Top 50 Solar Stadiums Worldwide (2018 World Cup Edition)

Right now, on a daily basis, millions and millions of people around the world are tuning in to live broadcasts from a dozen stadiums in Russia, to see football teams from 32 nations battle over the coveted golden trophy of football glory. And the 2018 FIFA World Cup is only just getting up to steam. 

This impressive sporting event was as good a reason as any for us to review our Top 50 of solar sports venues across the world and update it with the latest additions.

Imagine a stadium. A humongous building, requiring excessive amounts of energy. Everything, from the stadium lights to the hot dog stands, slurps up electricity. And then envision those large surfaces on top of stadium rings, training facilities and sports grounds infrastructure. Excellent opportunities for solar applications abound! It’s no wonder then, that already since the early nineties - but increasingly so since the late ‘00s - more and more sports venues are turning towards solar energy to power their facilities. Stadium and venue management opts for the utilization of PV and other solar technology as a result of a conscious and economic decision. The cost of installing and operating solar panels have dropped so sharply that the economic benefits significantly outweigh the costs.

But there’s more to it than economics. Sports, due to their ability to reach enormous number of fans worldwide, have long been important platforms for value promotion. Globally, the concepts of sustainability and energy efficiency have become the subject of increased focus lately. An ever-growing number of sports venues have taken on the use of solar energy in an attempt to improve the sustainable profile of their power generation.

In many cases, the solarization of stadiums and other sport venues was achieved through wide-scale initiatives. One of the largest initiative of this sort was the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) decision to include environmental protection measures (Green Programs —“the third pillar of Olympics games”) as one of the requirements for a successful bid to host the Games. PV systems and heat collectors have been popular renewable energy technologies that have been used both in olympic stadiums and in the supporting facilities.

Another significant organization - and here we loop back to the beloved World Cup Football - has been the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). One of the main drivers for the ingegration of solar energy into European stadium infrastructure, a concept also referred to as Solar Stadia, was when FIFA started the “Green Goal” program as a way to specifically address environmental concerns. The program was created in 2003 but its first debut was not until the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany and the 2008 UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) Cup in Switzerland.

Solar has increasingly been part of the World & Euro Cup landscape. Major solar companies like Yingli Solar & Jinko Solar have been profiling themselves as sponsors of football, but one of the most eye catching and convincing case-makers are those shiny blue and black panels on top of the stadiums. During the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, 5 out of the 12 venues were solar-powered stadiums (and 1 other solar powered stadium was used in the qualifying matches). 

All the more regrettable, however, to see how solar energy hasn’t qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, as none of the Russian stadiums make use of renewables for their power supply. Let’s hope that Qatar will make better efforts for the 2022 World Cup they’re hosting! Thinking of all those air conditioned stadiums in the desert, one would seriously hope they’ll deploy some solar panels to supply some of that intense power usage.

So before we dive into the Top 50 Global Sports Venues, let's first take a detailed look at Football stadiums around the world.

_{Antalya Arena - Antalya}

Figure 1: An overview of the list of Top 50 solar venues based on location.

Our Top 50 list of solar venues spans across the entire globe, though some regions clearly provided more contributions than others (Figure 1). North America, home to nearly half of the listed venues, has proven to be largest solar sports superpower. Europe, not far behind the leader, counts 16 of the largest solarized sports venues. The main European countries with the largest solar-powered solar venues are the Netherlands and Germany counting 8 and 4 venues respectively. South America claims third place with 7 venues and Asia follows with 5. Oceania, with a stadium located in Australia, is home to 1 of the 50 venues.

Figure 2: An overview of the list of Top 50 solar venues based on sport disciplines.

The timeliness of solar applications for sports venues is clearly indicated in Figure 3. Before 2008, only 2 venues made it to the list whereas the period between 2010 and 2015 witnessed the commissioning of 80% of all venues. Although 2016, 2017 and 2018 have been somewhat slower than expected, the attractivity for venues to utilize solar energy as a way to increase sustainability and provide an economic cushion for expenses will surely drive further growth in this sector.

Figure 3: Sports venues with installed solar systems per year between 1995 and 2018.

