KT & Edinburgh Airport wind mapping consortium

Scotland’s busiest airport gets green energy boost

~ New wind technology to be deployed at Edinburgh Airport ~

Green energy innovator, Katrick Technologies has signed a new partnership with Edinburgh Airport to facilitate the capture of previously untapped wind energy across the airport estate. Katrick Technologies will deploy wind mapping sensors to identify areas of unexploited low-level wind power on the site, before installing innovative wind panels to help capture and utilise previously unused energy.

The project at Edinburgh Airport will commence with the deployment of sensors across the roof and outdoor spaces, plus the area surrounding the airport’s 2,556m runway. Using wind mapping data, Katrick Technologies can determine the optimal areas to deploy technology to capture and convert this energy.

Katrick Technologies’ wind panels are a unique innovation for wind-based renewables. The wind panel consists of numerous channelling ducts where multi-layered patented aerofoils are located. These aerofoils work independently from one another to maximise energy capture and convert this energy into mechanical oscillations. From here, the oscillations are converted to a focal point before conversion to energy.

The panels can capture more kinetic energy than conventional wind turbines while measuring just 4m x 4m and thus demanding a much smaller footprint. Moreover, the panels are cheaper than most other wind-based solutions, with a levelised cost of energy (LCOE) of just 8p/kW.

“Traditional wind turbines simply aren’t feasible for airport estates,” explained Vijay Madlani, Co-CEO of Katrick Technologies. “The goal of our partnership with Edinburgh Airport is to provide them access to previously untapped areas of energy through our wind panels. In addition to their scalable and flexible location applications, the panels are designed to work as B3 noise barriers, meaning they offer highways and airports a noise mitigation solution. Additionally, we have created multiple designs which can complement various environmental settings.”

Initial wind mapping at Edinburgh Airport will kick off a phased approach. The ultimate goal is the roll-out of this technology to support both the estate’s net-zero goals and launch it to the wider market.

“As an airport, we are always looking to embrace fresh ideas, particularly when it comes to the generation of green energy, and this technology has the potential to provide new opportunities around this,” explained Danny Quinn, Technical Asset Director at Edinburgh Airport. “When installed, these sensors have the ability to identify untapped sources of wind energy across our campus, giving us the potential to become more efficient in the way we run. We are pleased to be working with Katrick Technologies and are looking forward to seeing the benefits this partnership can deliver.”

The partnership follows a similar consortium between AGS Airports Limited (AGS), the organisation that manages Glasgow, Aberdeen International and Southampton airports, Katrick Technologies and the University of Strathclyde.