One of Ireland’s rural transport hubs, Ireland West Airport, Knock, has signed a deal to extend its position as Ireland’s first renewable energy-powered airport, eliminating 900 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year.
Management at Knock Airport signed the deal with energy providers Energia, which will supply the Mayo-based airport with 1.9GWhs of electricity each year.
This is the equivalent annual energy demand for more than 400 Irish homes.
Traditionally, airports are considered some of the most power-hungry forms of infrastructure and, while efforts are being made to introduce renewable energy to airports, it has yet to see mass uptake by the major transport hubs.
However, last month, it was announced that one of the airports serving the Galapagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador has made the transition to becoming solely powered by renewable energy, but its capacity does not reach the same levels as Knock Airport.
The vast majority of the renewable energy generated for the airport is believed to be coming from Energia’s wind farm operations, with €300m having been invested in wind farms since 2008 with a total of a further 300MWs of projects in development.
Commenting on the deal, Donal Healy, sales and marketing manager of Knock Airport, said: “We have consistently placed a high value on the sustainability of our operations. That is why we have sourced 100pc green energy from Energia for over five years now.
“This contract renewal is a restatement of this commitment while at the same time continuing to drive efficiencies at our Airport.”
Jet engine image via Shutterstock
