Total Energies is building a 12 MW solar canopy on a long-term parking lot at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), which will be paired with a 7.5 MW/25 MWh battery energy storage system to help reduce reliance on the grid during peak periods.

Total Energies will own, operate and maintain the system and recently signed a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for half of the project's behind-the-meter generation (6 MW).

The other half of the electricity will be distributed as community solar, to be completed in the second phase of the project. The program will provide power to Con Edison through the New York State Community Distributed Generation Program and provide guaranteed savings on electricity bills for 25 years to historically disadvantaged and environmentally impacted households in surrounding Queens communities.

"We applaud Governor Hochul, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the New York State Power Authority for their leadership on this unique project," said Marc-Antoine Pignon, General Manager, U.S. Renewable Energy, Total Energies. Providing clean power to millions of travelers will also lower electricity bills for residents of low-income communities in Queens.”

TotalEnergies told the US version of pv magazine that the project will be built on a custom-made canopy with a wave-shaped design and will have a total of 32,000 Sunpower solar modules and 164 SMA inverters. In addition, there are five Tesla Megapack battery energy storage systems.

The project will be put into use in phases in 2025 and 2026. After the JFK solar carport is completed, it will generate enough clean energy every year and reduce more than 6,000 tons of carbon emissions, which is equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas emissions of about 1,500 gas buses. The project will also contribute to the Port Authority’s goal of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions from its facilities by 2050.

Last year, JFK International Airport announced another solar project. The new Terminal 1 microgrid project will include 11.34 MW of rooftop solar, 2 MW/4 MWh of lithium-ion batteries, and 3.68 MW of combined heat and power (renewable natural gas) and hydrogen fuel cells. The power generated by the project is expected to meet 90% of the terminal's power needs.

Total Energies has a portfolio of large-scale solar, battery storage, on-site B2B solar distributed generation and other renewable energy projects and is expected to produce up to 10 GW of clean electricity by 2025 and more than 25 GW by 2030. The company has recently signed over 1.5 GW of renewable energy PPAs with more than 600 industrial and commercial customers around the world, of which 1.1 GW is already operational.