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Light flight: DIA readies to go solar

Project being done with little cost to airport

Gargi Chakrabarty

Published June 9, 2008 at 8 p.m.

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Matthew Angell of WorldWater & Solar Technologies Corp. is shown Monday in front of the solar array being installed at Denver International Airport. Installation of the 2-megawatt system is expected to be finished by late July or early August.

Photo by Chris Schneider / The Rocky

Matthew Angell of WorldWater & Solar Technologies Corp. is shown Monday in front of the solar array being installed at Denver International Airport. Installation of the 2-megawatt system is expected to be finished by late July or early August.

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Denver International Airport soon will finish installing dozens of solar panels near the entrance to the main terminal to generate green electricity for a substantial part of its operations.

The 2-megawatt system will be installed by late July or early August, DIA spokesman Chuck Cannon said.

The airport then will begin drawing electricity from the panels equal to half of the amount needed to run the passenger trains that connect the main concourse to the terminals.

"The airport spent very little money on the project," Cannon said. "The project is being built and is owned by MMA. The only outlay by the airport was some earthwork grading for the pads, which was done through our existing construction contracts."

MMA Renewable Ventures LLC, a subsidiary of Municipal Mortgage & Equity LLC, will sell power to DIA under a long-term contract. WorldWater & Solar Technologies Corp., formerly WorldWater & Power Corp., installed the solar panels, supplied by Sharp Solar.

The project is part of the Xcel Energy Solar Rewards program and will receive a rebate to offset the upfront construction costs.

Xcel will buy renewable-energy credits from the project, which will help the utility as it works to comply with the state's renewable-energy standard. The standard requires large utilities to generate 20 percent of their power from renewable-energy sources by 2020.

"Denver International Airport is a leader in sustainability as the only airport to be accepted into the Environmental Protection Agency's National Performance Track Program," Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper said. "Thanks to MMA Renewable Ventures and WorldWater & Solar Technologies, DIA will soon have one of the country's largest airport solar systems."

chakrabartyg@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2976

Comments

  • June 10, 2008

    12:57 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    SteveM writes:

    Bravo!

  • June 10, 2008

    10:54 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    RainbowWarrior writes:

    Strong work! Sure would be nice to have Colorado be the best renewable example in the country, rather than a gas well pin cushion like some of our fellow fossil fuel minded citizens would prefer.

    The more exposure we can get for these types of systems, the quicker the debate will end about what we need to do to become energy independent.

    From sunny Colorado here's a one finger salute to OPEC!