Denver will be site for largest solar array at U.S. airport

The Denver International Airport plans to add 4.4 megawatts of solar capacity, a project that is being financed by Constellation Energy. This is on top of the existing 2.6 megawatts of capacity that was commissioned through two early projects installed and managed by integrator Intermountain Electric.Oak Leaf Energy Partners is another partner in the project.

The new array is expected to be completed by early 2011. It is being billed as the largest customer-sited project in the state. The airport will buy back the power being generated on the site through a power purchase agreement with Constellation Energy.

I heard about the project through China's Yingli Solar, which is making roughly 19,000 photovoltaic solar panels for the installation. The pitch is that the solar technology system will generate 7,000 megawatt hours of electricity per year in conventional electricity consumption. The annual offset in terms of carbon dioxide is roughly 5,000 metric tons of emissions.

I'm wondering how long it will take United Airlines, for which Denver is a major hub, to start pointing out the relative "green-ness" of its gate operations when compared with other airports. Especially the one in nearby Boulder. Denver is one of the world's busiest airports, handling about 50 million passengers per year. This is quite a different strategy than the one being embraced in England, where the government has put the kibosh on the development of new runways at Heathrow Airport.

Does solar make one airport "greener" than another? In some small way, I suppose the answer is yes but there are so many other factors involved that it really isn't. One thing is for certain, any little thing that an airport can do to help its airline tenants save some money is probably a good thing for the economy.