TotalEnergies builds 12 MW solar carport at New York’s JFK Airport

From pv magazine USA

TotalEnergies is constructing a 12 MW solar canopy in a long-term parking lot at John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport in New York. The solar will be paired with 7.5 MW/25 MWh of battery energy storage to help reduce reliance on the electric grid during peak periods.

TotalEnergies will own, operate, and maintain the system, and recently signed a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for half the energy generated (6 MW) from the behind-the-meter portion of the project.

The other half the electricity will be allocated as community solar, to be completed in phase two of the project. The plan is to deliver energy to Con Edison through the NYS Community Distributed Generation Program and provide guaranteed electric bill savings for 25 years to historically disadvantaged and environmentally impacted households located in nearby Queens communities.

“We applaud Governor Hochul, PANYNJ and NYPA for their leadership on this unique project, which will not only make clean power accessible to millions of travelers who pass through JFK Airport each year, but also reduce electricity costs for residents of low-income neighborhoods in Queens,” said Marc-Antoine Pignon, managing director of TotalEnergies Renewables USA.

TotalEnergies told pv magazine USA that the project will be constructed on a canopy with a custom wave design. It will include 32,000 Sunpower solar modules and 164 SMA inverters. There will also be five Tesla Megapack battery energy storage systems.

The project will be put into service in phases in 2025 and 2026. When complete, the JFK solar carport will produce enough clean energy to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 6,000 tons per year, which is equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions of approximately 1,500 gas-powered passenger vehicles for one year. It will also contribute to the Port Authority’s goal of reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across the agency’s facilities by 2050.

Last year, another solar project was announced for JFK International Airport. The New Terminal One microgrid project will include 11.34 MW of rooftop solar with 2 MW/4 MWh of lithium-ion batteries and 3.68 MW of combined heat and power (renewable natural gas) and hydrogen fuel cells. Electricity from the project is expected to meet 90% of the electrical needs of the terminal.

TotalEnergies has a portfolio of large-scale solar, battery storage, onsite B2B solar distributed generation and other renewable projects that are expected to generate up to 10 GW of clean power by 2025 and more than 25 GW by 2030. The company recently reached over 1.5 GW of renewable PPAs with more than 600 industrial and commercial customers worldwide, of which 1.1 GW is already operational.