The largest photovoltaic project for civil airports in China has started!
On November 21, the Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport photovoltaic construction project held a groundbreaking ceremony. The project has a planned installed capacity of 30MW, which is currently the largest distributed photovoltaic power generation project for civil airports in China.
It is understood that the photovoltaic project of Jiangbei International Airport is invested and constructed by CGN Wind Power Co., Ltd. with a total investment of more than 100 million yuan. The construction scale covers an area of about 280,000 square meters of Jiangbei Airport. It is planned to install 21,798 monocrystalline silicon bifacial solar panels and configure 110 inverters. After completion, the annual photovoltaic power generation is expected to reach 24 million kWh, accounting for 10% of the total annual electricity consumption of the entire airport, and is expected to reduce carbon emissions by about 20,000 tons per year.
At present, the project is accelerating the promotion of various tasks such as clearance safety and anti-glare demonstration, and strives to achieve formal grid-connected operation in the first half of 2025. By then, it will effectively alleviate the power consumption pressure during the peak period of Chongqing's "peak summer" and form a safe and stable local power grid.
I don't know if you have noticed that in recent years, investment and construction of photovoltaics in airports around the country have sprung up like mushrooms after rain. Since this year alone, several photovoltaic + airport projects in China have made significant progress.
On August 30, Yunnan Energy Investment Group's 5MW Kunming Changshui Airport distributed photovoltaic project was officially connected to the grid for power generation; on September 5, the 11.6MW distributed photovoltaic power station project on the roof of Urumqi International Airport passed the acceptance; on November 1, the 12MW distributed photovoltaic project of Zhanjiang Wuchuan International Airport started; on November 21, the 30MW photovoltaic construction project of Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport started; on November 26, the 13.6MW photovoltaic project in the north side of the first and third runways of Pudong Airport was officially put into operation; on November 25, the 5.226MW distributed photovoltaic project of Guangzhou Airport Logistics Group officially started.
In addition, distributed photovoltaic power generation systems are already in operation at many domestic airports, including Pudong Airport, Capital International Airport, Hangzhou Xiaoshan Airport, Daxing Airport, Hongqiao Airport, Bao'an Airport, Anhui Hefei Xinqiao Airport, Hebei Shijiazhuang Zhengding International Airport, Xinjiang Turpan Airport, Hainan Haikou Meilan Airport, etc. Overseas, international airports such as Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Tokyo Airport, California Airport, Athens International Airport, Hawaii Airport, Indianapolis Airport, etc. have installed photovoltaics. Among them, Indianapolis International Airport has one of the world's largest airport solar power plants, generating enough electricity to supply 10,000 households each year. Cochin International Airport in India is the world's first airport to use photovoltaic power generation to meet all its electricity needs!
Why choose photovoltaic power generation? It is because the application of "airport + photovoltaic power generation" has many irreplaceable advantages:
From the perspective of airport operation:
Photovoltaic power generation projects can provide clean and renewable energy for airport operations by utilizing idle space at the airport to achieve effective utilization of solar energy resources, reduce operating costs, reduce carbon emissions, and enhance the airport's environmental image and operating benefits. In addition, in the airport + photovoltaic mode, if the local power grid fails or blackouts, the photovoltaic power generation system can continue to provide power guarantee for the airport's key equipment and facilities, improve the disaster resistance and emergency response capabilities of the airport's energy system, and ensure the normal operation of the airport.
From the perspective of photovoltaic project investment:
The implementation of airport photovoltaic projects is of great significance: supported by both national and industry policies;
Good land conditions: airport land resources are concentrated and do not involve sensitive factors such as cultivated land and forest land;
Low construction cost: the internal collection line of the airport is short, and there is no need to build or renovate roads on a large scale;
Low unit investment: compared with mountain photovoltaic power stations, the unit kilowatt investment is low, which has obvious construction cost advantages.
Looking back on the development of airport photovoltaic applications, it presents continuous changes and innovations.
In the early days, airport photovoltaic equipment was usually installed in locations far away from the flight area or waterway, such as the roofs of large, isolated low-rise buildings, open spaces far away from the flight area, etc. The reason for this is, on the one hand, to minimize the impact on airport operations, and on the other hand, because low-rise buildings basically do not block sunlight and have a large space.
For example, Shanghai Hongqiao Airport. In 2010, Hongqiao Airport laid a solar cell module with an installed capacity of 2.848MW on the roof of the West Cargo Terminal of Terminal 2. The average annual online power generation is about 2.77 million KWh, which can save about 987 tons of standard coal for the power grid each year.
