Airports run on Renewable Energy

Faced with more regular extreme climate, cybersecurity and terrorism concerns, and an aging electric grid, other infrastructure and mission critical facilities are implementing energy resilience answers like microgrids. While ATL’s outage was a rare event, outages at large U.S. and European airports suggest differences.

For instance, Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport was temporarily closed in April when a large power outage hit all operations. McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada, got an outage over the summer to receive ground stop, delayed flights, and baggage and screening system shutdowns. Lastly, Hamburg Airport lost power and was forced to close in  June. This is where networks come into play. 
 

Solar Airports

Microgrids are local energy networks that separate from bigger electrical network during power outages from weather events or network emergencies. They provide renewable power to critical public services and infrastructure, incorporate smart technologies, diverse power generation and storage systems. This provides power continuity that enhances power quality.

It adds the ability to interact with the macro-grid that harvests energy savings and develop revenue streams. Airports can have resilience with a payback and yield environmental benefits.

Airports are regional economic engines, high-energy users, and are examples of mission-critical facilities that can reap the rewards from microgrids. Burns, a specialized engineering firm helped Denver International assess a microgrid and a look into potential zero net carbon strategies. Pittsburgh is procuring on-site generation with the potential to be sized and configured as a resilient microgrid.

Some airports have assessed strategies to mitigate single point of failure (SPOF) risk. The challenge of ensuring adequate electric supply is increasing. With air travel expected to double over the next 20 years, airports foresee power supply constraints as they build new terminals and increase electric load.

Examples

Due to its location, San Francisco International Airport has restrictions to bring in additional electric feeders and is evaluating how on-site generation help meet the expected need.

Los Angeles International Airport, endures outages and power quality concerns anticipates load growth to almost double in the next 10 to 15 years, from 60 MW to more than 100 MW. The airport is contemplating on-site generation and renewable energy storage to improve power quality and resilience.
 

Electrical service and infrastructure at airports can be very site-specific, as can the power reliability, resilience and supply issues they face. Over time microgrids that combine on-site generation, energy storage and smart, responsive energy loads will prove to be an increasingly viable means to address the growing challenges at any airport.

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