Sydney Airport Holdings Pty Ltd (ASX: SYD) shares are edging higher today. This comes as travellers continue rejoicing over the opening of the trans-Tasman bubble allowing travel between Australia and New Zealand for the first time in months.
At the time of writing, the Sydney Airport share price is trading 0.16% higher at $6.08.
Sydney Airport is Australia's busiest airport, providing aeronautical, retail, property, car rental and parking and ground transport services.
New research poses interesting opportunity for Aussie airports
New research that may be of interest to investors in Sydney Airport shares suggests Australian airports have the potential to one day become national energy producers.
An RMIT University study has found that if large-scale solar panels were installed across Australian airports, they could produce more electricity than is generated by solar panels on 17,000 residential homes.
The paper focused on the solar energy potential of airport rooftop space but also highlighted the potential for ground-based solar panels.
The research indicated that moving forward, governments couldn't rely on small solar panels used for residential purposes to provide enough electricity to power the entire grid. It further highlighted that doing so — particularly considering in the past there were substantial rebates on home-owner solar panel installation — was potentially an ineffective use of resources.
The research found installing solar panels at 21 airports would generate 10 times more electricity than solar panels installed at 17,000 residential homes while offsetting 151.6 kilotons of greenhouse gasses annually.
What RMIT researchers said
Geospatial scientist at RMIT's School of Science Dr Chayn Sun said that airports' large areas and lack of shade made them perfect for solar generation. She said:
We can't rely on small residential solar panels to get us to a zero-emission economy but installing large panels at locations like airports would get us a lot closer. We hope our results will help guide energy policy, while informing future research in solar deployment for large buildings.
Australia is facing an energy crisis, yet our solar energy resources – such as airport rooftops – are being wasted. There's so much potential to facilitate national economic development while contributing towards greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.
Sydney Airport share price snapshot
The Sydney Airport share price is having a minor recovery today after slumping 2% yesterday on its latest passenger figures. Overall, the Sydney Airport share price is down by around 5% in 2021 so far, but it's up by around 9% over the past 12 months.
