India’s Ministry of Shipping has decided to use renewable energy sources to power 12 of the country's major ports.

The directive was initiated under the government’s Green Port Initiative, and will see 91.50MW solar energy systems installed at the 12 locations.

Plans also include the establishment of 45MW of wind energy capacity at two additional major ports, located in Kandla, Gujarat and V. O. Chidambaranar, Tamil Nadu. 6MW of the 45MW wind energy capacity has already been commissioned by Kandla Port.

The ministry says ports have already started the process of setting up renewable energy projects via an investment of Rs7bn ($104m), which includes Rs4bn ($60m) for solar and Rs2bn ($43m) for wind energy initiatives.

The Ministry of Shipping said in a statement: “Once completed, these renewable energy projects will help in the reduction of carbon dioxide emission by 136,500t annually.



"These projects will help to reduce cost of power purchased by utilisation of renewable energy for power generation, resulting in estimated saving of Rs750m ($11m) annually."

“These projects will also help to reduce cost of power purchased by utilisation of renewable energy for power generation, resulting in estimated saving of Rs750m ($11m) annually when fully commissioned.”

Additional solar power developments have also been announced across India totalling a combined 15.20MW, with Visakhapatnam Port having 9MW.

Other ports that solar projects have been commissioned for are Kolkata Port (0.06MW), New Mangalore Port (4.35MW), V.O. Chidambaranar Port (0.5MW), Mumbai Port (0.125MW), Chennai Port (0.1MW), Mormugao (0.24MW) and Jawaharlal Nehru Port (0.82MW).

The remaining solar developments will be instigated phase-wise, and are scheduled to be completed by next year.

The initiatives come after the Indian Ports Association (IPA) and the Solar Energy Corporation of India signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to encourage the adoption of renewable energy at Indian ports.

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