Finnair Cargo has good reason to celebrate the airline’s 100th birthday in November as it made another significant step towards fully self-sustainable energy production for its facilities.

Throughout the summer and autumn months, Finnair Cargo installed an additional 1,790 solar panels on the roof of its COOL Nordic Cargo Hub at Helsinki Airport, on top of the 1,200 panels installed when the terminal was originally constructed.

“With this addition, the COOL Nordic Cargo Hub will be the third largest solar panel energy production unit in Finland. At the maximum level, the solar power station can produce over 1,1 MW peaks, more than tripling our production,” says SVP Finnair Cargo Gabriela Hiitola.

After the upgrade, the combined solar panels can produce the equivalent of 37 percent of annual electricity consumption. On a sunny day, the COOL terminal is completely self-sufficient in terms of electricity production and the excess production will be fed to other Finnair facilities.

Additionally, Finnair is also installing 645 solar panels on the roof of a hangar building used for aircraft maintenance.

“It is clear that the aviation industry is still waiting for those big solutions to reduce flight emissions. In the meantime we keep on working towards more sustainable operations in all areas,” Hiitola added.