Dublin Airport, which has flights to 195 destinations in 42 countries and is served by a number of regional and low-fare carriers including Ryanair, Norwegian, flybe, Loganair and Aer Lingus, has joined a growing number of airports turning to solar power.
Under the management of Dublin Airports Authority (daa) and in partnership with the Irish Electricity Supply Board (ESB), the airport has installed 268 solar panels on top of its reservoir system to provide more than half of the reservoir’s annual energy requirements.
Providing 500 million litres of water – the equivalent of 200 Olympic-sized swimming pools – to the airport’s two passenger terminals, the reservoir system also services all the offices and businesses on the airport campus.
Explaining how daa is working closely with ESB to identify opportunities to use low-carbon technologies to improve energy performance at the airport, Dalton Philips, daa’s CEO, said: “We are committed to working in partnership with ESB to reduce our energy consumption by 33% by 2020.”
The airport is already carbon accredited, as part of a Europe-wide airport carbon management certification programme that covers more than half of European air passenger traffic.
“We want to be leaders in this area and help Ireland meet its national obligations in the process,” said Philips, revealing how in the past three years, Dublin Airport has reduced its carbon footprint by 5,000 tonnes, which is equivalent to a 10% reduction in carbon emissions under its control.
“We are looking forward to building on this performance and making even more energy savings that will also benefit the travelling public through sustainable environmental performance and annual cost savings,” Philips concluded.
