ORGANIC FARMING

The 12MWp Solar PV Plant commissioned by CIAL Infrastructures Ltd. in the 52 acres vacant area near the cargo complex enabled CIAL to become the first airport in the world to be fully powered by solar energy. Although, this initiative was well appreciated, there were criticisms for not utilising the land for any productive purpose. This has led to the concept of organic farming utilising the vacant areas adjacent and in between the panels. This will be also helpful in arresting excessive weed growth between the panels, which can cause shading of the panels thereby reducing the solar generation. The planting of vegetables also cools the panels and increase power generation.

The farming was initiated at the PV Plant during December 2015 as a pilot run in an area of approximately 58 cents. The total yield from the pilot project include 400 kilograms of Ladies Finger, 400kg of Long Beans, 425kg of Blonde Cucumber, 2184kg of Ash Gourd and 378kg of Pumpkin. Later, other vegetables such as tomato, ginger, turmeric etc. were also cultivated. Subsequently, it was decided to extend the organic farming to whole area of the solar plant in different phases. At present, around 3 acres of land along the periphery of the PV plant was identified for farming, where additional crops such as green chilli, snake gourd, bitter gourd, bottle gourd, eggplant (brinjal) etc. are also being cultivated.