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The Faro plant is a triple success for SunMind: it is the first plant we have brought into service, the first developed at a Portuguese airport, and also one of the country’s largest self-consumption projects structured as an on-site power purchase agreement (PPA). We are proud to be taking part in the decarbonisation of VINCI Concessions’ infrastructure and the extremely ambitious environmental plan the company is deploying.
TAPPING INTO SOLAR POTENTIAL ACROSS THE REGIONS
SunMind, a VINCI Concessions subsidiary, dedicated to developing and financing solar power plants, has installed a solar farm at Faro airport. It also offers turnkey solutions to clients outside the Group.
In September 2022, Faro, one of the 10 airports in Portugal managed by VINCI Airports, was equipped with a solar farm to produce decarbonised power. The 3 MWp capacity installation will cover 30% of the airport’s electricity needs and save 1,500 tonnes of CO2 per year. This first airport solar farm in the country was financed and developed – and is now operated – by the specialised VINCI Concessions subsidiary SunMind. Works were carried out by Omexom Portugal (VINCI Energies), which installed 6,440 solar panels over an area of 4.7 hectares, then connected the solar farm to the airport’s internal electrical backbone.
SunMind, a startup nurtured in the Intrapreneurs programme run by Leonard, the VINCI Group’s innovation and foresight platform, manages a portfolio of projects with total capacity of 150 MWp currently under way in France, Portugal, Greece and Sweden – where it is developing a 100 MWp solar farm at Stockholm Skavsta airport, equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of 29,000 homes. More generally, SunMind covers the related development costs and technological risk, while offering companies the opportunity to harness untapped solar potential and optimise their electricity budget.
The Faro solar farm is part of VINCI Airports’ global programme to decarbonise its activities with the goal of achieving net zero emissions at its European Union airports by 2030 and by 2050 in the other countries where it operates.
30% the electricity used by Faro airport is now produced locally by a solar farm