Sustainable Energy At Airports

Of the various forms of renewable energy, solar is perhaps the most applicable to large airports. The abundance of land and rooftop area provides numerous locations for installation. The generation occurs on-site, right where there is a large demand, so there is minimal transmission losses, and any excess production can be sold back to the grid. The peak production times of a solar array also correlate nicely with the peak demand of many airports - the hottest part of the hottest days when big terminals and other facilities are consuming lots of energy to run HVAC systems.

This is more so for regions where the solar radiation is higher; roughly speaking this is regions closer to the equator. Airports based in regions further from the equator can also benefit from solar installations, although their peak demand periods tend to not so closely correlate as they are during the colder months when they have a high heating requirement.

Airports are becoming very inventive with their choice of location for solar installations. For example, car parks are being shaded by elevated solar panels. Airports are unlocking the value of otherwise unusable land that buffers runways by utilising it for solar installations. And of course those big buildings have vast roof areas that can be fitted out with solar.

Solar at airports is not new. But lately, the momentum has been building, and projects such as those at Denver and Fresno commercial airports, and Nellis military airport are rapidly showing that airports can embrace renewable energy in a financially viable way and increase the overall sustainability of their operations.

During the course of this solar series I will post on these and other specific standout examples of solar being used in an Airport context. I will also post about some of the academic research in this area.