Kochi: As part of International Solar Alliance (ISA)’s initiative to find out suitable models to be incorporated to achieve its ambitious plan of massive deployment of solar energy, a delegation from 25 countries will visit the Cochin International Airport and the solar ferry project at Vaikom on Wednesday.
Cochin is the world's’ first airport entirely operated on solar energy while the country’s first solar ferry ‘Aditya’ ply across the Vaikom-Thavanakkadavu waters.
The delegation will reach the airport operated by the Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) at 10 am on Wednesday and will have a discussion with the authorities there. Later they will be guided to CIAL’s main solar power plant for a field visit.
CIAL achieved power-neutral status in August 2015 and won Champions of the Earth award in 2018, the highest environmental honour instituted by the United Nations.
At present, CIAL’s total installed capacity is 40 MWp producing 1.63 lakh units of power a day whereas its requirement stands at 1.53 lakh units.
The delegation comprises ambassadors and high commissioners of 25 African countries including Egypt, Senegal, Nigeria and Tanzania and also from countries like France, Brazil, Chile, Malaysia, Bolivia and Sri Lanka.
ISA is an alliance of 74 countries initiated by India and France formed in 2015 sharing the ambition to undertake joint efforts required to reduce the cost of finance and the cost of technology and mobilise more than US$1000 billion of investments needed by 2030 for massive deployment of solar energy.
The delegation will arrive at Vaikom by 3.30 pm and travel on the solar ferry.
“A presentation will be made on the technology and the benefits of the solar ferry. The future projects including manufacturing of two more solar ferries having a similar passenger capacity of ‘Aditya’ and another 100-capacity one will also be briefed in detail,” said Sandith Thandasherry, CEO of Kochi-based NavAlt which built ‘Aditya’.
