MUMBAI: GMR Group-run Delhi Airport has become the first airport in the country to run entirely on hydro and solar power from this month in a major step toward achieving the ambitious goal of becoming a Net Zero Carbon Emission Airport by 2030, DIAL said on Wednesday.
For this, Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), a GMR Infrastructure Limited-led consortium, which manages and operates the Delhi Airport, has signed a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with a Himachal Pradesh-based hydropower producing company for the supply of hydroelectricity for the airport until 2036, the private airport operator said.
DIAL said its switching over to renewable sources for its energy needs will help it reduce indirectly 200,000 tons of carbon emissions.
Approximately 6 per cent of the airport's electricity requirement is met from the onsite solar power plants while as much as 94 per cent of the total demand is now being met through renewable energy use from the hydropower plant since June 1, thus ending its dependency on non-renewable power, DIAL said.
"DIAL has been working relentlessly towards environmental sustainability and has set its target to make Delhi Airport a Net Zero Carbon Emission airport by 2030, way ahead of the global target of 2050.
To achieve this, DIAL has adopted a Green Transportation program recently and now we achieved another milestone of the Green Energy Program for IGIA," said DIAL CEO Videh Kumar Jaipuriar.