Nelson Airport is to have work start on installing solar panels this week.
The airport is located on the northern tip of South Island, New Zealand around 8 kilometres from the centre of Nelson. It is the 4th largest airport in New Zealand and the largest for domestic flights with an average of 90 flights a day moving 1.2 million passengers per annum.
The solar panels will go some way towards powering the facilities at the airport. At the present time solar panels have not really taken off in New Zealand so this project will be seen as a very visible way of marketing this form of power generation in the country-it will be the “solar gateway” in the region.
The panels are being installed by NZ SolarFarms and will comprise 44 panels that will all be installed by the end of November.
Paul Steere, who is the chairman of Nelson Airport accepted that although the $50,000 was only a small investment further development could take place. The panels will be located near the front of the terminal roof and will help to reduce the airport’s carbon footprint.
Mr Steere said “I go to Australia every month and see this technology everywhere, but here you have to go out of your way to spot it.
“If we can encourage use of it, then that’s a good thing.”
Matt Winstone, who is the chief executive of NZ SolarFarms, announced that the first thing to be installed would be a display screen within the airport terminal for use by passengers and visitors to be able to obtain information relating to the power that will be generated and the saving in emissions.
Mr Winstone commented: “This is a very visible and high-profile commitment to solar power generation in the Nelson and Tasman region and illustrates the airport’s commitment to sustainability and future energy security.”
It will be interesting to monitor the effect of installing these solar panels to see if there is an increase in solar panel installations throughout New Zealand.
