Cochin, the World’s first solar airport does not pay for electricity any more. Three years ago, they began adding up solar panels in the airport compound. It first started with the roof of the arrival terminals and proceeded with on and around the aircraft hangar. After a success of the same, they took these efforts to a larger scale.
Jose Thomas, the Cochin International airport’s General Manager mentions about them wanting to be independent of the electricity utility grid after being fed up of the hefty electric bills. The airport commissioned the German company Bosch, who built a 45-acre solar plant on the land lying unused near the international cargo terminal. The plant was operational in August last year, putting Cochin on the world map of being the first fully solar-powered airport.
The solar plant on the airport premises generates an average of more than 48,000 kilowatts each day for the seventh busiest air corridor in India. Any surplus of electricity is fed into the wider electricity grid. The project foot a bill of a whopping Rs 620 million (around $9.3m), which the airport plans to recover in around 6 years by not paying any more electricity bills. The solar plant will also help avoid carbon emissions to the tune of 300,000 metric tons (from coal power) in the next 25 years.
The solar power initiative has drawn national and international attention owing to cheaper costs of implementation. The Indian Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju, who visited the Cochin airport, has directed all other airports in the country to follow suite and start using at least some solar energy to cut down on energy payments and emission levels.
Post Cochin’s success, the Kolkata international airport in India and George Airport in South Africa are also planning to introduce the same plans.
