12-June-2023
Payyannur Solar Project
Enhances its green energy capacity to 50 MWp
*CIAL’s 12 MWp solar power plant at Payyanur*
- A step forward from power neutrality to power positivity
- Decisive in reducing carbon footprint as it cuts CO2 emission by 28K metric ton a year
- State of the art Terrain based installation; a first in South India
With the solar power plant at Payyanur, CIAL leaps one step forward from its current status of being a power neutral airport to a power positive airport. The 12 MWp Payyanur Plant was dedicated to the Nation by Hon. Chief Minister of Kerala, Sri. Pinarayi Vijayan in a function e held at the Solar Plant premises at Ettukudukka near Payyanur, Kerala, on 06th March 2022.
With the commissioning of Payyanur plant the cumulative installed capacity of solar plants of CIAL has been scaled up to 50 MWp. These include seven plants functioning at the premises of the airport, a solar carport and the one to be commissioned now at Payyanur. CIAL’s solar power plants together generate 2 hundred thousands (2 lakhs) of units of power a day whereas the airport’s daily power consumption stands at 1.6 hundred thousands of units. CIAL Managing Director S.Suhas IAS attributed the milestone of achieving 50 MWp of installed capacity to the guidelines given to the company by Hon.Chief Minister Sri. Pinarayi Vijayan, who also holds the post of Chairman, CIAL and board of the Directors. “The airport attained the status of World’s first airport fully powered by solar energy way back in 2015. As the company embarked on a spree of infrastructure development activities, periodic enhancement of the installed capacity of energy projects was required. CIAL is known for its adherence to the idea of sustainable development and which prompted the effective utilization of green energy for all its power requirements. This vision of embracing energy efficiency instigated the construction of eight power plants and a small hydro-electrical project at Arippara, Kozhikode. The latest in the series is the new solar power plant at Ettukudukka near Payyannur “ said Sri. Suhas.
The power plant boasts of 12 megawatt capacity on a 35-acre land where CIAL Introduced a concept of Terrain based Installation where the geographical characteristics of the area are retained, and no changes have been made in the gradient of the land. Terrain based installation increases the land utilisation compared to flat land by decreasing the space between the Solar module arraysThe land area required for solar PV installation is reduced to approximately 2.75 Acres /MW as compared to 3.75 Acres / MW in flat land. The focus was on building the plant by retaining the gradient of the land. This could accommodate 35 % extra solar panels which will subsequently generate more energy.
Decisive step in reducing Carbon Footprints
A cumulative installed capacity of 50 MWp of green energy contributes fairly to the cause of championing sustainable development. A comparison is here:
- It reduces the carbon footprint by 2,800 metric tons per year
- This is at par with the fresh air that we get by planting 46 lakh tree saplings for 10 years
- This is also equivalent to not burning 11.9 million litres of fossil fuels
- It is also roughly the same amount of fuel used by over 7000 cars every year
Cochin International Airport had been recognised by the United Nations in 2018 by bestowing it with ‘ The Champions of the Earth ’award; the highest environmental award instituted by the United Nations. The award marked that CIAL is proof positive in showing the world that ‘green business in good business'.