At first glance there's nothing out of the ordinary about
the regional airport in George, a town of just 150,000 residents on South
Africa's south coast.
In fact though, the small site is Africa's first
"green" airport to be powered by the sun.
The control tower, escalators, check-in desks, baggage
carousels, restaurants and ATMs—every service here depends on a small solar
power station, located a few hundred metres away in a field of dandelions next
to a runway.
Its 2,000 solar panels produce up to 750 kW every day,
easily surpassing the 400 kW needed to run the airport.
The excess is fed back into the municipal power grid, and a
computer screen in the terminal informs passengers: "Within this month
(September), 274 households were supplied through this system with green
electricity."
For environmentally-conscious travellers keen to reduce
their carbon footprint, it's a welcome development.
"Planes have such a big carbon print," said
passenger Brent Petersen, 33, in George. "If we compensate, that's
cool."
George Airport was originally built in apartheid-era South
Africa in 1977 to make getting home easier for PW Botha, a government minister
at the time and later president.
Africa gets is first
solar-powered airport in George, with a plant that converts solar energy into
direct current electricity us
Africa gets is first solar-powered airport in George, with a
plant that converts solar energy into direct current electricity using solar
panels
It now serves as a transit hub for shipments of homegrown
flowers and oysters, as well as golfers visiting one of the region's many
courses. Some 700,000 passengers pass through its doors each year.
The solar plant, launched in September 2015, is the second
solar-run airport in the world after Cochin airport in southern India.
Nestled between the Indian Ocean on one side and the
majestic Outeniqua Mountains on the other, George was a surprising location for
the first attempt at a solar-powered airport in South Africa.
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