Do Airports Use Solar Panel

Solar energy technologies such as solar pv are mature commercially available renewable energy technologies.

Do airports use solar panel.

And numerous other airports have installed solar panels and built solar farms to generate renewable energy including the largest airport based solar farm a 183 acre farm at indianapolis international airport which houses 87 478 solar panels and provides 22 2 megawatts of renewable energy for the region s electric grid. In other examples found in the study the solar energy systems installed at large airports are used to power nearby cities where demand is high. This week cochin international airport limited in kochi kerala india inaugurated a 50 acre 12 mw solar pv plant making it the first airport in the world to offset 100 of its usage through the use of solar. Particularly noteworthy and a close analogue to the majura solar farm with regard to its position in relation to an airport is the indiana solar farm.

Constellation the tucson international airport has a uniquely designed solar amphitheater producing 1 25 mw. Adding a large array of solar pv panels to generate electricity for use on site can greatly reduce an airport s utility expenses. Other solar technologies are briefly outlined in the appendix as they also may have some deployment potential at airports. The focus of this paper is pv as it has the largest potential applicability for deployment at airports.

Custom designed airport solar arrays. Some of the electricity produced is used directly at the airport and the rest is sold back to the grid. In recent years solar panels are getting installed in the lands around the airport runways to get sustainable energy. Airport environments are favourable for solar projects.

The airport has a total of 42 358 solar panels spread across 55 acres of solar fields. When solar panels are installed the airport can serve as a nearby energy customer itself. The airport also has another 1 mw solar pv plant in addition to a smaller grid connected 100 kw rooftop system both of which were installed two years ago. The airport now features over 46 000 solar panels generating in the excess of 13mw.

2mw of solar panels facing due south are located under 1km south west of runways. They have stopped paying for electricity all together and even started to contribute energy back to the main grid. And if an airfield is no longer operational it may be an ideal space to install a solar project and use the electricity produced as an additional revenue stream. The preponderance of examples in which solar panels have been installed at on or near airports is testament to fact that they are not automatically a hazard to pilots.

The land surrounding airports is typically unusable because of noise from low flying aircraft.