The Indianapolis Airport Authority plans to spend nearly $47 million to add solar panels to surface parking lot near the main terminal at Indianapolis International Airport.
The project, which would see the construction of a new solar-covered canopy over a portion of an undisclosed parking lot south of the airport’s parking garage, is expected to generate about 10% of the terminal’s total energy needs. The effort is part of the airport authority’s larger focus on sustainability initiatives.
It is unclear whether the project would be constructed over the park-and-walk lot or the economy lot at the airport, or the cellphone lot nearby. The lot would still be used because vehicles would be able to park beneath the canopy. The Indianapolis Airport Authority declined comment ahead of a vote on the measure.
The authority’s board is scheduled to consider funding for the project during its monthly meeting on Friday, with about 85% of the costs expected to be covered by grants and programs offered by the Federal Aviation Administration and the Internal Revenue Service. About $7 million, or 15%, is expected to be covered through debt service taken on by the authority.
“The Indianapolis Airport Authority is committed to sustainability and resilience,” Jarod Klaas, senior director of planning and development for the authority, said in a memo to the board. “Our objective is to create public value while minimizing our impact on the environment and community, recognizing that these impacts can degrade the essential resources we all rely on. The reliability and fragility of electric power systems, particularly those that serve airports, highlight the need for resilient airport systems.”
Klaas said the authority has been “prudently pursuing” ways to improve the resilience of its power supply and decided on the canopy as a method to be less reliant on the standard power grid.
The project will consist of the solar panel canopy, battery energy storage and controls to disperse the stored electricity, which is expected to amount to 2,543,000 kilowatt hours annually.
The cost of the project includes a total contract amount of $38.2 million, a $4 million owners contingency, $3.5 million for design and reconstruction, and $1 million for inspections, testing and management, for a total cost of $46.7 million. Messer Construction has been contracted to complete construction of the canopy.
Multiple solar farms have been developed on airport land over the years, with the electricity sold to AES Indiana.
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