In India, World’s First Solar Powered Airport Keeps Expanding

 

People flying into India’s southern city of Cochin may see numerous solar panels around Cochin International Airport. But they may not know that the airport was the first in the world to be fully¹ powered by solar energy.

A sea of shiny solar panels stretches across land running next to the airport’s main road. Many more panels sit on top of a massive parking structure. All are capturing valuable sunlight that is changed to energy to power all airport operations.

The project began five years ago when airport officials were looking for new ways to reduce ever-increasing electricity bills.

The airport’s director, V.J. Kurian, says they came up with the solar idea and decided² to begin with a small experiment.

“We put solar panels on the rooftop of Terminal One. We observed it for a year and we found it is quite good and can be safely scaled up,” Kurian told VOA.

This success led to further expansion of solar operations at the airport.

In 2015, Cochin officials declared that the airport had become the world’s first to be fully powered by solar energy.

Today, tens of thousands of solar panels produce more than enough power to keep the airport running 24 hours a day. Airport officials say any leftover³ energy the airport does not need is stored in the city’s general energy grid⁴.

Kurian says, in the beginning, there were concerns about whether the new system made financial sense.

At the time, the cost of producing one megawatt of power was estimated to cost $1 million. But the falling price of solar panels in recent years greatly lowered the costs and helped make the project a reality.

“We get back our investment in less than six years time,” Kurian said. “Which I thought was an excellent investment opportunity - and the next 25 years is meant for all profit.”

Last year, the airport won one of the United Nations' top environmental honors: the Champions of the Earth award for Entrepreneurial Vision. The project is one example of recent efforts by officials in India to increase the use of solar power to reduce its carbon emissions⁶.

The solar expansion at Cochin has led additional airports and other kinds of building projects to explore the possible use of solar energy.

To keep its standing⁷ as the world’s only fully solar powered airport, the facility has continually expanded its energy operations. Officials say the current production level of about 29 megawatts will soon grow to nearly 40 megawatts. The increase will be necessary to keep up with ever-growing passenger traffic.

Airport officials have estimated the amount of carbon emissions to be reduced over the next 25 years would be equal to planting about 3 million trees. And to make the project even greener, vegetables are being grown under the solar panels and on other available land.

Last year, about 60 tons of vegetables were produced and sold.

I’m Bryan Lynn.

Words in This Story

solar panel – n. large, flat piece of equipment that uses light from the sun to create electricity

scale – v. increase in size, amount or production

grid – n. system of connected wires used to supply electrical power to a large area

opportunity – n. an amount of time or a situation in which something can be done

emission⁵ – n. the act of producing or sending out something (such as energy or gas) from a source

facility – n. place where a particular activity happens

1 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 leftover   

n.剩货，残留物，剩饭；adj.残余的

参考例句：

• These narrow roads are a leftover from the days of horse-drawn carriages.这些小道是从马车时代沿用下来的。
• Wonder if that bakery lets us take leftover home.不知道那家糕饼店会不会让我们把卖剩的带回家。

4 grid   

n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅

参考例句：

• In this application,the carrier is used to encapsulate the grid.在这种情况下，要用载体把格栅密封起来。
• Modern gauges consist of metal foil in the form of a grid.现代应变仪则由网格形式的金属片组成。

5 emission   

n.发出物，散发物；发出，散发

参考例句：

• Rigorous measures will be taken to reduce the total pollutant emission.采取严格有力措施，降低污染物排放总量。
• Finally,the way to effectively control particulate emission is pointed out.最后，指出有效降低颗粒排放的方向。

6 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

7 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。