Aerial view of the Pittsburgh International Airport Source: Pittsburgh International Airport

Should airports go off the grid? Pittsburgh International Airport — and others — think so. Remember that 11-hour power outage at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in December 2017 that canceled hundreds of flights, stranded thousands of passengers and cost Delta Airlines alone an estimated $50 million in lost business? Since then power outages linked to everything from equipment failures, faulty wires and an explosion at an electric power station have disrupted operations at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, New York's LaGuardia Airport, John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California, Philadelphia International Airport and McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas. And just last Saturday, power at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport went out — twice — due to high winds associated with Tropical Storm Olga. In addition to flight cancelations and delays, a celebratory open house for the new $1 billion terminal opening Nov. 6 had to be postponed by a few hours.

Microgrids to the rescue

During power outages at airports, generators and other forms of back-up power usually kick-in to power essential emergency lighting, but boarding, deplaning, airfield activity and the business of the airport often comes to a standstill.

Pittsburgh International Airport: rendering of the solar farm for microgrid. Source: Pittsburgh International Airport

That's just one reason Pittsburgh International Airport recently declared its intention to become the first major U.S. airport to create a self-sufficient energy system, or microgrid, using only energy sources — solar and natural gas — from its own property. "After watching what happened in Atlanta and Los Angeles, I think every airport CEO across the country, and probably around the world, wondered if they were ready and prepared," said Christina Cassotis, CEO of the Allegheny Airport Authority, which operates the Pittsburgh airport. "Here the answer is yes, but we'd like to make sure we can continue to operate in any circumstance." To that end, Pittsburgh International Airport plans to have its microgrid in place by 2021 to power the entire airport, including the airfield, the on-site Hyatt hotel and a Sunoco station.

Veolia operator inside TWA Hotel microgrid plant Source: Christophe Majani-D'Inguimbert | Veolia North America

Power for PIT's microgrid will be generated through the airport's onsite natural gas wells and almost 8,000 solar panels covering eight acres of the airport land. A connection to the traditional electrical grid will remain, but only as an option for emergency or backup power when needed. "It has everything to do with resiliency and redundancy," said Cassotis. "We wanted to make sure we could do everything with the assets we have to enhance the safety of the traveling public and insure continued operations. As a bonus, we get to lower the cost of energy." PIT airport officials project an energy bill savings of $500,000 in the first year of the project alone. In addition to lowering its energy costs, the airport also will receive annual lease payments from Peoples Natural Gas through the project. Many military facilities, college campuses, hospital complexes, industrial parks and other large institutions already have some sort of microgrid in place to insure uninterrupted power. In general, these systems are connected to existing grids but can disconnect and operate on their own with power from batteries, diesel-powered generators or, ideally, solar or another source of renewable power, said Craig Schiller, a manager specializing in aviation at the global energy nonprofit Rocky Mountain Institute. While Detroit Metro Airport already has a microgrid in place, airports in Los Angeles, Denver, San Diego, Boston, Orange County, California and elsewhere are now exploring and creating microgrids as well. Early next year, RMI will be publishing an airport microgrid toolkit funded by a $450,000 grant from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine's Transportation Research Board to help speed the process. Microgrids can give airports greater control over the energy they need and use and, in many cases, save airports money on energy costs, said RMI's Schiller. "But the bottom line is maximizing an airport's ability to meet its function." Airports not only fuel the economic vitality of a community, but in an emergency, an airport with its own power grid can become a critical community asset. "99% of the time customers won't notice whether an airport is using its microgrid resources or not," said Schiller. "But if there's a local, regional or natural disaster, the airport will be able to provide people a place to go or a way to get out of the city."

Airport hotel with a microgrid island

Most microgrids are designed to connect to existing power grids. But the 512-room TWA Hotel and conference center opened in May 2019 in the landmark Eero Saarinen-designed TWA Flight Center at John F. Kennedy International Airport's Terminal 5 is an "islanded microgrid" operating independent of New York City's electric grid.

TWA hotel lobby bar Christophe Majani-D'Inguimbert | Veolia North America