Cochin airport to augment agri-voltaic practice in its solar farm

Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) has achieved another milestone in sustainable development as its agri-voltaic farming has been scaled up to 20 acres, the largest of its kind in the country.

Agricultural photovoltaic (Agri-PV) also known as Agri-Voltaics or Agri-photovoltaic, is an evolving practice in sustainable development that combines the production of food and energy. The land is used for both agriculture and solar power generation at the same time.

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CIAL, the world’s first airport fully powered by solar energy, had earlier experimented with organic farming on one of its solar plants. It started the process of scaling up the farming practice by incorporating the modern method of agri-voltaic procedure in July. By December first week, the company was able to cover agri-voltaic farming on a total area of 20 acres.

Major features

It has eight solar plants and the biggest one is near the cargo terminal with an area of 45 acres on which 20 acres have been used for agri-voltaic practice. Vegetables such as yam, long-yard bean, drumstick, mountain ginger, turmeric, cabbage, cauliflower and green chilli are cultivated.

Water used to clean solar photovoltaic panels is being used for irrigating the crops. They are expected to modify the micro-climates underneath PV modules by reducing the temperature which results in increasing efficiency in power generation.

Moreover, the crop coverage in between PV arrays will check the erosion of soil and thus will reduce the dust load on the PV module. Another advantage is that the cultivation dampens the weed growth underneath the PV panel mounts.

‘Magnificent opportunity’

S.Suhas, Managing Director, CIAL, said that “Agri-voltaic practice is a magnificent opportunity for both the solar and agricultural sectors. Through its implementation, we can fully tap into the synergies that will make a win-win situation for the cultivation of crops and production of renewable energy.

Optimum usage of available land and re-usage of water are other. “It is a new sustainability model for consuming resources. It encompasses multiple additive and synergistic benefits, including reduced plant drought stress, greater food production and reduced PV panel heat stress,” he said.

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The issue of land utilisation for future food and energy production is being debated on several platforms. Given the future requirement of energy and food production, Agri voltaic system (AVS) has been proposed as a mixed system associating solar panels and crops at the same time on the same land area. APV will overcome the present either-or situation by achieving both power generation and agricultural yield.

CIAL now has a total installed capacity of 40 MWp. Its PV plants produce 1.6 lakh units of power a day whereas the daily consumption stands at 1.3 lakh units.

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