India is now home to the world's first fully solar powered airport

by Stephen Hui on August 21st, 2015 at 1:11 PM

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The Vancouver International Airport touts its "green initiatives" on its website.

For one thing, YVR's domestic and international terminals have had solar hot water heating systems since 2003.

"These systems help heat more than 800-gallons of hot water every hour, resulting in an energy savings of $110,000 each year," the YVR website states.

But when it comes to solar power, YVR has nothing on Cochin International Airport, one of the busiest airports in India.

On August 18, Cochin became the world's first airport to be completely run on solar power.

The airport has a 12-megawatt-peak solar power plant, which consists of 6,150 solar panels spread across 45 acres.

According to the Cochin website, the solar panels generate "50,000 to 60,000 units of electricity per day to be consumed for all its operational functions, which technically make the airport 'absolutely power neutral'".