Using the power of the sun: the expansion of the photovoltaic systems at Cologne Bonn Airport continues to progress. The airport is installing rooftop PV systems on a total of three buildings on the campus. The new systems together supply approx. 725,000 kWh of CO2-neutral electricity, enough to supply almost 150 single-family homes with electricity for a year. The airport is investing around 2.5 million euros in the new solar systems.
“The expansion of renewable energies is a central building block on the road to climate neutrality. We are therefore continuously expanding the solar energy systems at the airport,” says Thilo Schmid, Chairman of the Management Board of Flughafen Köln/Bonn GmbH. ”This brings us another step closer to our goal of being climate-neutral by 2045 at the latest.”
The new systems are being installed on the roofs of two administrative buildings occupied by the Eurowings airline and a FedEx-owned cargo hall. The system on the FedEx hall has a peak output of around 657 kilowatts (kWp). The systems on the Eurowings buildings have a peak output of 70.9 kWp and 42.8 kWp.
In addition, in close coordination with the freight service provider UPS, photovoltaic systems with a peak output of 801.7 kilowatts (North 1) and 501.1 kilowatts (North 2) will be installed on its North 1 and the new North 2 cargo halls.
Photovoltaic systems have been an important part of the airport's sustainability activities for many years. The first two systems were put into operation in 2009. There are currently seven of these systems at the airport, with a total of around 13,000 modules, producing approximately 2,800 megawatt hours (MWh) of solar power per year. This will be expanded to 18,870 modules.
In the coming years, the airport will be investing many millions of euros in its energy infrastructure in order to reduce consumption and become less dependent on fossil fuels. In addition to expanding its photovoltaic systems, the airport is also focusing on the emission-free generation of heating and cooling using so-called ice storage technology in combination with PV systems and heat pumps. The airport is also investing in a transformer station and a wood-fired heating plant. In addition, the airport's own combined heat and power plant was modernized in 2022.
Further information on the airport's sustainability activities can be found at www.cgn-nebenan.de.
