Print
PDF
The APM Terminals facility in Jawaharlal Nehru Port is to pioneer the use of solar power. In the project’s first phase, roof-top solar panels will generate electric power of up to 361,000 kWh annually to help operate Mumbai’s busiest terminal.
As part of an environmental initiative, solar panels have been installed on two terminal structures, and the conversion of energy from collected sunlight into stored electricity has commenced. A feasibility study was completed by the terminal in 2015 into the possibility of generating solar power to reduce conventional electrical power consumption at the facility, which handled approximately 2 million teu in 2015. This represented over 40% of the record-breaking 4.48 million teu handled by the Mumbai port complex overall in 2015.
Phase I of the Solar Power Project, now underway, has included the installation and implementation of solar panels on the roofs of the terminal’s workshop and Central Gate Complex. Phase II will see the installation of solar panels on the tops of the STS (ship-to-shore) crane machine houses, with an expected completion date of June 2016, following trial testing. These new panels will generate an additional 220,000 kWh units per year.
Phase III of the project is currently at the conceptual stage, and will call for panels covering a wider surface area, resulting in solar generation of approximately 15% of the terminal’s total annual power requirement, . This would be around five million kWh units per year.
