20% of Dublin Airport’s electricity to come from renewable solar energy by 2030

The installation is the first phase of a larger solar strategy that will see daa commit to generating 20% of its electricity from solar by 2030. The company announced the opening of Phase 1 on April 7, at an event attended by Ireland's Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien.

Greenvolt Next, one of Ireland’s leading providers of renewable energy solutions installed more than 15,000 solar panels on a 28-acre site located close to the south runway at the airport.

The solar photovoltaic (PV) panels are a clean and renewable energy source, converting sunlight directly into electricity using PV cells and emitting no greenhouse gases or pollutants.

Now operational, the 9 MWp solar farm is expected to generate 7 GWh to 9 GWh per annum dependent on weather conditions, which is 10% – 13% of Dublin Airport’s annual consumption. This is sufficient to cover the electricity needs of the entire airfield, with excess electricity contributing to the energy needs of the airport terminals and campus.

Today’s announcement of a commitment to Phase 2 will see the airport campus further reduce its impact on the national electricity grid as part of a wider pipeline of renewable energy projects. Subject to planning permission, Phase 2 envisages the staged deployment of an additional 6,000 solar panels by late 2027.

This is sufficient to fully power the baggage systems in Terminals 1 and 2 and means a further 4% – 6% of the annual electricity needs of Dublin Airport will come from renewable energy generated onsite.

A feasibility study to identify the best location on the airport campus for Phase 2 will be completed by the end of April. Dublin Airport is also developing a longer-term solar roadmap to include further phases of the solar farm and allow Dublin Airport to meet its 2030 target of 20% of electricity coming from renewable sources.

Welcoming the development, Minister O’Brien said: “I’m delighted to officially open Dublin Airport’s solar farm. Investing in renewable solar energy and exploring the potential of geothermal sets Dublin Airport up for the future and helps the airport meet its commitment to reducing its emissions by 51% by 2030. Dublin Airport’s announcement today of its commitment to expanding its solar farm is very welcome.”

Andrea Carroll, daa Group Director of Sustainability, said: “daa has a very ambitious program of decarbonization. Phase 1 of our solar farm is now operational and Phase 2 will expand the renewable electricity output. Generating and using renewable energy is a key part of the program to reduce emissions in line with commitments under the National Climate Action Plan. We’re excited to also be in the early stages of exploring ‘the heat beneath our feet’ to see if geothermal heating is an option for Dublin Airport and will update on this later in the year.”

Vincent Harrison, daa Chief Commercial and Development Officer, said: “Investing in solar reduces Dublin Airport’s reliance on the national electricity grid and boosts our onsite energy generation capabilities. Continuing to invest in modernizing Dublin Airport so our terminals and airfield operations are as sustainable as possible is a key part of our €2 billion Infrastructure Application, which also asks to increase the passenger cap to 40 million a year. As the recent power issues at Heathrow showed, ensuring critical national infrastructure has resiliency in the event of power disruption is essential to avoid significant knock-on impacts. We will continue to invest in sustainability and infrastructure projects that set Dublin Airport up for the long term.”

This renewable energy source will help Dublin Airport meet its commitment to reduce its direct emissions (Scope 1 and 2) by 51% by 2030, which aligns with the public sector targets set as part of the National Climate Action Plan, and ultimately towards achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 at the latest. Dublin Airport’s capital investment plan, together with the Infrastructure Application submitted to Fingal County Council in December 2023, identify a suite of projects that will provide sustainability benefits with investments totaling €400 million.

To appropriately incorporate the solar installations and other related renewable and alternative fuel technologies, the airport is in the process of completing a thermal storage project and actively pursuing battery energy storage solutions (BESS). The deployment of energy efficient technology across the campus remains a key part of the airport’s carbon reduction strategy, with the ongoing deployment of LED lighting, fixed electrical ground power (FEGP) for aircraft and electric vehicle (EV) fleet and charging point upgrades among other solutions.

Transitioning to a sustainable fleet: 81% of Dublin Airport’s light fleet (e.g. cars and vans) are electric or hybrid vehicles, and 100% of the heavy fleet (e.g. fire and rescue trucks) have transitioned from diesel to Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) or electric.

Dublin Airport became this year the first public sector organization to successfully demonstrate the use of HVO in boilers and generators as a sustainable fuel source. 3,300t of carbon emissions from oil will be saved between now and 2030 from this change.

Dublin Airport has already exceeded the National Climate Action Plan public sector target of a 50% improvement in energy efficiency by 2030 though a range of measures including improving heating efficiency in our terminals and campus buildings and upgraded LED lighting on the airfield and campus. Further improvements are in progress.

Dublin Airport also continues to work with its aviation and transport partners to find ways to reduce carbon emissions (Scope 3) which are outside of Dublin Airport’s direct control. These emissions emanate from many sources including aircraft flight emissions and passenger transport to and from the airport. Dublin Airport is supporting its airline customers’ exploration of sustainable aviation fuels and the possibilities of hydrogen and electricity powered flight. It is also supportive of ambitious public infrastructure projects including MetroLink and BusConnects, which will reduce passenger emissions as they travel to and from Dublin Airport.