Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) plans to invest in solar power to strengthen backup energy systems at Cape Town International Airport.

This follows a major power outage at the airport on January 23 that led to flight cancellations. The airport’s generators, designed to provide backup power during outages, ran continuously for more than 24 hours before overheating and shutting down, ACSA confirmed in response to a query from Energize.

To prevent similar disruptions, the company will issue tenders for solar installations to supplement its backup systems.

To comply with aviation regulations, the airport’s power system is configured to handle multiple power source failures, ACSA said. “ACSA has installed 20 generators across the precinct to ensure operational continuity. These generators are designed to take over in case of power loss and have successfully operated for extended periods with the longest recorded run time being 12 hours. The generator installation ensures N+4 redundancy for the airfield power supply – meaning multiple layers of failure would have to occur before the airfield loses power,” the airport’s company told Energize.

However, during the recent outage, a fault triggered a cascading failure in the airport’s ring network. This impacted both sides of the fuel farm supply. The generators functioned as intended but eventually tripped due to excessive heat build-up. “As a corrective measure, an additional temporary generator has been installed to mitigate such challenges.”

Solar investment and grid enhancements

Looking ahead, the company plans to invest in solar backup systems. “ACSA is advancing sustainability initiatives including tri-generation and solar plant installations at major airports. Tenders for these projects will be released soon – marking a significant step in enhancing energy resilience and sustainability,” the company said.

In the meantime, the airport’s power grid has been reinforced. “The airport has a firm power supply from Eskom, capable of meeting all its energy needs, along with a non-firm Eskom supply that feeds remote sites. Immediate upgrades include replacing impacted cables, reconfiguring the ring network to increase redundancy and modernising switchgear and protection systems to align with the growing complexity of the network,” ACSA said.