Mumbai airport switches to 100% green sources for energy usage; India’s first to launch hybrid tech

Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA), on Monday, announced that it has entirely switched to green sources for its energy consumption needs, making it one of India’s 100 per cent sustainable airports. CSMIA’s this sustainable initiative is part of the airport’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint and further propel its journey towards ‘Net Zero’ emissions.

CSMIA, which was also the first in India to launch hybrid technology that solely runs on green energy since April 2022, now procures around 5 per cent of the airport’s electricity requirement through its onsite solar generation and the rest 95 per cent from other green sources such as hydro & wind energy, it revealed in a public release.

Ushering into a sustainable future, CSMIA witnessed a rise in natural energy procurement with 57 per cent green consumption in April 2022 to 98 per cent between May to July. However, the airport attained 100 per cent utilisation of renewable sources of energy in August 2022. CSMIA, in line with its vision, has prepared a roadmap to achieve “Net Zero Carbon Emission” by 2029.

CSMIA’s spokesperson said: “We are extremely delighted to achieve this key milestone in our journey towards attaining a sustainable future for CSMIA. Quick wins do not create high-level of impact on the environment, thus, CSMIA has always been determined to focus on long-term transformations.”

“As CSMIA aspires to become net-zero by 2029, this landmark event further encourages us to stay committed to our efforts in enhancing the operational efficiency of the airport while operating on fully renewable energy,” the spokesperson added.  

CSMIA, in April this year, had enhanced its capacity usage of green energy and deployed a 10Kwp Hybrid SolarMill consisting of 2 Kwp TurboMill and 8 Kwp Solar PV modules with an estimated minimum energy generation of 36 Kwh per day. This hybrid renewable energy product harnesses solar and wind energy combined to generate electricity.

CSMIA, which has been inching towards the reduction of carbon emissions under its Environment Social and Governance policy commitments, aims to reduce approximately 3,000 tonnes of GHG emissions by conversion of belt-driven fans of Air handling units (AHUs) with EC fans, replacement of cooling tower fills with energy efficient fills, replacement of conventional lamps with LEDs, to conserve energy further.

The airport also aims to adopt internet of things (IoT) based temperature monitoring system at Terminal 2 to optimise the energy consumption of the air conditioning system and conversion of conventional fuel vehicles with electric vehicles (EV).

CSMIA has also envisaged several sustainable innovations and projects like green building designs, and operational measures that allowed it to meet with ACA Level 3+ ‘NEUTRALITY’ in 2016-17 and is in the advanced stage to achieve ACA level 4+ transition.