Enabling sustainable energy access in decentralized sectors and communities: A proposal for opto-thermal analysis for rating community solar cookers

Community solar cookers (CSCs) hold significant promise for addressing energy poverty and promoting sustainable development. However, existing methods for evaluating CSCs performance are primarily reported in low-temperature applications. This study addresses this gap by proposing a Cooker Opto-Thermal Ratio (COR) based performance evaluation approach for CSCs operating at intermediate temperatures (120–300 °C) for the first time. The big parabolic dish concentrating solar collector (3.801 m² aperture area) acts as a CSC, which holds a cooking load (test fluid) of ∼13 kg in a cooking pot. Results: Results depict that the average COR value for the CSC is 0.163, and the reference cooking time of the CSC varies between 35 and 46 min. Also, the highest achievable fluid temperature shows variation between 167 and 180 °C. The capital cost of CSC is $ 396, and the LCCM is 0.039 USD/Ml, which is competitive with the levelized cost of LPG-based cooked meals. While the study provides valuable insights, it is limited to a single CSC design. Future research should investigate the applicability of COR across various CSC geometries and configurations. This research establishes a framework for accurate performance assessment and facilitates the development of more effective CSCs for clean and sustainable cooking in decentralized communities.