Another major international airport in India has installed solar power panels to reduce carbon footprint of its operations.
According to media reports, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has installed solar power panels on the cargo complex of the Chennai airport. The solar power system is believed to have installed capacity of 5 MW and will generate enough electricity to meet 80% of the cargo terminal’s power demand.
The solar power system is expected to significantly reduce the electricity bill of the cargo terminal which currently procures electricity from the state utility at every high price.
Following the expansion of the Chennai airport large rooftop area has become available for solar power systems. The airport also has surplus 4,000 acre of land available for utility-scale solar power project. If fully utilised, the area can host 800 MW solar power project based on crystalline modules.
The AAI plans to set up similar solar power projects at airports across the country. The Indian minister for civil aviation recently announced that as many as 143 airports around the country will install a total of 148 MW of solar capacity over the next few months. According to AAI, solar projects of 5.4 MW cumulative capacity are already operational at 16 airports.
This 5.4 MW capacity does not include the 12 MW land-based solar power project operational at the Kochi airport. The airport commissioned the project last year and switched its operations completely to solar power.