Air New Zealand goes green at Auckland ops base

Air NZ's Auckland Tech Ops Base will receive a third of its electrical power from solar energy. — Air NZ’s Auckland Tech Ops Base will receive a third of its electrical power from solar energy.

Air New Zealand will next month install a large solar array at its Auckland Technical Operations Base which will generate 160,000KwH per year.

The move is part of the company’s target to reduce its grid electricity use by five per cent per year, and should see about 30 per cent of its main hangar’s electricity needs provided by the array.

“This has been due in part to metering technology which allows us to constantly monitor and profile energy use in each of our buildings, enabling smarter business and investment decisions due to transparency of consumption and cost,” the airline’s chief flight operations and safety officer, Captain David Morgan said. “The opportunities offered by solar technology to further reduce the amount of electricity taken from the grid are very exciting for our business.”

The 750 sqm array is made up of 480 panels and is large enough to power about 23 average households.