United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) recognizes Cochin International Airport Ltd as world’s first fully solar energy-powered airport

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has recognized the Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) in Kerala as the world’s first fully solar energy-powered airport. The airport has a 12 MWp solar power plant comprising of 46,150 solar panels laid across 45 acres. The plant is capable of generating 50,000 units of electricity daily, and is equipped with a supervisory control and data acquisition system (SCADA), through which remote monitoring is carried out. The airport now generates 0.125 million units of power a day from its eight power plants with a total installation capacity of 30 MWp. It will be scaled up to 40 MWp by July 2018. The CIAL is the first airport in India developed under a public-private partnership (PPP) model and was funded by nearly 10,000 non-resident Indians from 30 countries. With over 2 million sq ft in area, the airport’s Terminal 3 is India’s fourth largest terminal.