Energy

Oslo Airport has renewable energy solutions and reduces energy consumption through energy management and energy efficiency measures.

A dedicated district heating and cooling plant ensures that the buildings at Oslo Airport maintain the correct temperature throughout the year. The heating and cooling are primarily produced by heat pumps, which source energy from three different sources:

Return heat in our own energy circuit.
Our groundwater facility, which consists of nine warm and nine cold groundwater wells, where surplus energy can be stored and recovered.
Recovered energy from the wastewater of Ullensaker municipality's treatment plant.

Energy Efficiency and Conservation

Oslo Airport is phasing out the use of fossil fuels and transitioning to renewable energy sources. Additionally, energy-saving measures contribute to reducing energy consumption in existing technical installations.

For several years, Oslo Airport has actively worked on energy-efficient (ENØK) measures, some important ones being:

Replacing lighting with LED lights both indoors and outdoors.
More efficient heat recovery in ventilation systems.
Improved control of gate heating systems.

In addition, energy management at the airport helps identify more profitable measures and gives us better oversight and control of energy consumption.

Phased out heating oil

In 2019, all fossil heating oil for building heating was phased out. The last tanks that were converted were in the energy center, where arrangements were made for heating with bio-based fuel (hydrotreated vegetable oil, HVO) from January 1, 2020. Oslo Airport is therefore no longer subject to the quota obligation under the quota law.

World's first airport with snow cooling

Every winter, enormous amounts of snow accumulate at Oslo Airport. The snow is divided into two categories, clean and unclean, meaning whether it contains runway de-icing chemicals or not.

The unclean snow is collected, and when it melts, the polluted water goes to the municipal treatment plant and is preheated by recovered heat. The clean snow is allowed to melt naturally and seep into the ground. At Oslo Airport, this is important to maintain the groundwater balance. It is part of the licensing requirements to operate the airport.

But first, the clean snow is collected into a large snow storage shaped like a pool. When it's full, the pool is covered with sawdust. Sawdust insulates well and allows us to preserve the coldness in the snow and ice. The coldness from the meltwater is extracted in a heat exchanger and transferred to the central cooling system. The meltwater is returned to the storage where it is once again "heat exchanged" with snow and ice in the snow storage, and then it goes through a new cycle of transferring coldness to the central cooling system. The energy in the snow and the cold meltwater will be used to cool down North Pier on hot days.

As the snow and ice in the snow storage melt, there is an excess of clean meltwater. This is gradually released into the ground, contributing to maintaining the groundwater balance.