CAE Goes Green With New Solar Panel Farm

CAE turns unused land into a money saver.

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WEST COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO)- Even in the cloudy and rainy weather, Columbia Metropolitan Airport celebrated turning five acres of land into the first solar farm at an airport in the state of South Carolina. CAE dedicated $60 million to implement environmentally-friendly projects as a part of their Enhanced Construction Opportunities Program. Wednesday, they unveiled their latest undertaking– a 4,320 solar panel farm nestled in between two active runways.

“You don’t think about solar air related air service, but when you talk about being self sufficient, generating revenues, saving money… all the things we’ve done with the ECO Project, this shows that we’re trying to look at every aspect of this and see what can we to run a better airport and be more competitive,” Dan Mann said, Executive Director of Columbia Metropolitan Airport.

“Earlier in the morning, when we first had the event, it was about 250 K-Ws out of the thousand K-Ws. Now if you look at it, with the sun coming up a little more it’s about 450 K-W… so even with all the clouds, it’s still about 50% production,” Michael Gibson said, Vice President of Con Edison Solutions.

Production that could produce the same amount of energy needed to power 225 homes. The new solar plant will save the airport about $250 thousand a year. With all of their eco-projects, they will save almost $800 thousand dollars in energy costs.

“When I get my utility bill next month and find out that I’m saving 7, 8, 9, 10-thousand bucks a month… that’s really going to be the satisfying part. When I see and write a smaller check for the power bill,” Mann said.

Columbia Metro is hoping to be able to pass the savings along to passengers by having more airlines compete to get space on their LED lit runways.

“I can say the conversations with low-cost carriers have been far more optimistic in the last 18 months than they were in the past,” Mann said.

Gibson says he expects to see more solar-powered facilities in Columbia, and in the state since it’s so economically smart.

“There’s so many different ways to now put solar to facilities. Companies can now come in and install, and the savings can actually pay for lease payments. Which is very, a critical paradigm shift,” Gibson said.

There is a kiosk in the airport to see the position of the sun and just how much power is being generated by the solar panels. Mann says there are two more locations on airport land they are considering making into solar farms.