GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited has commissioned a 5 MW solar power plant for its captive consumption and plans to gradually scale the capacity up to 30 MW within the next three years.
Located close to the Greenfield airport, the solar plant set up with an outlay of ₹25 crore has started generating around 25,000 units per day to meet the airport’s peak power demand during the day time.
The green energy produced by the plant is equivalent to meet the requirement of about 4,800 homes.
SGK Kishore, Chief Executive Officer of GHAIL, said: “The plant set up in four months is a commitment to building a green airport. It will help meet about 30 per cent of the airport’s terminal requirement. We are looking the next phase in which the capacity of the project would be ramped up by 7 MW to eventually reach 30 MW, thereby meeting the entire requirement of the airport and its related establishments.”
The solar power plant has over 16,000 modules of solar panels, each having a fixed tilt for maximum sun exposure. The grid-connected system will be used for captive consumption of the airport.
“Given the proactive steps announced by the Centre and State governments to promote renewable energy, we will gradually explore setting up of roof top units by retrofitting exiting buildings. In addition, the proposed new expansion terminal will also have solar panels on top of the building,” Kishore explained.
With the existing Greenfield airport poised to hit its full capacity of 12 million passengers per annum by March, the company is considering expansion, to increase the capacity to 20 million passengers per annum.
“Plans are underway and a final decision on the capacity expansion and quantum of investment will be finalised during the year,” Kishore said.
The airport passenger flow grew by 24 per cent last year and 20 per cent this year, and is expected to hit its full capacity of 12 million passengers, up from 10.5 million last year. The cargo capacity has also grown by about 11 per cent, and focus now is on expanding the cargo catchment area.