roughly 13,300 t CO2 on CEA's FY 2025-26 grid factor (estimate). TERI's 2014-15 profile covers 53 cold stores in Kundli, 665 to 8,600 t each, running ammonia plants on grid power; refrigeration takes 89 to 95% of each store's electricity.
The cluster
- About 90 cold stores in Sonipat district, about 53 of them in Kundli.
- 27 stores up to 2,500 t, 23 between 2,500 and 5,000 t, 3 above 5,000 t; the average is 2,833 t.
- Potatoes, apples, pulses and spices, mostly for the Delhi market; turnover about Rs 290 crore, almost all storage rent.
- Many were built with the National Horticulture Board's 35% capital subsidy.
Why the profile says 19,353 t and this page 13,300
Same kWh, different factor: the profile used the grid factor of its time, and CEA's figure for FY 2025-26 is 0.675 kg per kWh. Its summary line also says 11.6 million kWh, but its own table and per-store figures add up to 19.7 million.
Refrigerant
Most Kundli plants run on ammonia, which has a global warming potential of zero, so top-ups add nothing to CO2e. A store on R134a or R404A must add kilograms topped up times the gas's GWP.
Where the power is lost
- Reciprocating compressors run at full load with manual control; only about three stores use screw compressors.
- Standard-efficiency motors, many rewound.
- Uninsulated valves, flanges and pipe runs, in new stores as well as old.
- Strip curtains missing or torn at chamber doors.
Cluster CO2 by store size (estimate)
- Up to 2,500 t: 27 x 220,542 kWh = 5.95 million kWh = 4,019 t CO2
- 2,500 to 5,000 t: 23 x 488,085 kWh = 11.23 million kWh = 7,578 t CO2
- Above 5,000 t: 3 x 855,710 kWh = 2.57 million kWh = 1,733 t CO2
- Total 19.75 million kWh x 0.675 kg = about 13,330 t CO2
Store counts and kWh from TERI's Kundli profile (2014-15). Grid factor CEA FY 2025-26.
What Senseible does here
UHBVN bills Kundli stores per kVAh; Senseible uses the printed kWh, or kVAh times the printed power factor labelled as an estimate, and turns twelve bills into your store's carbon number.
Sources: TERI, Energy profile: Kundli cold storage cluster (2014-15 data), CEA, CO2 Baseline Database for the Indian Power Sector (grid factor 0.675 kg CO2 per kWh, FY 2025-26), IPCC AR6 Working Group I (global warming potentials)
Last reviewed 2026-10-31.