Cochin Solar Airport May Become Model for ISA Projects Worldwide

Cochin International Airport Limited or CIAL is the worlds’ first airport that functions fully on solar energy. The CIAL solar project was identified by the International Solar Alliance as one of the models for successfully running a Green Airport.

As part of International Solar Alliance (ISA)’s initiative to find out suitable models to be incorporated to achieve its plan of massive deployment of solar energy by 2030, a delegation consisting of ambassadors/high commissioners of 40 countries will visit CIAL on Wednesday.

This delegation comprises of the ambassadors/high commissioners of 25 African countries, including Egypt, Senegal, Nigeria and Tanzania, and the remaining from countries like France, Brazil, Chile, Malaysia, Bolivia and Sri Lanka.

“The proposed visit will explore the possibility of ISA’s joint venture (JV) with Cial in implementing its vision of mobilizing more than $1,000 billion of investments needed by 2030 for massive deployment of solar energy around the world. Cial, which has proved the feasibility of solar energy to run an airport, will offer its expertise to ISA. The visit will give a fillip to Cial’s effort in taking its project to the next level so that it can to contribute globally as a consultant,” said Cial spokesperson P S Jayan.

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The high-profile delegation will reach Cial tomorrow morning and hold a discussion with the airport authorities. Later they will be guided to the airport’s main solar power plant for a field visit. At present Cial’s total installed capacity is 40 MWp producing 1.63 lakh unit of power a day whereas the requirement stands at 1.53 lakh units.

Last Wednesday, CIAL commissioned a parallel 110 kV electrical substation to export extra power generated by its eight solar plants to the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) grid. With the commissioning of the additional substation, CIAL is now able to bank the power through two channels: one for the export of power and the other for the import from the KSEB grid.

The annual saving in electricity bill for CIAL stands at ₹36 crore. The solar power plants avert an annual greenhouse gas emission of 37,200 tonnes.

ISA which is an alliance of 74 countries initiated by India and France in 2015 share the ambition to reduce the cost of finance and the cost of technology in solar energy production.