The panels belong to Finavia’s solar plant whose first sector was opened just under two years ago in the summer of 2017 and produces 5% of the terminal extensions’ electricity. The rest of the airport’s electricity is produced by wind power and next year more panels will be installed on the facade of the airport’s new parking complex , which will be targeted at charging electric cars. With the bulk of airport emissions usually caused by the energy consumption of buildings, lighting and vehicles, the production of renewable energy was integral in Helsinki Airport achieving its carbon neutral status.
Finavia’s solar plant is the largest airport plant in the Nordic countries and once all the sections of the plant are in use solar power production capacity at Helsinki will be approximately 750kWp.
As part of its ongoing efforts, Finavia will increase the solar power production in the areas of the airport that are to be newly built and will also look at other locations for new systems. And, with the goal of achieving carbon neutrality at all its airports by the end of 2019, a further objective is to expand the utilisation of solar power across its airport network.