The Shenzhen Baoan Airport photovoltaic project was built in two phases from 2013 to 2014. The first phase was mainly distributed in the airport bonded logistics park and aviation logistics park, with a total roof area of about 70,000 square meters; the second phase was installed in the new cargo terminal. After the completion of the two phases of the project, the total installed capacity of solar power generation reached 20MW, with an annual power generation of about 20 million KWh, making it the largest solar power airport in the world's civil aviation airports at that time, and the largest solar photovoltaic power generation project built in the domestic airport area so far.
Later, with the continuous advancement of photovoltaic technology and the improvement of the bifaciality of components, the construction of photovoltaic systems around airport runways also became possible. For example, the photovoltaic power generation system (Phase II) of the ground transportation center of Beijing Capital International Airport, which was put into operation in 2015, selected double-sided double-glass photovoltaic components, and the back of the photovoltaic panels can also absorb light energy to generate electricity.
Since then, innovative solar energy application forms such as photovoltaic building integration (BIPV) and photovoltaic storage and charging integration have gradually begun to appear in airport applications.
In November 2014, Shanghai Pudong Airport built a 1.7MW solar building integration project, which is the first airport BIPV project in my country. The project covers an area of 15,000 square meters and uses new photovoltaic components to replace traditional roofs. It can not only generate electricity, but also meet the needs of airport parking facilities and loading and unloading equipment, and provide shade for outdoor air-conditioning equipment in the airport.
In this regard, we have to mention the Hubei Ezhou Shunfeng Huahu Airport. In 2022, with the official operation of the Ezhou Shunfeng Huahu Airport, the first phase of photovoltaic curtain walls on the facades of its comprehensive building and dormitory building also made a stunning appearance. The project installed nearly 6,000 photovoltaic power generation glass building materials of different sizes and different transmittances, and the photovoltaic curtain wall area reached about 6,000 square meters.
It is particularly noteworthy that the project uses translucent power generation glass in the translucent area of the building facade, which has both beautiful translucent effects and photovoltaic power generation capabilities; in the opaque area, opaque photovoltaic power generation glass is used to achieve lower investment costs and higher installed power, and the design is ingenious.
Beijing Capital International Airport, my country's first national gate, is even more bold and innovative. It not only introduces cutting-edge technologies such as "photovoltaic + energy storage" and "photovoltaic storage and charging integration" into the project, but also innovatively applies photovoltaic power generation to green roofs, large-area glass dome roofs, West Lake water surface and other locations, effectively broadening the space and depth of airport photovoltaic applications.
Beijing Daxing Airport is the world's first civil aviation airport to try to build a solar photovoltaic system in the airfield. The airport has installed a solar photovoltaic power generation system with an area of about 70,000 square meters and a total installed capacity of about 3.0MW near the lateral runway (East Runway 1) of the airfield, with an average annual power generation of 3.29 million KWh.
However, when it comes to the innovative application of photovoltaic power generation, foreign airports have recently appeared in more "showy" operations: Can you imagine? They plan to use photovoltaic panels to build the airport fence!
Recently, Nuremberg Airport in Germany is planning to build such a cool photovoltaic facility! The airport fence using photovoltaic modules rises along an area of 1.7 kilometers long and 60 meters wide, with a maximum output power of 13.4MW. Just last Friday, the groundbreaking ceremony was successfully held.
According to the operator of the project, Nuremberg Airport Energy Company Greenovative, this airport photovoltaic fence project will use about 23,000 photovoltaic modules and 93 kilometers of cables, and 380 tons of steel will be required to support the structure. After completion, the annual power generation is expected to be 13.4GWh, and these photovoltaic power will be directly connected to the airport power grid. In addition, in order to maximize the use of the generated electricity, they also plan to build battery energy storage and heat pump systems.
In fact, the application of vertical photovoltaic power generation in foreign airports is no longer a rare thing. For example, Frankfurt Airport recently launched the world's largest vertical photovoltaic power generation device, covering an area of 30.8 hectares and generating 17.4 megawatts of electricity.
Why is the vertical installation of photovoltaic modules becoming more and more popular at airports? It turns out that one of the main problems of solar power plants near airports is the possibility of glare, which affects the pilot's vision during takeoff or landing. Vertical solar power plants often produce less glare than traditional horizontal installations, further reducing these risks.
Not only that, vertical photovoltaic modules are arranged in an east-west direction, which can also extend the power generation time during the day, which can be said to kill two birds with one stone.
Looking to the future, airports will not only be a transportation hub for welcoming and sending people, but also a "big family" of photovoltaic power generation! With the continuous advancement and innovation of technology, airport photovoltaic projects will become more and more diverse and interesting, which is really exciting!
