Solar Boats To Be Deployed on Kochi-Muziris Heritage Tours

The Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) on Sunday signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Muziris Heritage Project Ltd. for using its solar boats for the tours conducted in Kochi-Muziris heritage tourism circuit.

As per the MoU signed by CIAL Managing Director S Suhas IAS and Muziris Heritage Project Managing Director P M Nowshad, the boats will be used for the circuit tours conducted by Muziris Heritage Project, on a revenue sharing basis.

CIAL, a green energy pioneer with its solar powered Airport, owns a 24-seat solar boat with AC compartment for trial operation in the west coast canal which is being renovated by Kerala Waterways and Infrastructures Limited.

“As the tourism sector in the state has started witnessing a surge, CIAL decided to try out a new revenue stream by deploying its solar boat for cruise activity until the canal project is completed,” CIAL said in a release.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had inaugurated the first phase of the canal in February this year by taking a short cruise by this solar boat at the Veli-Kadinamkulam stretch of the canal in Thiruvananthapuram district.

The boat has 15 solar panels mounted upon its roof. The generated power is stored in the on board battery. The system can also draw power from conventional sources. The boat can be put into operation for five hours on a single full charging, the release said.

The boat is designed in such a way that it can cruise through a water body having a minimum depth of 45 cm.

In January this year, CIAL commissioned one of the biggest floating solar plants in Kerala. The 452-kilowatt hour (KWh) solar plant was installed to further aid the airport in becoming sustainable by using green energy generated by the plant.

With this installation, the total installed solar capacity of the airport came up to 40 MWp, helping it in generating around 1.60 lakh units of power a day whereby the daily consumption stands around 1.30 lakh units.