The announcement came Tuesday during Climate Week NYC, an annual event hosted by the Climate Group, an international non-profit that supports climate action projects. The event began Sunday and continues through September 29.
The New Terminal One is being built on sites now occupied by JFK’s Terminal 1, the recently closed Terminal 2, and the former Terminal 3, where it will anchor the airport’s south side. The project is being built in phases, with the first phase—which includes new arrivals and departures halls and the first set of 14 new gates—is expected to open in 2026.
Completion of New Terminal One is expected in 2030. Once complete it will encompass 2.6 million square feet, and will be the largest terminal at JFK.
The solar array—covering an area the size of six-and-a-half football fields—will be the largest in New York City, and the largest at any airport terminal in the U.S. It is part of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s $19 billion upgrade strategy at JFK that will include two new terminals featuring public art and expanded retail space, along with an expansion and modernization of two existing terminals and a new roadway network at the airport. The Port Authority has said it wants to reach net-zero emissions of carbon from its operations by 2050.
The solar array will have 6.63-MW of generation capacity. It is part of a microgrid that will deliver electricity from solar power, fuel cells (3.84 MW), and battery energy storage (1.5 MW/3.34 kWh) through a self-contained system that can operate in island mode, or when connected to the main power grid.
Officials on Tuesday said the microgrid will provide as much as half the power for the terminal’s daily operations via four clusters of power generation infrastructure placed around the terminal.
“When the new terminal is complete, it will be the largest terminal at Kennedy Airport, so we are particularly pleased to incorporate on-site power using a green energy source into the design of the terminal,” said Port Authority Executive Director Rick Cotton. “We have made sustainability a major priority at our facilities, and this massive solar array is a unique and innovative solution that reduces our carbon footprint and continues our march towards net zero.”
Kevin O’Toole, chairman of the Port Authority, said, “This construction milestone in our redevelopment of John F. Kennedy International Airport represents more than progress at one of our facilities because its success will set an industry example for others. On-site green energy development such as the country’s largest airport solar array will reduce the generation of greenhouse gases that cause climate change at the New Terminal One.”
The microgrid will recover heat from the fuel cells to generate chilled water and hot water for the terminal. AlphaStruxure is financing the microgrid project through an Energy as a Service (EaaS) contract, which is a long-term agreement that ensures steady operating costs and also guarantees performance without upfront capital expenditures for either the Port Authority or the airport. AlphaStruxure is responsible for the construction, operation, and maintenance of the microgrid over the life of the contract.
“Breaking ground on this first-of-its-kind microgrid solution is a major and exciting milestone in New Terminal One’s commitment to reducing our carbon footprint and setting a new industry standard on sustainability,” said Jennifer Aument, CEO of New Terminal One. “This resilient and efficient energy solution will simultaneously enable us to decarbonize, drive innovation, and deliver lasting benefits to both our passengers and our community.”
“When it comes to energy, airports are facing a perfect storm: more passengers, more electrification, more outages, and more power capacity bumping up against aging energy infrastructure that’s less and less able to keep up,” said Juan Macias, CEO of AlphaStruxure. “JFK’s New Terminal One is building sustainable energy infrastructure at the speed and scale necessary to stay ahead of these challenges. We’re thrilled to provide an integrated microgrid solution via Energy as a Service that not only provides resilience for New Terminal One passengers, but advances the city, state and Port Authority’s ambitious decarbonization goals.”
The microgrid technology aligns with the Port Authority’s sustainability goals, which include reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. It also requires “greener” operations by business partners, such as airport terminal operators and airlines.
The Port Authority, in partnership with the New York Power Authority, also is building a 12-MW solar canopy at JFK’s long-term parking lot 9. The system will include battery energy storage.
Officials on Tuesday said other solar projects at Port Authority facilities include a 5-MW solar parking canopy at Newark Liberty International Airport, a 1.5-MW rooftop solar array on LaGuardia Airport’s Terminal B garage, and a 600-kW solar roof on a PATH warehouse rooftop.
Officials said the New Terminal One microgrid “will be especially resilient due to its novel design of clustered architecture consisting of four so-called power islands.” Each island operates “as a hyper-localized, self-sufficient energy system with sources of generation, storage, and advanced automation and control. When one island is taken down for routine maintenance, the other three can remain online.”
The New Terminal One rooftop solar canopy will be the largest such solar array at any U.S. airport. Officials said it will provide a case study for the aviation and solar energy industries when it comes to meeting federal requirements to mitigate glare. The design of the clustered power islands for the microgrid could also be a model for other airports that have limited space, or busy operations, but want to add scalable on-site green power generation.
The project partners include AlphaStruxure’s two parent companies, Schneider Electric and Carlyle. Schneider is delivering leading microgrid technology, controls, software, and services, while Carlyle is providing financing for the microgrid.
Other project partners include Burns Engineering, which serves as owner’s engineer on the project; E-J Electric Installation Co. as the design-builder; Vanderweil Engineers as the engineer of record; BOND Civil & Utility Construction as the mechanical contractor; and HyAxiom, a Doosan company, as the provider of fuel cells and their maintenance.
The project is part of the JFK Vision Plan, which was announced in early 2017. The strategy provides a framework for the Port Authority and its partners to redevelop, modify, and expand existing facilities and infrastructure. The $9.5 billion development of the New Terminal One, which will anchor the airport’s south side, broke ground in September 2022.
The $1.5 billion expansion of Terminal 4, led by Delta Air Lines and JFK International Air Terminal, also is under construction. A new Terminal 6 also is part of the plant. The $400 million modernization and expansion of Terminal 8, led by terminal operator American Airlines along with British Airways, was mostly completed in November 2022.
The Port Authority’s capital investment of $3.9 billion for the project is in addition to more than $15 billion of private investment.
