A solar power plant for Faro Airport
The Faro Airport project illustrates the strength of VINCI’s network of business units and its diverse range of expertise, including that of Omexom in Portugal. This business unit was tasked with supplying, installing and commissioning 6,440 photovoltaic solar panels for the project.
Faro is the only airport in Portugal’s Algarve region and welcomes around nine million passengers every year. Thanks to operations by various VINCI Group business units, the airport (operated by VINCI Airports) should be able to self-generate 30% of its energy needs from solar and save 1,500 tonnes of CO2 per year.
VINCI Airports operates the entire Portuguese airport network and in 2016, was the first airport operator to adopt an international environmental strategy. In choosing Faro to establish Portugal’s first airport solar power plant, VINCI Airports has taken another step toward achieving its environmental action plan in the Algarve region.
This solar plant, with a capacity of 3 MWp is being financed, developed and operated by the VINCI Concessions subsidiary SunMind and will sell the electricity produced to VINCI Airports under an on-site electricity purchase contract. SunMind also entrusted Omexom in Portugal with the supply, installation and commissioning of the 6,440 photovoltaic solar panels that make up the power plant. Once the panels were installed over a surface area of 4.7 hectares, the Omexom teams connected the solar plant to the airport’s internal power supply network.
“The potential is enormous.Energy prices are currently so high that businesses are keen to invest in this type of project,” explains Luís Silva, Business Unit Manager of Omexom in Portugal. “I think that there will be many opportunities.Non only for photovoltaic energy, but also for green hydrogen produced using solar energy.”
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