Lithuanian Airports has announced a public tender for design services of solar parks across its three airports: an area totalling 7 hectares.
The tender will see the winner design and develop three solar parks within the airfields of the Vilnius (4.5 MW), Kaunas (1.2 MW) and Palanga (0.4 MW) airports, with energy storage parks planned to be built nearby.
Total capacity across the plants will generate 6.1 MW, which is roughly 34% of the total electricity required to power Lithuanian Airports’ sites. Palanga Airport is expected to generate around 40% of its electricity from the sun and Vilnius and Kaunas airports will both generate around 33–34% of their annual energy requirements. All energy generated will be able to be used immediately, or stored in dedicated energy storage systems nearby.
Arnas Dūmanas, Director of the Lithuanian Airports Development Department, said:Airfield sites suitable for the installation of solar power plants offer the opportunity to transform airports from energy consumers into electricity producers. At the same time, we will gain a tool to better manage energy costs - to reduce costs when the demand for electricity increases with the electrification of airport transport fleets.
Design work is planned to be finalised by the end of 2024, with the tender set to be signed with the winning company by the second quarter of the year. Contracting work for the solar parks is hoped to be completed by the end of 2025.
The installation of the new solar parks continues Lithuanian Airports’ commitment to becoming an environmentally neutral organisation by the end of 2030.
