Thanks to solar plant, Hubballi airport to 'foot' power bills of state's airports from March

If everything goes according to plan, from March 2021, the Hubballi domestic airport will ‘foot’ the electricity bills of airports managed by Airports Authority of India (AAI) in Karnataka (except Bengaluru and Mangaluru international airports).

According to Hubballi airport director Pramod Kumar Thakre, by March 2021, the city airport is expected to generate 140 lakh units of electricity per year through its eight megawatt ground-mounted photovoltaic solar plant being installed there.

The power thus generated will be fed to the high-tension grid of the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited (KPTCL) on the drive-wheel system and take credit in the electricity bills of all Karnataka airports managed by AAI. Once completely implemented, the airport’s dependence on the external power supply will be reduced by at least 85% annually.

As of now, the total power consumption of airports in Karnataka (Belagavi, Kalaburagi, Mysuru, HAL airport, Bengaluru) is around 132 lakh units per year, whereas the Hubballi airport will generate 140 lakh units.

Madhav Infra Private Limited, a Gujarat-based company, has been executing the project at an estimated cost of Rs 64 crore. Laying cables, setting up transformers and other civil works have been completed, while the remaining work is expected to be completed by March-end or early-April, said Thakre.

The entire project is being implemented on 38 acres of the airport land. More than 22,500 solar panels will be installed on 24 acres of land in such a way that the solar system gets maximum amount of solar radiation each day throughout the year, through orientation and tilting of the modules, thus avoiding shading, he said.

In order to achieve a higher system voltage, modules have been installed in a row arrangement, called a string. A higher system voltage has the advantage of lesser installation work, higher efficiency of the plant and use of smaller cross-section cables.

The project is being implemented as part of the union government’s plan of increased use of green and renewable sources of energy.