Kochi :
Chief minister Oommen Chandy inaugurated the 12 MWp (megawatt peak) solar power plant at the Cochin International Airport Ltd (Cial) on Tuesday.
The plant, comprising 46,150 solar panels laid across 45 acres in the cargo complex, will enable Cochin airport to produce 50,000 to 60,000 units of solar power every day for its operations. Airport authorities claimed that this would technically makes the airport ‘absolutely power neutral’.
Cial first ventured into solar power sector in March 2013 when they installed a 100 kWp (kilowatt peak) solar plant on the rooftop of the arrival terminal. Installed by the Kolkata-based Vikram Solar Private Ltd, the plant was a trendsetter in the field of grid-connected solar energy (one without any battery storage) in Kerala.
Later, they installed a 1 MWp solar power plant partly on the rooftop and partly on the ground in the aircraft maintenance hangar facility on the airport premises. This plant was installed by Emvee Photovoltaic Power Pvt Ltd and is the first megawatt-scale installation of solar PV system in Kerala.
After commissioning these plants, Cial has so far saved more than 550MT of CO2 emission. Over the next 25 years, this green power project will avoid carbon dioxide emissions from coal fired power plants by more than three lakh metric tonnes, which is equivalent to planting 30 lakh trees.
Cial is now in the process of setting up a 12MWp solar PV plant as part of its green initiatives. This will come up in an area of about 45 acres near the international cargo premises. The work has been awarded to Bosch Ltd and is expected to generate around 48,000 units per day. Along with the electricity generated from the existing 1.10 MWp plants, this would be sufficient to meet the power requirement of the airport, officials said.
Later in the day, the annual general body meeting of Cial approved the recommendation of director board to give a dividend of 21% to all its shareholders. The total earning of Cial in 2014-15 was Rs 413.96 crore, an increase of 19.69% compared with the previous year. The airport made a profit of Rs 144.58 crore in 2014-15, which is 16.25% compared with the previous year. The number of passengers touched 64 lakhs. “The new international terminal will become functional by 2016,” added Chandy, who is also the chairman of Cial.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Kochi / August 31st, 2015