Los Angeles World Airports, Utility Strategic Plan

Utility strategic plan will guide how Los Angels International Airport (LAX) can maintain operational resilience and achieve sustainability goals amid a period of rapid growth.

A $30 billion capital improvement program is transforming nearly every facility across the LAX campus. Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) is committed to expanding the airport campus while achieving net zero carbon emissions and transitioning to 100-percent renewable energy by 2045.

To accommodate major capital expansion plans and ambitious electrification initiatives, LAWA is exploring whether on-site power generation can support the LAX campus’ rapid growth without undermining sustainability goals. An earlier feasibility study suggested the potential to install 23 megawatts of on-site power.

Burns is teaming with HNTB to produce the utility strategic plan. Burns’ role is to develop the plan’s microgrid roadmap, contributing expertise toward utility demand forecasts, clean energy feasibility studies, and infrastructure design strategies.

Tasks include:

• Forecasting electrical demand and assessing capacity of existing utility services
• Identifying opportunities to enhance resilience of the airport’s electrical distribution system
• Determining technical and financial feasibility of clean energy alternatives such as on-site solar photovoltaics, battery energy storage systems, and other distributed energy resources
• Analyzing potential microgrid configurations, projecting project costs and schedules
• Consulting LAWA on strategies to achieve emission-reduction goals
• Evaluating on-going digital transformation projects to guide expansions of the campus communications network

The utility strategic plan is scheduled to be completed by 2026.

Featured photo: “LAX_0120“, by Sebastian Stephan Thiel, CC BY 2.0 (cropped from original)