Wedoany.com Report-Mar 17, Made of 55,000 silicon panels, the new plant is the biggest airport photovoltaic system in Europe and among the largest in the world. Designed by Aeroporti di Roma (ADR) and built by Enel, it will have a power of 22 MWp, which will increase to 60 MWp over the next few years, with the integration of other structures – reaching a capacity that would be enough to satisfy 50% of current airport energy demand, i.e. the annual energy needs of 30,000 Italian households for an entire year.
Europe’s largest airport solar farm: a milestone in renewable energy
On 20 January 2025, Rome Fiumicino Airport’s (FCO) new solar farm was unveiled: located along the eastern side of Runway 3, it extends for almost 2.5km and represents a unique infrastructure in the international airport landscape.
As ADR, we invested approximately €50 million in implementing the project, part of a portfolio of initiatives for renewable energy generation and sustainable mobility with a financial commitment exceeding €200 million.
Such investment testifies to the significance of the solar farm, one of our most ambitious projects on the path towards decarbonisation, with the goal of reaching net zero carbon in 2030 – a full 20 years ahead of the industry’s target.
Indeed, the solar plant will contribute to reducing the airport’s CO2 emissions by over 11,000 tons per year, while also enhancing resilience to market volatility and energy independence, thus significantly lowering the environmental impact of our operations.
This is fully in line with the sustainable development model that we have been building for years, regarding it as the first and essential prerequisite for the growth of the airport, the region and the whole country.
Reducing CO2 emissions and enhancing energy independence
In the coming months, FCO’s solar farm will be connected to ‘Pioneer’, an innovative energy storage system co-financed by the European Union. Co-ordinated by ADR with Enel X and the Fraunhofer Research and Development Institute, Pioneer will use 786 ‘second-life’ batteries to store the energy produced during the day, which exceeds the airport’s consumption. This will optimise the airport’s energy performance, helping to ensure green energy for the terminals and reduce CO2 emissions.
Thanks to its storage capacity with a power of 2.5 MW and a nominal capacity of 10 MWh, Pioneer represents a further step towards the airport’s energy independence and sustainability.
Sustainable energy sources will contribute to energise more than 4,000 recharge points for vehicles, 400 of those already in operation for all users as passengers and operators by the end of 2024. Another 600 will be operating by 2026 in the airside area by handlers and other airport stakeholders.
ADR’s ESG strategy: Leading the green transition in aviation
Our solar farm is part of the ESG strategy outlined by our group leader Mundys, whose objectives have been certified by SBTi (Science Based Target Initiative), in line to limit global warming to 1.5°C; this infrastructure represents just the latest of the sustainable and green mobility-focused projects carried out by FCO.
In January 2025, for instance, we inaugurated the new 3.5 kilometre-long ‘Pedalaria’ cycle path, connecting FCO with the city of Fiumicino in less than 15 minutes, and designed according to our territory’s peculiarities and needs: a land where the awareness of water management has been a pillar for ages, since the Roman era, and where transportation nodes have always been crucial for economic development.
Therefore, it was decided to use draining materials such as ‘Idrodrain’ cement and recyclable wood mixes, innovative drainage channels and the ‘rain garden’, a plant filtering system designed to drain and manage the accumulation of rainwater. Along the last stretch of the route to Terminal 3 passing through the Ancient Roman ports, Mediterranean plants from all the world’s continents were placed to evoke the concept of travel and connection between countries, creating an environment that symbolically unites different cultures and reinforces the global identity of the airport.
This is a sustainable project with an eye on increasing biodiversity, with 56 new trees, 5,657 shrubs, 3000 sqm of meadows and 200 sqm of rain-gardens.
For ADR, sustainable development is rooted as well in green building and design, which are drivers for the roadmap to decarbonisation: every new project and existing terminal areas are designed to be green in coherence with the international green protocols requirements (LEED or Bream). Accordingly, 80% of the existing terminals will be entirely certified by those green protocols by 2030.
Conclusion
In the end, sustainability is a process, that requires integration between social, environmental and economic aspects; we are fully committed to this path, and – through initiatives spanning from green finance to the creation of the Foundation for the Decarbonisation of Air Trasport – we will continue to work to lead the green transition of our sector, ready to keep serving with excellence the evolving and growing needs of Italy and European air travel.
