Aviation history has just been made. Earlier this summer I told you about the record breaking solar plane flight, and now the solar eagle has landed again—this time at an airport in India that just became the first airport in the world to completely operate on solar power.
Go India!
Amazingly, the Cochin International airport in India’s state of Kerala actually produces more power than it uses. Inaugurated on August 18 of this year, over 46,000 solar panels laid across 45 acres near its cargo complex now produce 50,000 to 60,000 units of electricity per day, which is slightly more than it uses. The remainder is being contributed to the state’s power grid.
Mr.V.J.Kurian IAS, Managing Director, Cochin International Airport Ltd. explains:
“When we had realized that the power bill is on the higher side, we contemplated possibilities. Then the idea of tapping the green power came in. We consume around 48,000 unit (KWh) a day. So if we can produce the same, that too by strictly adhering to the green and sustainable development model of infrastructure development that we always follow, that would transcend a message to the world. Now this has become the world’s first airport fully operates on solar power.”
The official airport statement claims:
“The plant will produce 18 million units of power from sun annually – the power equivalent to feed 10,000 homes for one year. Over the next 25 years, this green power project will avoid carbon dioxide emissions from coal fired power plants by more than 3 lakh metric tons, which is equivalent to planting 3 million trees.”
Although the first airport to run on 100 percent solar power, Cochin is not the only airport tapping into the sun’s energy. Ecowatch points out, an international airport in Mexico City aims to be the world’s most sustainable when completed in 2018, London Heathrow airport has many solar features integrated into its operations, and Denver International is one of a number of U.S. airports utilizing solar power plants, to name a few.
To give you an idea of how much energy an airport needs to function, Nicolas Rehault from the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems explains in this video how a single airport uses roughly as much energy as a whole city of 30,000 to 100,000 households.
Wait, what?
Think about it. Lots of major airports are massive in size and require energy for so many things on a daily basis, 365 days per year.
Continue reading at ENN affiliate, Care2.
Solar power image via Shutterstock.