According to India’s Civil Aviation minister, Ashok Gajapathi Raju, the 200 megawatt level of solar power is planned for airports across the entire country. This forward thinking initiative was announced at the inauguration of the 15 megawatt solar power project at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International airport, in West Bengal.
With this project, the total solar power capacity installed at government-owned airports will increase to 90 megawatts. Capacity at privately operated airports currently stands at 45 megawatts, which brings the total national capacity to 135 megawatts.
The Kolkata airport project works on the same principle as the one at Kochi airport which, incidentally, was the first Indian airport to rely exclusively on solar power. Any excess power generated from the solar project will be fed into the grid for additional revenue purposes.
Kochi airport currently operates a 15.5 megawatt solar power project and but there are strategies in place to increase its capacity in steps to 24.2 megawatts; this will include a 2.7 megawatt solar powered carport.
