New Solar Plant at Cochin Airport: The Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) in the state of Kerala, the first airport in the world to be fully powered by solar energy, is to become power-positive with the commissioning of its new solar power plant near Payyannur in the district of Kannur. On March 6, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan would inaugurate the 12 MWp solar power plant, CIAL Managing Director S Suhas was quoted saying in a PTI report. According to CIAL, the power plant boasts of 12 megawatt capacity on a land of 35 acres, where a concept of terrain-based installation was introduced by the CIAL where the geographical characteristics of the area are retained as well as no changes made in the gradient of the land.
According to Suhas, the cumulative installed capacity of solar plants of the Cochin International Airport Limited, with the new plant, has been scaled up to 50 MWp. Solar plants of CIAL together generate two lakh units of power a day whereas the Cochin airport’s daily consumption of power stands at 1.6 lakh units. With this, the Cochin International Airport Limited leaps one step forward from its current status of being a power-neutral airport to a power-positive airport, CIAL stated.
According to Cochin International Airport Limited, the focus was on building the plant by retaining the gradient of the land. It further said that this could accommodate 35 per cent extra solar panels which subsequently will generate more energy. The carbon footprint would be reduced by 28,000 metric tonnes per year, CIAL added. The Cochin International Airport became the first airport in the world in the year 2015 to be fully powered by solar energy, the report added.
Last year, the CM had inaugurated CIAL’s Arippara Hydroelectric power project on 6 November 2021, which is said to generate 14 million units of power annually.