Agreement For 11-MW Microgrid at New York State Airport is Unveiled

by Peter Maloney
APPA News
February 5, 2023

AlphaStruxure in late January announced an agreement to design, build, and operate an 11.3-megawatt microgrid at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York that will feature the largest rooftop solar array in New York City and on any airport terminal in the United States.

The microgrid, at the New Terminal One at the airport, will provide sustainable, resilient, locally generated, and cost-predictable energy and will deliver immediate greenhouse gas emission reductions of 38 percent over grid-sourced energy, the project’s developers said.

The microgrid will include 7.66 MW of rooftop solar, 3.68 MW of fuel cells, a 2-MW battery storage unit capable of providing 4 megawatt-hours of energy, and will use reclaimed heat to generate chilled water and heating hot water.

The microgrid will consist of four power islands with each functioning as a local, integrated energy system with sources of generation, storage, advanced automation and control.

The microgrid would enable the New Terminal One to be the first airport transit hub in the region that can function off-grid during power disruptions, the developers said.

New Terminal One is being developed by a consortium of labor, operating, and financial partners including Ferrovial, Carlyle, JLC Infrastructure, and Ullico. The project is being privately financed in partnership with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

The project is delivered through an Energy as a Service contract, a long-term agreement ensuring predictable operating costs and guaranteed performance without upfront capital expenditures.

Upon project completion, New Terminal One will be the first resilient airport transit hub in the New York region that can function independently of the power grid, to maintain 100 percent of airport operations during power disruptions across the 23 gates and more than 177,000 square feet of dining, retail, lounges, and recreational space.

AlphaStruxure is a joint venture of Carlyle and Schneider Electric. Carlyle is financing the microgrid. Schneider Electric is providing microgrid technology, software, and services.