{"id":396214,"date":"2026-04-13T12:41:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T12:41:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/396214\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T12:41:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T12:41:07","slug":"cork-airport-to-get-irelands-largest-solar-carport-next-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/396214\/","title":{"rendered":"Cork Airport to get Ireland&#8217;s largest solar carport next year"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Around 3,700 solar panels and five invertors are expected to generate 1.5 GWh of renewable energy annually.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Cork Airport has announced a new solar-power-roofed car park that could generate up to 20pc of the airport\u2019s electricity needs. Construction for the 1.7 MW \u2018carport\u2019 \u2013 Ireland\u2019s largest-ever \u2013 is expected to conclude by August 2027.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">The project is a part of the DAA Group\u2019s \u20ac200m investment commitments across Cork Airport. The Irish government has backed the project with \u20ac2m in exchequer funding under the Regional State Airports Sustainability Programme.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">The new carport is being built over the existing Holiday Blue car park, in collaboration with Greenvolt Next, a Lisbon-based renewable-energy solutions provider. The company\u2019s Irish wing, based out of Waterford, has installed photovoltaic panels for the likes of pharma firm Temmler, AW Ennis, fintech Fexco and the Dublin Airport.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">The first phase of the carport rollout is expected in early summer 2027. A second one is expected in October. Current plans envisage around 3,700 solar panels and five invertors generating 1.5 GWh of renewable energy each year for the airport. The installation is also expected to lower CO2 emissions by more than 350,000 kg.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">The carport will be followed up by an extension to the existing Holiday Blue Car Park with an additional 669 parking spaces. 32 of these spots will be dedicated spaces for people with reduced mobility. The project comes just after Cork Airport experienced its busiest year in 2025 with 3.46m passengers.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cThe project was supported with over \u20ac2m in exchequer funding under the Regional State Airports Sustainability Programme. This programme was developed in 2024 to support regional state airports to reach their carbon emission reduction targets and build resilience against climate change,\u201d said Minister for Transport and Minister for Climate, Environment and Energy Darragh O\u2019Brien, TD.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Niall MacCarthy, the managing director of Cork Airport, added: \u201cWe understand the need for more sustainable operations at airports, which is why Cork Airport is investing in Ireland\u2019s largest solar carport today.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Last September, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.siliconrepublic.com\/enterprise\/cyberattack-uk-airports-europe-arrest\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Cork Airport was caught in a cyberattack<\/a> that targeted a number of other European airports including Dublin, Brussels, Berlin and UK\u2019s Heathrow. The attack disrupted the airports\u2019 baggage tagging and handling systems.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Don\u2019t miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/eepurl.com\/hIdNrT\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Daily Brief<\/a>, Silicon Republic\u2019s digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Around 3,700 solar panels and five invertors are expected to generate 1.5 GWh of renewable energy annually. Cork&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":396215,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-396214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}