Adelaide Airport’s Solar Expansion Triples Capacity
Adelaide Airport has recently completed the installation of over 3,800 solar panels on the rooftops of its international and domestic terminals. This significant addition has increased the airport’s generation capacity by 2.2 megawatts, effectively tripling the total photovoltaic (PV) capacity installed.
In a recent update, Adelaide Airport announced that the solar expansion project, spearheaded by Iberdrola Australia, has brought the cumulative PV capacity at the airport to 3.5 megawatts peak (MWp), allowing for the generation of approximately 3,282 megawatt-hours (MWh) of energy annually.
Managing director Brenton Cox highlighted that this expansion will enable Adelaide Airport to surpass its goal of self-generating 15% of its electricity requirements from onsite renewable sources. Currently, the airport, which ranks as Australia’s fifth largest in terms of passenger numbers, already sources the remaining electricity from renewable sources, primarily through agreements with the three Lake Bonney wind farms.
The journey towards solar power at Adelaide Airport began in 2007 with the installation of a small rooftop array on one of the terminals. Subsequently, the addition of a 1.17 MW solar carpark system in mid-2016 further bolstered the airport’s total capacity to 1.28 MW, meeting approximately 10% of its electricity demands.
Although at the time of its installation, the 1.17 MW rooftop solar system at Adelaide Airport held the title of Australia’s largest airport solar installation, this record has since been surpassed by larger airports across the country.
Despite this, Adelaide Airport achieved a significant milestone in December 2024 by becoming Australia’s first major airport to achieve carbon neutrality. This achievement was announced following the initial plans for the solar expansion project.
