CIAL commissions parallel 110 KV substation to export power

Cochin International Airport Ltd,the world's first airport fully powered by solar energy, Wednesday commissioned a parallel 110 KV Electrical substation to export power generated by its eight solar plants, to the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) grid.

CIAL Managing Director V J Kurian inaugurated the plant, which was constructed at a cost of Rs 16 crore.

CIAL has so far been using only one substation to facilitate power banking arrangement with the KSEB.

"This became insufficient as the company had augmented its solar power plants total installed capacity to 40 MWpl, a CIAL release said here.

With the commissioning of additional substation, CIAL is now able to bank the power through two channels; one for the export of power and the other for the import of it form KSEB grid, it said.

At present the 40 MWp solar power plants generate approximately 1.63 lakh units of power a day.

The average daily consumption is approximately 1.53 lakh units.

The annual savings on power is Rs 36 crore, it said.

The solar power plants contribute to an annual saving of 37,200 MT of greenhouse gas emission.