{"id":51184,"date":"2021-06-16T06:29:25","date_gmt":"2021-06-15T19:59:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=51184"},"modified":"2021-06-16T06:29:25","modified_gmt":"2021-06-15T19:59:25","slug":"perth-airport-renewables-mb2038","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/perth-airport-renewables-mb2038\/","title":{"rendered":"Perth Airport Targeting Carbon Neutrality By 2030"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Perth<\/p>\n

Perth Airport believes it can achieve 50 per cent renewable energy across its huge estate by 2030, and be carbon neutral by the same year.<\/p>\n

Perth Airport’s estate covers around 2,100 hectares and includes Munday Swamp, part of which is pictured above. It’s a very busy airport – while it only saw 5.2 million passengers during the financial year to date thanks to the dreaded lurgy, in 2019\/20 it welcomed close to 11.7 million passengers and in 2108\/19, 14.5 million.<\/p>\n

The PAPL estate is a large energy consumer, from electricity used for lighting, heating and cooling of buildings through to fuel for vehicles.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, Perth Airport announced a new Environment, Social, People and Governance (ESPG) Strategy that contains the carbon neutral commitment, covering\u00a0 Scope 1 (direct emissions from sources it owns or controls) and Scope 2 (indirect emissions associated with generation of energy purchased).<\/p>\n

\u201cClimate change is a global challenge which requires us all to act,\u201d said<\/a> CEO Kevin Brown. \u201cWe all need to be a part of the solution and we are already laying the groundwork that will set us on the path toward our own operations becoming carbon neutral by 2030″.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

With regard to the 50 per cent renewable energy by 2030 goal, the announcement mentions a mix of energy efficiency measures, two to three large scale on-site renewable energy projects and also potentially off-site projects.<\/p>\n

The nature of the renewable energy projects is a bit of a mystery at this point. Perhaps the organisation isn’t sure yet, but it’s safe to assume one or all of the on-site projects will involve solar power<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Perth Airport A Potential Rooftop Solar Wonderland<\/h2>\n

Some scoping work has already been done for the airport courtesy of a study out of RMIT University<\/a> back in March that delved into potential energy production of the 21 Leased Federal Airports (LFAs) in Australia.<\/p>\n

The RMIT researchers said Perth Airport has the highest estimates for solar PV-based electricity production of all LFAs.<\/p>\n

According to the researchers, it has approximately 951,543.35 m2 of rooftop area capable of hosting 482,159.40 m2 of solar panels. This, they say, could generate approximately 92.67 gigawatt-hours of clean electricity annually. While I wasn’t able to determine what the airport estate chews through a year, that’s equivalent to the electricity consumed by around 18,500 Australian households annually, give or take.<\/p>\n

It’s not clear if the researchers took into account some of the rooftops may be “slender roofs<\/a>” – that is, built to minimum specifications and not suitable for having panels installed on them.<\/p>\n

That aside, going big on commercial solar power<\/a> would also be in harmony with the airport’s commitment to \u2018no net loss of biodiversity\u2019 for its aviation and development projects1<\/a><\/sup> by utilising platforms for solar panels already in place (rooftops) – and solar energy would also save a bundle of bucks on electricity costs.<\/p>\n

Under the new ESPG strategy, the airport has also committed to deliver by 2030:<\/p>\n