How U.S. Airports Like Pittsburgh’s Generate Electricity On Site to Avoid Heathrow-Like Outages

When Christina Cassotis, CEO of Pittsburgh International Airport, heard of the current interruption that forced London Heathrow airport to suspend the operations last week, thought about the workers who were frantically trying to manage chaos.

But when an interruption strikes more at home, it has a more limited answer: keep calm and continues.

For almost four years, its airport was powered by a mix of natural gas generators on site and solar panels. The airport estimates that the autonomous system, known as microgriglia, has spared it about $ 1 million per year on its energy costs and allowed him to use the electrical network as a backup, said Mrs. Cassotis.

“We did it because we wanted resilience and redundancy,” he said. “Airports are a critical transport infrastructure. We should be able to operate, no matter which one.”

That level of energy independence is rare, especially among the larger airports.

Many airports have backup generators to help them maintain critical functions such as air traffic control and lighting during current interruptions. But those standard emergency measures have limits. They may require refueling if a hard break for many hours or days, for example. That’s why most airports are strongly dependent on external power to keep passengers and planes in motion.

But US airports are increasingly experimenting with the generation and storage of on -site electricity, generally with solar energy and batteries – to curb carbon emissions, prepare for future electricity needs and manage the growing interruptions caused by climate change and aging infrastructure.

Denver international airport has Multiple grilled connections if one fails, but recently he has also implemented a solar energy storage storage system to keep his underground trains running in the event of an emergency. At Kennedy International Airport in New York, a review of $ 19 billion includes plans to install thousands of panels and solar batteries to cut emissions and maintain its new terminal 1, which should open in 2026, running during interruptions that can be very destroyed and expensive for airports and all those who rely on them.

“If you have a reliable and effective airport, you are helping to support economic resilience,” said Joey Cathcart, a sustainable aviation expert at RMI, a non -profit of sustainability in Colorado previously known as Rocky Mountain Institute. He and his colleagues helped to develop a funded at the federal level Guide to airports interested in microgrids Like that of Pittsburgh.

Current interruptions in airports are more common than many officials would like. A 2023 Report of the Government Liability Office 321 interruptions that lasted at least five minutes in two dozens of US airports from 2015 to 2022 identified. Airports and other infrastructures, such as the same electric grid, are also increasingly threatened by natural disasters, many of which are linked to climate change. The number of storms and other weather events that have caused damage at least $ 1 billion has increased constantly in recent decades, from five in 2000 to 27 last year, According to national centers for environmental informationa part of the commercial department of the United States.

At the end of 2017, an electric fire caused a current interruption to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta international airport, stop flights nationally And costing Delta Air Lines, the largest airport at the airport, tens of millions of dollars. This and other interruptions prompted Mrs. Cassotis to ask her team to examine the microgrids.

“Basically we just started the investigation process,” he said. “Can we also have one?”

The airport, which is located on Marcellus’ natural gas deposits, has urged proposals to design, build and manage a microgridal without initial costs for the airport. In July 2021, Microgrida was active and functioning. Today it produces 23 megawatts of energy: three from a solar array on top of an old landfill and the rest of five generators of natural gas. At the maximum of the request, the airport, which served almost 10 million passengers last year, uses only about 14 megawatts, selling excess grid.

Establishing Microgrida, which is owned by two energy companies, has already made its fruits for the airport, which has blocked low electricity rates for years and cut the carbon emissions of over six million pounds a year, said Mrs. Cassotis.

He also spared the airport from interruptions. The closing of Heathrow on March 21 interrupted global travels, bringing to over 1,000 deleted flights and blocks thousands of passengers. It started with a fire in an electrical substation and, weeks earlier, something similar happened close to Pittsburgh airport, according to Mrs. Cassotis. The fires near the subsits had interrupted some of the airport feed. The airport has disconnected those feed to prevent problems from spreading its microgriglia and continued to work as usual.

“There is a real tangible value in terms of dollars saved,” said Mrs. Cassotis. “And then there is the tranquility.”

Resilience is not the only reason why airports may want to generate and preserve electricity on site.

The aviation represents 2-3 percent of global emissions and is an industry particularly difficult to decarbonize because there are few alternatives without emissions for the carnello reaction. The creation of matrices of solar panels, such as the thousands that Denver airport has already installed or those who come to JFK can help reduce the carbon imprint of an airport. They can also help to integrate the increasing energy needs such as airport vehicles, shuttles, rental cars and, finally, small aircraft move towards battery power.

Denver airport is served by two dedicated electrical subsits, each of which can feed the entire structure, providing redundancy in the event of an emergency, according to Scott Morrissey, senior vice -president of sustainability at the airport. The airport also has backup generators.

“Once all these sources are electrified, we want to make sure that that supply of electricity is reliable and resilient possible,” he said.

The port authority of New York and New Jersey, which supervises JFK and the other two large airports that the New York region serve, also mate sustainability for resilience. In Kennedy, which also has energy sources and redundant generators, Terminal 1 will include a wide range of solar panels on the roof, fuel cells and batteries.

“Not having to face that interruption is obviously very advantageous from the point of view of business continuity,” said Jessica Fresse, the manager of the main project that supervises a wider revision of the airport, which includes the renewal of the terminal. “In a large international airport – Heathrow, JFK – those interruptions are seen everywhere. They ripple widely through airspace, at national and international level.”

For now, these ambitious projects are limited, but interest is increasing. The Federal Aviation Administration has provided airport grants to explore these options. The airport officials also searched for advice from Mrs. Cassotis and others who were at the beginning of the adoption of solar panels and microgrid.

“Since this market has developed over time, there is a series of options that should work for different types and dimensions of airports,” said Lauren Shwisberg, which leads research and projects aimed at moving to less high -intensity carbon electricity at RMI.