The next phase of the Pittsburgh International Airport Energy Plan includes a solar project otherwise unused property This will do more than twice the existing matrix and will generate an additional 4.7 MW.
The airport, which became the first World Cup in 2021, which was fully fed by a microgrid, announced plans at the end of last month to collaborate with Utity Duquesne Light Co. and IMG Energy Solutions to install 11,216 solar panels located next to a 10,000 -panel solar field, which is part of the ease of 21 MW microgrid.
Microgrid Airport is an energy plant composed of five natural gas generators capable of producing 21 MW of electricity. Photo courtesy of Pittsburgh International Airport
The new matrix will be located in 12 hectares of land owned by the airport that was a Remains of construction Dump, said Jamie Abberfield, Principal Manager of Business Development of IMG, who acquired Liberty Power Innovations in March. By virtue of the agreement, IMG will owe and operate the expanded solar matrix and will sell energy to Duquesne Light by virtue of an energy purchase agreement, by virtue of which the power will be distributed in the regional network.
IMG is already owner and operates the solar part of the microgrid and operates the gas plant that he also designed. “It is the proprietary design of IMG that we used to build the plant, and we also operated it for the first four years under contract,” said Hugberfield. The natural gas of the villages, which owned the microgrid, sold the asset to Cordia in 2023.
“There is nothing dangerous [the landfill]It was a property that could not be developed for other commercial reasons, so it agreed that it was an ideal place to put a solar project, “he added.
Construction is expected to begin in 2026, with the end of the first half of 2027. It is too early to say when the EPC or specialized contractors of the project will be selected, said Hargefield. The Network Regional Operator’s Reviewing Process Pjm interconnection It cannot be completed until the fall, said Hugfield.
“At this time, we will have to move forward with the final budgets and financing, so we would not be willing to advance in any selection of the contractor for several quarters,” he added.
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Other energy initiatives at the airport, which have completed about 90% of $ 1.1 billion Terminal Modernization Project– It closes the development of a sustainable aviation fuel plant, as well as an integrated hydrogen installation and fuel production.
The airport will act as a “ strategic owner ” for these projects, with developers who need to participate in long -term lease agreements, but with the airport he does not necessarily participate in projects, Chad Willis, Vice President of Planning, Environment and Sustainability in the Airport Airport Authority, who manages Pittsburgh’s firm.
At the beginning of the year, the airport signed a lease agreement with Green Energy Avina to develop and build the Sustainable aviation fuel PLant. “We have been in negotiations and discussions with a long time,” Willis said. The airport has hectares of land to the south of its aerodrome that can be used for commercial development.
The plans ask that the installation be developed in phases with the exact initial size to be determined, he said. “Right now, the initial phase is scheduled for 25 to 50 million annual production gallons,” said Willis. At the end of the program, the final creation will probably be more than 100 million and up to 125 million gallons a year.
Willis said he could not provide the specific dates of completion and completion of the project specific to the work. “We hope to reach a final investment decision on the project later this year,” he said. “This will inform the construction timeline, but we hope to be in the construction from the beginning of 2026”.
Willis said that projects like the fuel plant take up to 2.5 years. “We still do not have an end date when we expect to be open, but we hope at the end of 2028 or at the beginning of 2029.”
If the project passes, the airport would score another first as the only one to produce Sustainable aviation fuel Said to the place.
Last year, CNX Resources signed a letter of intent with Keysate Energy to build a $ 1.5 million installation on airport ownership that can produce hydrogen only or Sustainable aviation fuel exclusively. But the project depends on whether the federal government “allows a way” for the methane of the coal mine in the section 45V Hydrogen Production Tax CreditPart of the Act of Reduction of Inflation, the firm said.
Federal tax credits for clean energy production, including 45V, as well as investment tax credit, that the airport solar expansion is eligible, they are now being debated very much in Congress, as legislators dragged the fiscal part of the bill for reconciliation of the federal budget.
CNX did not respond to comments on the credits.
