Cochin – The Solar Airport
The world’s first airport to generate 100% of its electricity through solar power is now generating such a huge amount of electricity that it no longer needs to pay for ANY.
Three years ago, Cochin Airport began their journey to self-sustainability by installing solar panels on the roof of the arrivals terminal. The airport commissioned the German engineering giant Bosch to build them a $9.5million plant, comprised of 46,000 individual solar panels which were laid across an area of unused land near the cargo terminal.
With this huge solar plant, which was officially switched on August 18th 2015, Cochin became the first ever fully solar-powered airport, and also the only power-neutral airport in the world.
The airport uses roughly 50,000kW of power every day, but the solar cell plant is currently generating more than this – all excess energy is being sent back into the state’s electricity grid, for the benefit of others in the local area.
Over the next 25 years, the solar plant will save over 300,000 metric tonnes of carbon emissions, and should present a return on the initial investment in less than six years. But airport officials continue to plan for its expansion and hope to double its capacity for solar power, allowing the airport to build a new international terminal building and have it still powered by solar energy.
In a further move, the airport is beginning to foray into organic farming; water used to clean the solar cells will be used to water plants such as gourd, okra and cucumber to be sold to the public through outlets at the airport.
Congratulations Cochin!