Uruguay. Carrasco Airport, in Uruguay, has had a photovoltaic solar generation plant since last August, with a power of 0.5MW. This plant is part of the Energy Efficiency Project that the air terminal carries out, and includes the replacement of Led luminaires and the installation of heat pumps and free cooling for thermal conditioning.
Corporación América, a group to which Puerta del Sur belongs, concessionaire of the air terminal, inaugurated last August a photovoltaic solar generation plant, Thus, the Uruguayan airport is positioned as the first in Latin America that has its own energy generation system.
In its first stage, the solar plant occupies a land of one hectare at the entrance of the terminal and is made up of 1,540 photovoltaic panels distributed in seven rows from north to south. Its metal structure has solar tracking technology, which allows the movement of the panels during the day and improves by 30% the capture of energy from the sun to traditional fixed panels.
Verification of greenhouse gas emissions
The technical professional team operated in an articulated manner with the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining, the National Directorate of Energy, UTE, and the Control Unit of the National Directorate of Civil Aviation and Aeronautical Infrastructure (Dinacia) of the Ministry of National Defense to make the installation viable, and finally it was built by a consortium composed of the firms Smart Green Uruguay and Ciemsa.
The implementation of the project made it possible to reduce the carbon footprint of the terminal, which as a result obtained certification from the Level 1 Carbon Certification Program of the Airports Council International (ACI-World), in addition to ISO 14064-1, an environmental management standard in which greenhouse gas emissions reports are voluntarily verified.
The project is aligned with the goals set by the terminal in terms of sustainability and with the global requirement issued by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to work to mitigate the carbon footprint and prevent pollution by 2030, the year in which it is estimated that the number of aircraft passengers in the world will double.
