• Exclusive Content
  • Events
  • Endeavor Business Media Energy
    1. Distributed Energy

    Emirates Airline Signs for 23-MW Solar Array Connecting to Nearly $1B Dubai Engineering Complex

    Oct. 15, 2024
    A total of 39,960 solar panels will be installed, providing 37 percent of the facility's annual energy consumption and reducing CO2 equivalent emissions by over 13,000 tons each year upon completion.
    Rendering credit Emirates Airline
    670e81615103943201029c11 Emirates

    Emirates Airline and Etihad Clean Energy Development have signed an agreement to introduce a solar energy array at its US$950 million Emirates Engineering Centre project in Dubai.

    The collaboration includes the development, engineering, procurement, construction, testing, and commissioning of solar PV systems at the future facility, along with 20 years of operation and maintenance services.

    The project’s total capacity will be 23,177 kW (23.2 MW), with an estimated annual generation of 34,301,960 kWh.

    A total of 39,960 solar panels will be installed, providing 37 percent of the facility's annual energy consumption and reducing CO2 equivalent emissions by over 13,000 tons each year upon completion.

    The solar PV systems will contribute to long-term environmental benefits and help the centre operate efficiently using clean energy.

    The project is part of both companies’ broader efforts to support the UAE’s sustainability agenda, which focuses on reducing dependence on non-renewable energy sources and moving towards a low-carbon future.

    Construction on phase one of the 1 million square-foot Emirates Engineering Centre began this year. Altogether, the facility will add eight maintenance hangars and one paint hangar, all built to support the international airline’s growth through the 2040s, according to reports.

    Airport microgrids are growing in deployment as airlines and operators seek energy resiliency and sustainability goals. Recently, New York City's JFK Airport started construction on the solar energy portion of a planned 12-MW microgrid. 

     

     

    About the Author

    EnergyTech Staff

    Rod Walton is senior editor for EnergyTech.com. He has spent 14 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist.

    Walton formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    He can be reached at [email protected]. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids.

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.