Monday 8 June 2020

Hawke’s Bay moves closer to becoming New Zealand’s net zero airport with planned solar project

Hawke’s Bay is a step closer to becoming New Zealand’s first net zero airport with the announcement of plans to develop a commercial solar farm within the airport’s boundary.

The airport in Napier has formed a joint venture with New Zealand’s electricity lines business Centralines to work on the project, which will be developed in stages and is expected to have a capacity of 10MW on completion.

The power generated from the solar plant will be enough to meet the airport's own requirements.

Hawke’ Bay Airport CEO, Stuart Ainslie, said: “We’re anticipating some significant innovation in the aviation industry, particularly post Covid-19 which could result in demand for electricity growing rapidly.

"This is already starting to happen on the land side of our business with electric and hybrid vehicles and if airlines pursue hybrid technology for short-haul routes then this could grow exponentially. If this is the future, then the scalable nature of the project will ensure the airport is in the best possible position to work collaboratively with key partners such as Air New Zealand”.

The project forms part of the airport’s broad sustainability framework and will also help to diversify revenue by sale of excess clean energy to external parties.