The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has selected Tweed New Haven Airport, as the first certified commercial airport in the US to join its Airport as Energy Nodes (ÆNodes) activity. NASA is partnering with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) on the programme.
ÆNodes activity will be used to research how airports can provide the right form and quantity of energy needed for future aviation operations in scalable, affordable and sustainable value to aviation and community stakeholders.
“Planning for the energy needs of an airport is challenging, and we see this programme as an opportunity to understand how to implement a more sustainable future,” said Tom Rafter, Executive Director of the Tweed New Haven Airport Authority (TNHAA).
Nick Borer, Principal Investigator of ÆNodes at NASA added: “The goal is to develop robust solutions to an uncertain future mix of vehicles/ energy needs and types, provide lasting community value and enable investment pathways that accelerate adoption. Our objective is to work with NREL and regional airports such as HVN to generate data, reports and designs of future airport energy architecture for full-scale development and demonstration.”
Operated by US-headquartered Avports, Tweed New Haven is a regional airport in southern Connecticut. It is developing a new passenger terminal and is committed to delivering a zero-emissions future operation.
Underlining the increasing need for airports to adopt alternative energy forms as the evolution of zero-emission aviation prepares to take off, Jorge Roberts, CEO of Avports said Avports’ goal is to make electric aviation a feasible and sustainable reality. “By partnering with TNHAA and NASA/ NREL at Tweed New Haven, we are identifying necessary infrastructure, evaluating current vertical flight operations, ensuring robust power capability and resiliency, enhancing customer experience and addressing the airport’s community needs,” he said.
Integral in ÆNodes is NREL, which will develop an energy virtual twin of the airport and validate it using NREL’s Advanced Research on Integrated Energy Systems (ARIES) platform. This will enable a team of NREL researchers to evaluate Tweed New Haven’s current and future operations and energy needs, examine energy harvesting and fuel cycles for air and ground assets and model shared airport-utility interaction for normal and emergency scenarios.
If the airport deploys new technologies, such as electric heat pumps or charging infrastructure for electric aircraft and ground vehicles, NREL’s team will explore how this affects electrical requirements
“As CEO of the Avports New HVN team and on behalf of the TNHAA, we are delighted to be part of the project and believe that this programme will facilitate not only our airports around the US to enable a more sustainable aviation future,” concluded Michael Jones.
