Tweed New Haven Airport first to work with NASA on renewable energy for airplanes
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) — Tweed New Haven Airport is partnering with NASA to study renewable energy technologies for aviation.
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Tweed is the first commercial airport to be selected for the partnership with NASA and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, called "Airports as Energy Nodes."
The partnership announcement comes as leaders across the aviation industry pursue decarbonization.
A senior NASA engineer said the agency hopes "to develop robust solutions to an uncertain future mix of vehicles/energy needs and types, provide lasting community value and enable investment pathways that accelerate adoption."
A top Tweed official said he sees the airport as a potential future hub for a class of aircraft known as eVTOL, short for electric vertical takeoff and landing. Those aircrafts combine performance characteristics of both helicopters and fixed-wing planes. Several companies are in the process of developing eVTOL aircraft.
"Sustainable aviation is electric, it's hydrogen, it's whatever we can kind of envision in the future. And all of that technology is advancing," Michael Jones, the CEO of The New HVN, a public-private partnership between the Tweed New Haven Airport Authority and airport operator Avports.
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Jones said he's interested in everything from the electricity used to power airport operations to support for an emerging class of electric aircraft.
"I think HVN's a great location for eVTOL you have the proximity," Jones said. "To take an electric air taxi in essence to get down to New York City, to get to Boston, or to get to Greenwich or wherever they may be."
The generation, power storage and charging infrastructure for electric aircraft all still need to be developed and refined. Tweed officials say they hope to do that with an eye toward sustainability.
"By partnering with [airport authority] and NASA/NREL at HVN, we are identifying necessary infrastructure, evaluating current vertical flight operations, ensuring robust power capacity and resiliency," wrote Jorge Roberts, CEO of Avports.
Ultimately, Jones said the goal is to make Tweed a base of operation for the emerging classes of zero-emissions aircraft and at the same time "to be able to have this be a self-sustaining, resilient, reliable airport that doesn't need to rely on the grid."
