Denver International Airport (DIA) and Constellation Energy (NYSE: CEG) announced the completion of a 4.4-megawatt (MW), ground-mounted solar system.
The airport now has over 8 MW of solar – the most at any US commercial airport.
Constellation Energy built, owns and maintains the solar installation, and DIA will purchase the electricity produced by the system over a 20-year period.
"With the addition of this solar facility, Denver International Airport’s three solar array systems now produce approximately 6% of the airport’s total power requirements," says Kim Day, aviation manager for DIA. "Denver International Airport now has one of the largest solar installations in North America."
The system is expected to supply approximately 7,000 megawatt-hours of electricity to DIA each year, using approximately 19,000 Yingli Solar (NYSE: YGE) photovoltaic panels.
Denver-based Oak Leaf Energy Partners originally developed the project; its third at DIA. Oak Leaf has developed 27 commercial and utility scale solar projects in Colorado, totaling over 35 MW of production.
Quanta Services (NYSE:PWR) Intermountain Electric, which installed and manages DIA’s 2 MW and 1.6 MW solar facilities, installed the 4.4 MW project.
Constellation Energy owns and operates 95 MW of solar installations that have been completed or are under construction for customers throughout the US. By structuring its solar projects as power purchase agreements, Constellation Energy requires no upfront capital from its customers and is able to provide power at a fixed cost that is less than projected market rates.