Delhi airport plugs into green energy

NEW DELHI: Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport has switched to hydro and solar power for its consumption needs from June 1, making it India’s first airport to run entirely on a combination of these forms of green energy, operator Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) said on Wednesday.

In 2015, the Cochin International Airport in Kerala became the first in the country to run solely using solar energy.

DIAL said while they are using a combination of hydro and solar power, a major part of it this is hydro-dependent. This move is part of the airport’s goal to achieve the ‘Net Zero Carbon Emissions Airport’ target by the year 2030, DIAL said.

Since June 1, around 6% of the airport’s electricity requirement is being met from on-site solar power plants, while the remaining 94% energy is coming from a hydropower plant, it said.

“The solar plants are on the airside and roofs of the cargo terminals of the IGI airport. For hydropower, DIAL has signed a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with a Himachal Pradesh-based hydropower producing company for the supply of hydroelectricity to the airport until 2036,” said a DIAL spokesperson.

The Delhi airport has a 7.84 MW solar power plant on the airside, while it added another 5.3 MW rooftop solar power plant at the cargo terminal recently as part of a stakeholder collaboration.

This transition to renewable energy is expected to help the airport in reducing energy emissions by 2 lakh tonne of carbon dioxide per year, the operator said. “DIAL has been working relentlessly towards environmental sustainability and has set its target to make Delhi Airport a Net Zero Carbon Emission airport by 2030, way ahead of the global target of 2050,” said CEO Videh Kumar Jaipuriar.