IGI airport expands solar power generation capacity

The Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) of the national capital has enhanced its solar power generation capacity, an official said on Tuesday.

According to the Delhi International Airport (DIAL), the company which operates the IGIA, the solar power generation capacity at the airport has been expanded from 2.14 MW (megawatt) to 7.84 MW.

"We have expanded the capacity by investing Rs.32 crore in the second phase of the expansion. The first phase had been erected at a cost of Rs.15 crore. The total cost of the solar project is about Rs.47 crore," Sujit Nag, chief projects and engineering officer at DIAL, told IANS.

"The expanded project is expected to provide a saving of Rs.12 crore per annum in electricity cost. The IGIA consumes around Rs.220 crore worth of electricity per annum," he said.

The 7.84 MW solar power project is expected to generate about 12 million units of power per annum. Currently, the IGIA consumes nearly 220 million units of electricity per year.

DIAL elaborated that the power generated from the solar power plant has supported the electricity requirements of the airport operations.

"Aligning with the vision of Hon'ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi to harness solar energy to fight climate change, we aim to increase our solar power generation capacity to 20 MW by 2020," revealed I. Prabhakara Rao, chief executive of DIAL.

DIAL cited that it has erected the solar power project at the airside of the IGIA after receiving all the requisite safety clearances.

"The greenfield area of the airside has been utilised without hindering and compromising the operations safety. The non-reflective PV solar panels are installed at the plant in a bid to reduce glare effect," DIAL said in a statement.

"Solar plant at the IGI airport is one of the very few solar plants to harness land parcel at the airside, which is normally locked under various statutory rules and regulations."

DIAL erected the first solar power plant at the IGIA in 2014. In addition, it is the first airport in the world to be registered under Clean Development Mechanism of UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change).