In coastal East Africa, fishworkers and traders lose part of their harvest due to a lack of adequate cold storage. Solar freezers provide a climate-smart, off-grid solution for equatorial regions with abundant solar energy. Solar direct-drive (SDD) freezers use ice as a thermal storage buffer when power is offline to address the challenges of fish preservation. As they do not require batteries, SDD freezers eliminate one of the most expensive and failure-prone components of solar cooling systems. This reduces upfront and lifetime costs (depending on the configuration) and simplifies the system to enhance reliability and improve long-term performance in harsh coastal environments.