Underground facility to reduce CO2 emissions
Flughafen Zürich AG is building an underground energy centre to reduce the company's own emissions. A seasonal energy storage facility in an ice-age glacier channel and a low-temperature network are also planned.
Flughafen Zürich AG is building an underground energy centre located between multi-storey car park 6, the Radisson Blu Hotel and Operation Center 1. The centre will be equipped with heat pumps and chillers with a total output of 12 to 15 megawatts. In the medium term, it will cover around two thirds of the heating and cooling requirements of the terminal and the surrounding buildings at the airport head. Commissioning is planned for autumn 2027, Flughafen Zürich AG announced in a press release.
At the same time, the company is exploring an ice-age channel at a depth of 300 metres in order to store thermal energy there and make it usable again. The first well has been in operation since 2024 and a second one is being built. Exploration of the channel is being funded by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy.
Together with the energy centre and a planned low-temperature network, the channel should save around 6,500 tonnes of CO2 per year in future and help to reduce CO2 emissions at the airport head by 35% to 15,900 tonnes per year by 2030. Flughafen Zürich AG aims to reduce its own CO2 emissions to net zero by 2040.
“Technically, we are relying on innovative systems with our plan to decarbonise the infrastructure. The combination of heat pumps, seasonal energy storage in an ice-age channel or via geothermal probe fields and a low-temperature network allows us to significantly reduce the climate impact of heating and cooling,” says Guido Hüni, Head of Energy and Decarbonisation at Flughafen Zürich AG.