Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL), the world’s first fully solar-powered airport, crossed another milestone earlier this week when its cumulative output touched 250 million energy units, many of its green energy units. Thanks for the initiative.
This means that CIAL has reduced its carbon footprint by 1.6 lakh metric tonnes so far. So far, the airport has produced 7.5 million units from its hydroelectric project alone. CIAL has emerged as the second largest power producer in the state after Kerala State Electricity Board Limited (KSEB).
“The development policy of CIAL includes Total Sustainability Management (TSM). We try to explore all possible ways to tackle climate change. CIAL, which achieved power neutrality in 2015, has now become a power surplus organisation, Which feeds about 40 million units of additional power annually to the state grid. And with the help of the government, we are sure that we can venture into more such projects in the near future,” said S. Suhas, managing director, CIAL.
CIAL started its solar initiative in 2013 with a 100kWp pilot plant. In the years that followed, its solar capacity was expanded in phases to 13.1MWp, making it recognized in 2015 as the world’s first airport to be powered entirely by solar power.
It operates eight solar plants in the airport premises and one in northern Kerala. The airport now has a total installed capacity of 50MWp, generating 2 lakh units of electricity against the power requirement of 1.50 lakh units per day. The 12 MWp solar plant at Payyanur, inaugurated in March 2022, has so far generated around 10 million units of green energy.
pesticide free vegetables
Incidentally, agro-photovoltaic activities using the spaces between solar panels have produced about 90 metric tons of pesticide-free vegetables so far.
CIAL’s 4.5MW Arippara Small Hydro Power Project, which was commissioned in November 2021, has also generated around 75 lakh units so far.
social media campaign
CIAL’s announcement on its historic achievement in green energy generation came after the Instagram handle of a media house was brutally trolled for describing it as the first airport in the country to run entirely on renewable energy.
Keeping this in view, CIAL has created ‘CIAL; Just first forever.’ The campaign recalled how the airport was endorsed by the United Nations Environment Program as “the world’s first airport to be powered entirely by solar power” and the United Nations later awarded it the Champions of the Earth Award in 2018. recognized.