An airport terminal powered by 13,000 solar panels
The New Terminal One building of JFK International Airport in New York will be fitted with no less than 13,000 solar panels. The panels will give the airport building – currently under construction – a clean power supply that will even get the terminal through grid blackouts and keep operations going.
The 11.34-megawatt solar-powered microgrid of the New Terminal One, designed by AlphaStruxure, is scheduled to come online starting in 2026. Fitting the roofs with solar panels is a way of reducing the CO2 footprint of JFK, but there is more to this investment than that.
Along with the 7.66-megawatt rooftop solar array, the microgrid will include 2 megawatts/4 megawatt-hours of battery energy storage. Another 3.68 megawatts’ worth of fuel cells are intended to supply backup power and generate waste heat used for cooling or heating water.
The huge amount of solar panels on the roof of the terminal will provide enough continuous power for the 23-gate hub to keep functioning if the grid goes down. This will reduce the risk of canceled flights and stranded passengers, and ensuring the airport can still support emergency-relief efforts after a natural disaster.
According to a report by Canary Media, airports in the US are increasingly pursuing microgrid projects as power disruptions and extreme weather events become more common across the United States. In May 2022, JFK experienced flight delays and widespread confusion for hours when it lost grid power.
