KOCHI: The Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) -- which runs the world’s first fully solar- powered airport -- has crossed another milestone in its green energy initiative. It has achieved a cumulative production volume of 25 crore units of power, offsetting 1.6 lakh metric tonnes of carbon emission, the airport authorities said. CIAL launched its solar initiative in 2013 with a 100kWp (kilowatt peak) pilot plant on the Kochi airport premises.
Later, the solar capacity was expanded to help the airport attain its pioneering status by 2015 with an installed capacity of 13.1MWp (megawatt peak). “CIAL’s development policy encompasses total sustainability management (TSM). We are trying to explore every possible way to address climate change. CIAL achieved power neutrality in 2015 and has now become a power surplus organisation, feeding approximately four crore units of excess power annually to the state grid.
And with the help of the government, we are sure that we can venture into more such projects soon,” said CIAL managing director S Suhas. Supplemented by its 4.5MW hydroelectric power project at Arippara, CIAL is now the second largest power producer in Kerala after KSEB.
To date, CIAL has generated more than 25 crore units of green power from various solar PV installations at the airport. It now has a total installed solar capacity of 50MWp. The 12MWp solar plant at Payyannur, inaugurated in March 2022, has generated approximately one crore units of green power so far. The Arippara hydroelectric project, has generated approximately 75 lakh units to date.