Thursday 9 July 2020

Edmonton International Airport to build solar farm to slash emissions

Edmonton International Airport in Canada will soon accommodate what it claims to be the 'world's largest' airport-based solar farm.

The airport authority has entered an agreement with European solar developer Alpin Sun to build a 627-acre solar project, the size of which will be equivalent to 313 football fields.

The 120MW plant will consist of 340,000 solar panels and will bring in an estimated $169 million (£98m) in investment to the city of Edmonton.

It is also estimated an annual energy production of 200,000MWh will result in an annual offset of 106,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

Tom Ruth, President and CEO Edmonton International Airport, said: "With Airport City Solar and Alpin Sun we’re creating something the whole world will notice. We’re Canada’s largest major airport by land size so we have the space to do something very special, the largest solar farm at an airport in the world.

"This will create jobs, provide sustainable solar power for our region and shows our dedication to sustainability."

Airport City Solar is expected to begin construction in early 2022 and be operational by the end of the year.