Kochi Metro gets 51% of its Power Supply from Solar Installations

Kochi Metro Rail Ltd (KMPL) has commissioned a 1.8 MW solar power plant at its coach depot in Muttom. Post commissioning, Kochi Metro has announced that the power is helping the metro operator to meet 51% of its total power requirements from solar energy. Fallow land near the Muttom depot has been utilized for solar power installations over the years.

With this , Kochi Metro follows the Delhi Metro in being powered primarily by renewable energy.

The plant was inaugurated by Loknath Behera, the Managing Director of Kochi Metro. The official statement of Kochi Metro states that the new solar plant has enhanced the total installed capacity of solar power generation by 9.90 MW. The project will be further expanded to 10.50 MW.

Kochi Metro mentions that the project will result in the generation of a total of 147.49 lakh units of solar power each year .

Over the years, Kochi Metro has used the land lying as fallow near the depot for solar power generation.

KMPL’s Solar Programme

The solar power projects of Kochi Metro are being implemented in three different phases. The first two phases are already complete and commissioned. The newly inaugurated plant is a part of the ongoing third phase. This phase also traps the solar potential of open sky spaces of the metro tracks.

In Phase I of the project, rooftop solar on the metro stations and depot with a capacity of 2.7MWp was installed that generates 37 lakh units every year since 2018.

Phase II was developed in 2019 with ground-mounted solar power coming up at the depot of Kochi Metro producing 44 lakh units every year.

The Managing Director of Kochi Metro informs, “Once the Third Phase is complete, Kochi Metro will have a total power generation capacity of 10.5 MWp which will generate about 147.49 lakh units annually, thus contributing about 55% of the total energy consumption.”