Located in the southern state of Kerala, Cochin International Airport is now the first airport in the world to run completely on solar power. It is indeed a proud moment for each keralite that a project like this is first successfully implemented in a developing country like India. On August 18,2015, the Then Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy inaugurated the 12 MW solar power plant, comprising 46,150 solar panels laid across 45 acres of land (near the cargo complex).
CIAL first ventured into the Solar PV sector during March 2013, by installing a 100 KW solar PV Plant on the roof top of the Arrival Terminal Block wherein a total of 400 polycrystalline modules of 250W with five 20kW capacity 'Refu-sol make string inverters' were used in this plant. Following its success, CIAL installed a 1 MW Solar Photo Voltaic power plant partly on the roof top and partly on the ground in the Aircraft Maintenance Hangar facility within the airport premises. Later on, 4000 monocrystalline modules of 250W with thirty three Delta make string inverters of 30kW capacity were used in this plant, to make it the first Megawatt scale installation of solar PV system in Kerala.
The Cochin International Airport on an average, has a demand of 50,000 to 60,000 units of electricity , costing over 3,50,000 rupees for its operation every day. Thus by installing a 12 Mega Watt Solar PV system integrated with SCADA(Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) for remote monitoring, the airport became totally self sufficient in meeting its energy demands. The company is hopeful of recouping the costs incurred in the installation in less than six years. Today, with its solar power plant it produces more energy than it needs and banks the rest with the state power grid for rainy days and night-time requirements.
The project was initiated mainly with a sense of duty towards the environment and to promote self-sufficiency. Solar Energy is a clean source of energy and is abundantly available over an average of 300 days a year. By the installation of a 12MW solar PV power plant, the airport has succeeded in reducing carbon dioxide emissions by more than 300,000 metric tonnes which is equal to planting three million trees or not driving 750 million miles. Also, the problems of power scarcity leading to frequency instabilities in the grid could be partially solved by the project.
I hope that the country will achieve more such milestones, and generation of power through greener sources of energy will be promoted.
CIAL first ventured into the Solar PV sector during March 2013, by installing a 100 KW solar PV Plant on the roof top of the Arrival Terminal Block wherein a total of 400 polycrystalline modules of 250W with five 20kW capacity 'Refu-sol make string inverters' were used in this plant. Following its success, CIAL installed a 1 MW Solar Photo Voltaic power plant partly on the roof top and partly on the ground in the Aircraft Maintenance Hangar facility within the airport premises. Later on, 4000 monocrystalline modules of 250W with thirty three Delta make string inverters of 30kW capacity were used in this plant, to make it the first Megawatt scale installation of solar PV system in Kerala.
The Cochin International Airport on an average, has a demand of 50,000 to 60,000 units of electricity , costing over 3,50,000 rupees for its operation every day. Thus by installing a 12 Mega Watt Solar PV system integrated with SCADA(Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) for remote monitoring, the airport became totally self sufficient in meeting its energy demands. The company is hopeful of recouping the costs incurred in the installation in less than six years. Today, with its solar power plant it produces more energy than it needs and banks the rest with the state power grid for rainy days and night-time requirements.
The project was initiated mainly with a sense of duty towards the environment and to promote self-sufficiency. Solar Energy is a clean source of energy and is abundantly available over an average of 300 days a year. By the installation of a 12MW solar PV power plant, the airport has succeeded in reducing carbon dioxide emissions by more than 300,000 metric tonnes which is equal to planting three million trees or not driving 750 million miles. Also, the problems of power scarcity leading to frequency instabilities in the grid could be partially solved by the project.
I hope that the country will achieve more such milestones, and generation of power through greener sources of energy will be promoted.
