Air New Zealand turns to the sun

Air New Zealand has turned on New’s Zealand’s largest single solar array to date at its technical operations base at Auckland Airport.

A total of 480 solar panels has been fitted to an area of 750 metres square on one of Air NZ’s hangars. The array is estimated to produce 160,000KwH of electricity each year which will provide nearly a third of the power the hangar requires.

“We are excited about the possibilities solar provides and hope to see some real energy savings through this array,” says Captain David Morgan, Air New Zealand’s chief flight operations and safety officer, who is tasked with increasing Air New Zealand’s sustainability.

Metering equipment was also installed at the site that will allow the airline to measure energy consumption in real time.

“We have been focussed for some time on energy reduction whether it be through installing metering technology so we can monitor usage across different sites or increasing awareness amongst our staff on consumption and cost,” says Captain Morgan.