Edmonton International Airport (YEG) this week announced the powering up of a new natural gas cogeneration facility that will significantly lower carbon emissions and reduce costs at the airport.
This new facility provides electricity and heat for airport operations from the same source, with the heat from electrical power generation now captured and used to heat water, which heats the EIA terminal.
The cogeneration power plant will reduce EIA’s annual carbon emissions by approximately 20 percent or the equivalent of 7,000-8,000 tons of CO2 per year, while also lowering the airport’s energy costs by roughly CAN $800,000 (US$656,000) per year.
Located adjacent to the central utilities plant, the total estimated cost of the new cogeneration facility was $11 million (US$9 million) and ATCO was the prime contractor for the project.
“We’re pleased to announce the installation of our cogeneration plant as it will offer critical reductions in CO2e for our EIA airport sustainability campus,” said Tom Ruth, EIA president and CEO. “We couldn’t have done it without our partners, the Government of Alberta and ATCO, and we’re thankful for their support. Our company is committed to being carbon-neutral by 2040 under our commitment to The Climate Pledge and this new cogeneration facility goes a long way to helping us get closer to that goal by reducing our current emissions by 20 percent.”
