This Airport Generates More Power Than It Consumes

Fueled entirely by solar power, COK not only generates enough electricity to fulfill its operating purposes, but has enough surplus power to boost local supply.

As the first airport in the world to be operated exclusively by solar power, India’s Cochin International Airport (COK) now produces more electricity than it consumes. Eager to share its success, COK hopes that it can serve as a model for other airports around the world.

The 12 megawatt power plant at COK is fueled by 46,000 solar panels spread across 45 acres of land near the airport’s cargo complex in the Indian state of Kerala. Designed by German multinational firm Bosch, the plant was officially opened on August 18 and now generates between 50,000 and 60,000 units of electricity on a daily basis.

V.J. Kurian, the managing direction of Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL), the company that owns and operates the airport, explained the impetus behind COK’s switch to solar power.

“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,” he said in a statement.

Kurian is also keen to point out that COK actually generates more electricity that what it needs to operate. This surplus energy, he says, is being fed into the local grid, helping to increase the supply of electricity available throughout the state of Kerala.

Other airports – both in India and around the globe – are now being encouraged to follow COK’s example. The Netaji Subas Chandra Bose International Airport (CCU) in Kolkata already has plans to erect a solar-powered plant of its own while similar schemes are afoot in Mexico City, London and Denver.

[Photo: Cochin International Airport]