Chandigarh Airport to run on Solar Power

The list of Indian airports going solar is increasing by the day. After Cochin, Kolkata and Calicut its now Chandigarh airport to run on solar power.

Technical Details

ReNew Power, a leading renewable energy firm in India has signed a PPA with Chandigarh International Airport for installing solar power at the airport. The project is expected to generate more than 8 million units of power annually and offset over 8,000 tonnes of carbon emissions annually. The agreement has been signed for a period of 25 years. Initially a 5 MW plant will be installed using single axis tracker technology.

Earlier Bosch Ltd and Vikram Solar were the EPC firm involved in the installation work at Cochin airport. Renesola modules with ABB and Refusol inverters were used. More details can be found in my last article, where I have mentioned that airports at Jodhpur, Amritsar, Lucknow, Varanasi, Chandigarh etc. are also planning to go solar! Vikram Solar was the EPC player at Kolkata’s airport, where the firm’s ELDORA series modules have been installed and even at the Calicut International Airport.

Other airports running/ planning to run on solar power include Chennai, Madurai, Hyderabad, Bhopal, Indore, Raipur, Jaipur, Lucknow, Guwahati.

Also read Indian Transport to get Solar Power.

The Green Terminal at Chandigarh Airport

The new terminal at the international airport in Chandigarh has been designed on energy efficiency principles. No artificial lights are required to light it up during the day. A transparent facade using low heat glass will act as the source of light. The air conditioning system will also only work if people are present in the particular area, otherwise it goes into sleep mode. There are other interesting points to note about this airport too like usage of insulated roofing, fly ash bricks, cavity walls etc. Not only is the airport terminal energy efficient, but is also conserving water.

Can Airfares go down in India

It will be interesting to see if the other airports in India will follow suit. More than 16 solar plants have been installed at the Indian airports. India expects to install another 24 MW of solar power by the end of this year. The Airport Authority of India manages 125 airports across the country. With airports going solar, a major part of the overhead cost in the form of power bills can be minimized. This will be beneficial not only to the airports, but also to the large number of middle class travellers who now increasingly use airplanes as their mode of transport in India.

Though not all airports are completely off grid, but Cochin Airport was the first airport in India to run completely on solar power. As the end user we could benefit if the airport charges go down as a result of its power savings. Though we would have to wait many more years to reap the benefits, the change has surely begun. Till then we will be happy to see the progress made by India towards going green! Not only the country, but the world at large could benefit if India and other developing economies can successfully curb their fossil fuel generations.

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