India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation is poised to sign off on an agreement to install vast amounts of solar PV at the country’s airports over the coming years.
By Baishakhi Dutta
The plan was drafted during a meeting between the ministry and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to deliberate and inspect the progress of the country’s energy and water conservation measures at airports nationwide.
The AAI has already inspected the installation of 5.4 MW of solar PV capacity across 16 Indian airports, but the ministry is longing for the number of airport-located installations to increase
According to the ministry, a further 16 airports have been singled out for the next phase of the project, which will see approximately 116 MW of additional solar PV capacity added.
The AAI manages 125 airports across India, of which 11 handle international flights and 81 are for domestic rSoutes. The government has been exploring ways to give greater purpose to many of the country’s underutilized airports, and believes that cheaper solar energy could play a role in delivering this, allied to cheaper internal air travel as India’s middle class grows.
