CHENNAI: In a few days, the Bengaluru airport will have a shimmering new asset to show off — a 3.35-MW rooftop solar plant.
The airport already has a small 500 kW rooftop plant and 3 MW elsewhere on its premises — carports and airside lands — and had recently said it would increase its solar capacity by another 8.35 MW. It aims to become fully renewable energy powered by 2020.
The 3.35-MW rooftop solar, to be commissioned in a few days, will count among the larger such plants in the country.
It is understood that the plant was built for Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) by Pune-based Sunshot Technologies.
BIAL sources said the rooftop plant will be owned by Sunshot and the power it produces will be sold to the airport under a 25-year power purchase agreement. The sources did not disclose the power tariff, but said the agreement allows for a 2 per cent hike every year.
BIAL, the third busiest airport in the country in 2017-18 (after Delhi and Mumbai), today needs about 45 million units a day. Last year, 26.9 million passengers used the airport, arriving or departing on 196,560 flights. BIAL, 54 per cent owned by NTI Prem Watsa-promoted Fairfax, also handled 348,403 tonnes of cargo.
Source: thehindubusinessline
