Trichy: Trichy international airport on Friday got a solar power plant to power its campus here when Airports Authority of India (AAI) board member Anuj Agarwal commissioned the 1 megawatt plant set up on its premises.
Established under the National Solar Mission at Rs 4.64 crore, the ground-based solar power plant in Capex model has commenced operation three months after work began on the project. Airport officials exuded confidence that the unit will produce 15.4 lakh units a year, which is approximately 25% of its annual energy consumption. It is expected to save the airport Rs 1.23 crore by way of electricity expenditure per year.
The payback period expected of the plant would be three years and nine months. The electricity sourced from the plant would light up the airport premises throughout the day while regular electricity supply will take care of the consumption at night. AAI also said that it was looking forward to effectively minimizing greenhouse gas emissions thereby contributing to India’s goal of minimizing environmental degradation.
Airport director K Gunasekaran told reporters that “the use of solar power to meet our electricity demand will save several lakhs per month.” He also said that AAI Trichy had handed over two ambulances to ‘108’ services in Trichy at Friday’s function.
The addition of the two ambulances has raised the number of vehicles to 32 including two bike ambulances. Ambulance service officials said that one of the ambulances would be stationed on the airport premises to be utilized in case of emergencies to passengers or visitors or anyone in the nearby area. The second one will be used at Pulivalam on the outskirts of Trichy near Thuraiyur.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes
