Promotion

With the view of consuming pollution free energy, GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd. (GHIAL) has commissioned a 5 MW solar power plant for its operational needs.

The company said that the capacity of the plant will be increased to 30MW over the next two-three years.

Picture for representation only. Source: Niels Sienaert/Flickr

The solar plant is generating 25,000 units per day to meet the airport’s peak power demand during daytime. SGK Kishore, Chief Executive Officer of GHAIL, said that the plant will meet about 30 percent of the airport’s terminal requirement.

“We are looking the next phase where the capacity of the solar power project would be ramped up by 7 MW more and eventually to 30 MW, thereby meeting the entire requirement of the airport and its related establishments…Given the proactive steps announced by the centre and State governments to promote renewable energy, we will gradually explore setting up roof top units by retrofitting exiting buildings. In addition, the proposed new expansion terminal would also have solar panels on top of the building,” he said. Promotion

According to airport authorities, the plant outcome is enough to meet the energy requirements of about 4,800 homes. It was set up in four months with an outlay of Rs. 25 crore. The step has been taken to conserve natural resources and the plant will help avoid the use of 12 tonnes of coal and 76,800 litres of water per day, while eliminating nearly 7,100 metric tonnes of carbon emission.

Located close to the greenfield airport, the plant has over 16,000 modules of solar panels that have been installed with a fixed tilt for maximum sun exposure. An advanced Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system (SCADA) helps in remote monitoring.

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