Perth Airport Solar Canopy Business Case

Built in a factory. Proven in the field.

Canyon factory-builds around 80% of every canopy at our facility in Braemar, NSW, then crane-deploys the finished pods on site. That means a predictable programme, controlled quality, and a much shorter on-site program than field-built construction.

Projects, three states

3.2 MWp

Installed to date

~1.5 MWp

Awarded at a major AU airport

10 yr

Warranty, 30-yr design life

Track record. Delivered for Woolworths (six solar canopy sites), AstraZeneca, CSIRO, IGA, AGL and Wests Illawarra, engineered to Australian wind and structural standards.

Aviation credentials. Canyon has recently been awarded a solar canopy program of around 1.5 MWp at a major Australian regional airport. Factory build and crane deployment suit a busy airport car park.

The opportunity at Perth Airport

The layout above places Canyon canopies across the terminal forecourt car parks, covering around 840 bays with roughly 10,826 m² of solar canopy for a 2.60 MWp system.

One car park, or many. The numbers in this document are an illustrative example for a single forecourt car park. The same approach, and the same economics per megawatt, scale across any of the car parks Perth Airport oversees, from the terminal forecourts to long-term and staff parking.

The Grand Canyon

For a premium, high-visibility space like an airport forecourt, the standout option is Canyon's newest design, the Grand Canyon: a continuous, portal-frame canopy that covers every bay and every driving lane with a single, unbroken solar roof. There are no gaps over the circulation, which gives the highest solar density of any canopy in our range and makes the car park read as architecture rather than infrastructure.

$Grand Canyon continuous solar canopy, aerial view with battery and EV charging$

Grand Canyon · a continuous full-coverage canopy, with integrated battery and EV charging

Every bay and lane covered

One continuous roof across the whole car park. Patrons walk dry and vehicles stay shaded, with no exposed circulation between the rows.

Highest solar density

The portal-frame geometry covers the driving lanes as well as the bays, pushing the kWp per square metre above anything a wing-style canopy can reach.

A premium arrival

Integrated LED lighting under a clean architectural roofline. For an airport forecourt, it reads as a considered, premium customer space, not a piece of infrastructure.

EV and battery ready

Pre-installed EV conduit in every column, with battery, smart controls and signage supported on day one or layered in as the masterplan develops.

Under the Grand Canyon canopy, integrated lighting and shaded parking

Under the canopy · continuous cover, integrated lighting and a shaded, premium customer environment

More than a power project

A solar canopy at Perth Airport does several jobs at once. It is a generation asset, a passenger amenity, an EV platform and a resilience option, all on land the airport already controls.

Clean power

Around 4 GWh a year of on-site generation, offsetting a meaningful share of the terminal and precinct load and hedging against rising grid prices.

Shade & amenity

Covered parking in Perth's heat. A cooler, premium experience for passengers and staff that protects vehicles and supports covered-parking yield.

EV ready

Every canopy ships with EV-ready conduit. This layout carries provision for around 40 charging bays, ready as passenger and fleet EV demand grows.

Resilience

An optional battery, up to 5 MWh in this design, adds peak-shaving and backup for a piece of critical transport infrastructure.

Sustainability & brand

Around 2,200 tonnes of CO₂ avoided a year, a visible reduction in Scope 2 that supports the airport's net-zero commitments and tenant ESG reporting.

Fast install

Built off site and craned into place, for a brief, low-impact on-site program on a busy forecourt.

The indicative numbers

Preliminary, desktop-derived figures for the example canopy shown. The same per-megawatt economics apply to further car parks across the estate. Final pricing follows a site assessment, and the energy case depends on the airport's actual tariff and load.

The build

System size: 2.60 MWp
Indicative turnkey (canopy): $4.6M
Indicative rate: $1.75 / W
Annual generation: ~4.0 GWh
CO₂ avoided: ~2,200 t / yr

The energy case

Indicative energy value: ~$0.8M / yr
Simple payback (energy only): ~6 years
25-year CO₂ avoided: ~55,000 t
Optional: 40 EV bays: +$0.8M
Optional: 5 MWh battery: +$3.25M

Zero capex option. Prefer no capital outlay? Canyon can help arrange an OPEX route through our finance partners. Indicatively, a power purchase agreement lands around 14 c/kWh against a typical large-user grid rate, so the airport pays nothing upfront and saves from day one, with the generation offsetting the cost. Buy direct, or we will help structure the finance.

Figures are indicative and for discussion only. The energy case assumes a Perth specific yield of about 1,550 kWh/kWp per year, high daytime self-consumption given the airport's continuous load, and an assumed blended grid import near 20 c/kWh. Actual outcomes depend on the site's energy contract, load profile and a site assessment. Excludes GST. Payback is energy only and excludes the shade, amenity, EV and resilience value.

Two ways to proceed

Buy direct

Own the asset outright. Indicative turnkey around $4.6M for the 2.60 MWp canopy, with an energy-only payback near six years and clean generation across a 30-year design life.

Own the asset

Zero-capex OPEX

No capital outlay. Canyon helps arrange a power purchase agreement or lease through finance partners, priced below the airport's grid rate, so the saving starts on day one.

Nothing upfront

Perth Airport: your car parks could be your biggest power station and act as premium customer amenities.