Athens International Airport progresses to third green investment

«Green» is the «Eleftherios Venizelos» as it proceeds to a third investment for the installation, this time 35.5 MW using energy storage batteries within its administrative limits. Athens International Airport (AIA) is on offer – expected in the following weeks – for the development of the third PV station within an airport, with a power of 35.5MW with an 82MWh battery energy storage system. This is a new investment that has originally been estimated at 50m euros (including operating and maintenance costs for 8 years) – the final cost will, of course, be fixed upon completion of the competition. The competition according to AIA’s programming is expected to be completed with the signing of the contract, in the following months, while the overall completion of the project has been assessed for September 2025. The new photovoltaic park will be connected to an 82 MWh Energy Storage System for self-production and self-consumption exclusively for the needs of Athens airport. Any excess energy will be transferred to the National Electricity System in accordance with the applicable legal framework for autoproducers. The new “green” investment made by Athens International Airport SA. is part of its commitment to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2025, as part of its corporate initiative ‘Route 2025’. The project includes the design, necessary works and supply of systems, testing and delivery, operation-maintenance and training of AIA staff. It is estimated that from the new investment AIA will meet 100% of current daily energy needs, maximising self-consumption using battery storage units. It is recalled that in April 2023 the airport administration launched its second photovoltaic power park 16 MW. Combined with the first PV of 8 MW operating since 2011 and the 16 MW self-production PV, green electricity is produced equal to 2/3 (about) of Athens airport’s required electricity needs. The third photovoltaic park will cover 100% of daily needs. In the direction of achieving Route 2025, a series of actions are under way to electrify the fleet of vehicles and to replace natural gas consumption with heat pumps. The airport is estimated to have invested amounts close to 100m euros. It is noted that AIA has been, since 2016, the first (and remains the only) airport with a neutral carbon balance in Greece, while, since 2019, the Airport Company has undertaken under the “Route 2025” initiative the commitment to achieve zero carbon footprint (Net Zero Carbon) by 2025, long before the 2050 target set by the aviation industry. It is also worth noting that in 2023 AIA was certified at the stage 4+ Transition of the voluntary programme for the Management & Reduction of Airport Carbon Accreditation of the International Airport Council of Europe (ACI Europe). Certification resulted from a series of actions, namely commitment to zeroing AIA coal emissions, calculating emissions from more sources and drawing up a Third Party action plan with targets and measures to reduce their emissions. SOURCE: RES-BE