Sofia Airport Starts Building 5 MW Solar Plant on Airport Land

Vasil Levski Sofia Airport has started construction of its own photovoltaic power plant, a 5-megawatt installation designed to supply a significant share of the airport’s electricity use. The operator, SOF Connect, announced the start of works in mid-September.

Project details

The plant will comprise 8,300 solar modules spread across about 50,000 square metres of airport-owned land. It is expected to be completed by the end of 2026. A real-time monitoring and management system is included, and a battery storage facility is planned as the next stage, which would let the airport store surplus daytime output.

The contractor is Hydroenergy Company. Generation will be for the airport’s own consumption rather than for sale to the grid, reducing the amount of electricity it needs to buy.

Part of a decarbonisation target

SOF Connect said the plant is part of measures to cut carbon emissions and improve energy efficiency, with the aim of full decarbonisation of the airport by 2036. Sofia is the first airport in Bulgaria to receive Level 4, “Transformation”, accreditation under the international Airport Carbon Accreditation programme.

On-site solar is one of the more straightforward ways for an airport to reduce its scope 2 emissions, because large areas of land near the airfield cannot be used for buildings and have height restrictions that rule out other developments. Safety is a design factor: panels must be positioned and treated so that glare does not affect pilots or air traffic controllers, a consideration airports address in the layout stage.

Why airports are going solar

Airports consume substantial electricity for terminals, lighting, baggage systems, ground power and, increasingly, electric ground-support equipment. Rising energy prices and emissions targets have made on-site generation attractive. A 5 MW plant is modest compared with the largest airport installations worldwide, but for a single-terminal-complex airport it can cover a meaningful part of daytime demand.

The planned battery stage matters as much as the panels. Storage allows an airport to use more of its own output, smooth out peak demand and potentially provide backup for non-critical loads. The operator has not published the capacity of the battery system or a date for it.

Context: a concession airport

Sofia Airport is operated under a long-term concession by SOF Connect, which has committed to investment programmes at the airport. Investments of this kind, financed by the concessionaire, tend to be aligned with environmental commitments and passenger growth plans.

For airlines using Sofia, the direct effect is limited, since the plant supports the airport’s energy supply rather than its operations. The indirect effect is on cost stability and on meeting the carbon reporting that carriers and their customers increasingly request from airport partners. Final output figures, such as annual generation in megawatt-hours and the share of the airport’s demand covered, were not disclosed in the announcement.