Tuesday, December 17, 2013: Here’s a mega solar news, literally! Delhi International Airport that is operated by the GMR Group is now the first in Asia to have a mega solar power plant on its premises. Coming to the ‘mega’ bit, it is a 2.14 MW solar plant, which is all set for ribbon-cutting.
Two other airports at Kochi and Bhubaneswar have solar plants, however, they are of 100 kW capacity each. Delhi will be the first to have a megawatt scale, ground-mounted system. It is expected that a 1 MW solar plant in Delhi will generate 1.5 million units of electricity. Reportedly, Delhi International Airport Ltd will save at least Rs 2 per unit of electricity.
Among all the airports, the Hyderabad International Airport is spread over 5,400 acres and Chennai over 4,000 acres making it possible for large-scale solar plants. Hyderabad one can house 25 MW.
The plant was built for Delhi International Airport Ltd by German company called Enerparc. It specialises in airport solar projects among others.
