This article first appeared in Enterprise, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on July 8, 2019 - July 14, 2019

Nestlé Malaysia Bhd is best known for milk and chocolates but the company seems to be gunning for climate change as well. Preventing it, that is. This is why it has installed solar-powered mobile kiosks in Sunway Lagoon — the first of its kind in Malaysia.

Business executive officer Teo Heng Keat says it will not be long before ice-cream sellers use this technology to purvey their wares on motorcycles.

“The kiosk has been made mobile with an e-drive [system] which is solar-powered. We can fold the solar panel and it will be as compact as the freezer, so with the e-drive, it can be pushed to a different location,” he tells Enterprise.

“We want this to be a mobile solar freezer kiosk that can be deployed in parks, beaches and areas where access to electricity is scarce.”

Teo says the kiosk was a natural development for the company, considering that its freezers run on plugged-in electricity and switching to solar has now become commercially viable.

Nestlé invested several million ringgit to develop an operational prototype over two to three years. The company worked with a British developer and the final product was handmade and assembled in Germany.

The revolutionary kiosk converts solar energy through photovoltaic panels on the roof to keep the ice-cream in the freezer cold by lowering the temperature from 35°C to -25°C, which is the optimum temperature to keep the ice-creams frozen, fresh and tasty.

The freezer also has a simplified computerised system that allows remote monitoring of the internal condition, the amount of energy absorbed by the solar panel and the battery lifespan. On a full charge, the battery can last two to three idle days, allowing the kiosk to operate in bad weather.

“Essentially, the kiosk can reduce carbon emissions by up to 263kg per year, which is equivalent to the carbon dioxide absorbed by 10 trees in a one-year period. That is quite a lot and we save on cost too. So, we hope to scale it up.”

Teo believes that if the company can commercialise the solar freezers on a larger scale, the cost can be reduced significantly. Nestlé is also in discussions with a major customer, who plans to pilot the technology more extensively by deploying the kiosks across Malaysia and in other countries, such as Singapore.

“We want to demonstrate to our industry peers that this is doable and they should focus on sustainability by using solar energy to power their freezers because it is good for the environment and Malaysia as well.

“We are still in discussions about what to do next but hopefully there will be something to see in a few months’ time,” says Teo.

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