Cochin Airport becomes world's first to operate completely on Solar Power

Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) of Kerala has become the first airport in the world to fully operate on solar power.
It achieved this feat after Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chand officially commissioned the 12 MWp solar power plant near the cargo complex of airport.
Key facts

• The plant comprises 46,150 solar panels laid across 45 acres near the cargo complex. The plant has been installed by the Kolkata-based Vikram Solar Pvt. Ltd.
• It is capable of generating 50,000 units of electricity daily. It is coupled with an existing 1 MW solar plant commissioned in 2013.
• It will make airport absolutely power neutral in terms of energy consumption as it consumes around 50000 to 60000 units of electricity per day.
• The plant system is without any battery storage as it is directly connected to the grid.

Environmental impact: This green power project will not result in any carbon dioxide emissions over the next 25 years. It will produce clean source of energy equivalent to non-clean energy produced from coal fired power plants by burning more than 3 lakh metric tonnes of Coals. This plant is also equivalent to planting 30 lakh trees.
Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL): It was the first airport in India to be constructed in public-private-partnership (PPP) model in 1999. It is only PPP airport in the country that has handled more than 5 million passengers in a year.

Month: Current Affairs - August, 2015