Airports consume a lot of electricity with long areas of air conditioning, passenger lounges, departure areas and even make-shift shelters all contributing to the exorbitant bills of these huge complexes. Plus countries like India, where there is a persistent problem of load shedding, airports are also hit by blackouts from time to time, it is a good idea to go solar as it will ensure green uninterrupted supply of electricity to the airport. This is what an airport in India was able to achieve.
The Chochin International Airport is the world’s only airport operating entirely on solar energy giving the growing renewable energy industry of the developing nation a good boost. Due to the huge demands of the airport, roof-based solar PV cells couldn’t provide electricity to the whole compound. So, in addition to them, a separate solar power plant was also installed in the fields right next to the airfield. The plant includes 46,150 panels across the 45 acres and generates an ample 12 Megawatts for the airport complex. Any extra electricity produced is then sent to the local grid for distribution among the citizens.
With the installation of this new system, the airport will be able to save 300,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide in the next 25 years. If only one can stop this much amount of greenhouse gases, can you think how much all airports of the world contribute if they went green?