By Business India Editorial

Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA), Bhubaneswar, has become ‘green’, switching to green power sources.

The airport has installed 4MWp Ground Mounted Solar Power Plant in the operational area, making it one of India's 100 per cent sustainable airports, said officials.

As per the airport authority, Bhubaneswar airport has installed a 4MWp solar power plant in the operational area, which includes 1,0530 PV modules of 380W each. The 4 MW Power plant was inaugurated on Saturday by Aparajita Sarangi, Member of Parliament from Bhubaneswar, in the presence of Prasanna Pradhan, Airport Director, and other officials.

“The solar plant is spread over an area of 13.28 acres with a project cost of Rs18.75 crores,” said the officials.

BPIA produces around 60 per cent of the airport's electricity requirement through its onsite solar generation and the rest 40 per cent from other green sources such as hydro energy.

Ushering into a sustainable future, BPIA witnessed a rise in natural energy generation of 9,35,963 KWH (solar power generation) from December 2022 to April 2023, and the total unit imported from the grid for airport consumption is 2719046 KWH, which is around 35 percent and has attained 100 per cent utilisation of renewable sources of energy in April 2023.

The airport is committed to continuously reducing energy consumption and carbon footprint through various initiatives. Moreover, BPIA installed a 100KWp rooftop solar power plant on 28 August, 2013, which the airport eventually strengthened to 4.1 MW. BPIA which solely runs on green energy since April 2023, thus enabling a highly efficient and low-carbon future for aviation.

This sustainable initiative undertaken by BPIA is part of the airport's efforts that reduce its carbon footprint, which propels its journey towards 'Net Zero' emissions.

“We are delighted to achieve this key milestone in our journey towards attaining a sustainable future for BPIA. The diligent efforts of the airport in undertaking several thoughtful initiatives have paved the way to achieve this feat,” said the airport authority.

“As BPIA aspires to become net-zero, this landmark event further encourages us to stay committed to enhancing the airport's operational efficiency while operating on fully renewable energy,” added the officials.

At present, BPIA, Bhubaneswar, has a certificate for Level 2 Carbon reduction awarded on 07.01.2020 and becomes eligible for achieving Level-3 Carbon Emission reduction.