Dubai International Airport to replace 150,000 light bulbs, install 15,000 solar panels

Dubai Airports has signed a deal with Etihad Energy Services Company to replace 150,000 conventional light bulbs and erect a solar array at Dubai International Airport.

The agreement will see fixtures including high-mast floodlights on the apron and streetlights replaced with energy efficient LED bulbs.

A 4,989KWp photovoltaic array will also be built on the roof of the airport’s Terminal 2, claimed to be the largest installation at an airport in the Middle East, with 15,118 panels.

This will generate 7,400MWh annually and combined with the light bulb replacement project help reduce energy consumption at Dubai International by 5 per cent a year.

Work on the project is due to begin in the coming weeks and be completed by the second half of 2019, the companies said.

“We support Dubai’s Integrated Energy Strategy 2030 which aims for 30 per cent reduction in Dubai’s energy consumption by 2030,” said Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths

“We believe that these initiatives will help us reduce our carbon footprint significantly and contribute to our efforts towards a carbon neutral future in line with the aviation industry’s target.”

Dubai Airports and Etihad ESCO previously signed a deal last October to retrofit Dubai International Airport’s three terminals with the goal of reducing water and electric consumption by 20 per cent.

Other projects have included 1,060MWh of solar energy systems at Concourse D, and 260MWh at Dubai World Central.

The Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 aims to see 7 per cent of the emirate’s energy supplied from clean sources by 2020, 25 per cent by 2030, and 75 per cent by 2050.

Key to these plans is the massive Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park being built in Dubai’s south.

Read: Phase 3 of mega Dubai solar park on track for completion by 2020