_{Allianz Riviera - Nice (Photo: Miläne Servelle)}

European solar venues

Europe, home to some of the best sports teams across many disciplines, has been instrumental in the quest to promote sustainability. Considering the popularity of football in comparison to virtually any other sport, it comes as no surprise that the majority of our Top 15 European solar venues have, are connected with football (soccer) while also featuring car racing and ice skating venues.

The solar venue sector has certainly come a long way since the first reported instance a stadium was added solar panels to it in Europe. With the addition of a 259 kWp power capacity PV generators on its rooftop, the Badenova-Stadio (Mage Solar Stadio), located in Freiburg, Germany has started a trend that would catch on years later all across Europe.

Many of the venues that are registered in the European Top 15 list are home to teams playing in the best professional football divisions. These divisions include the Eredivisie, Ligue 1, Bundesliga and Serie A which are top football divisions in the Netherlands, France, Germany and Italy.

The title for the sports venue with largest solar capacity went for the TT circuit in Assen, Netherlands. The car and motor racing venue harvests the sun through its 21,000 installed solar panels that together account for a peak capacity of whooping 5,600 kWp. The second largest venue with a considerably lower solar capacity is the BSC Young Boys’ stadium in Bern, Switzerland. This solar system’s capacity amounted to 1,350 kWp and consisted off 8,000 panels.

Mounting solar panels on or nearby stadiums is not the only way for venues to make themselves more sustainable. As a result of a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with English investor giant Octopus Energy, Arsenal has become the first team in the Premier League to be 100% sustainable in their energy consumption. By completely sourcing its energy from renewable sources, the Gunners will manage to save 2.32 million kg of carbon dioxide per year, which translates to the equivalent weight of a 183 double-decker buses, or the annual CO2 emissions of 580 fans.

Going green in such a manner, however, no longer requires the monetary concessions many would rightfully assume Arsenal can afford for the sake of being the first. As Greg Jackson, chief executive of Octopus Energy, put it “Green energy is at a tipping point, the technology to create electricity from renewable sources is now so efficient, that we can offer ‘green’ energy to our customers which is cheaper than many ‘non green’ tariffs”.

_{Mineirao - Belo Horizonte (Photo: Renato Cobucci/Imprensa-MG)}

Latin American solar venues

Latin America has long been a region with outstanding solar conditions although some countries make use of these assets more than others. Chile is known for having the most developed solar market in the region, however, when it comes to solar venues this title goes to its western neighbor, Brazil. An honorable mention goes out to Costa Rica as well, the only other Latin American country to feature a solar powered stadium. 

Although Brazil’s solar market is not even in the same ballpark as Chile’s, a single event caused Brazil to significantly surpass its South American stadium solarization. Perhaps the most noteworthy effort to increase sustainability came when the privilege to organize the 2014 World Cup was awarded to Rio de Janeiro by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). This move entailed the partial reconstruction of Brazil’s largest football stadiums according to the sustainability guidelines of FIFA.

As a result of the reconstruction, 4 of the 12 football stadiums were amended with solar panels, making Brazil a solar venue superpower. The largest Brazilian venue in terms of its solar capacity is the Estádio Nacional Mané Garrincha with its 9,600 panels that together make up a solar system with a capacity of 2,500 kWp.

In second place is the Estadio Mineirao, that bears a solar capacity of 1,420 kWp and has been the focus of much attention. This $16m solar innovation doesn’t just power the stadium – it sends energy to the local grid, enough to serve the electricity needs of nearly 1,000 homes per year. Once the redevelopment of the facility was finished, Mineirão became the first stadium in Brazil, second in the World, to receive the LEED Platinum Sustainability Certification (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, the highest level of the seal) granted by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) due to management of resources (energy, water, etc.) performed by the building.

(For a detailed and more technical look at the Estadio Mineirao system, be sure to check out this highly detailed study of the system's performance over a year's time in the Energies Open Access Energy Research, Engineering and Policy Journal)

_{Lincoln Financial Field - Philadelphia}

North American solar venues

The landscape of solar venues in North America is not very diverse, as all reported cases hail from the United States of America. What is more diverse though, is the number of sports disciplines that have taken on this novel solution to become more sustainable. In the list of our Top 25 solar venues 5 different sports are represented. The list includes the members of the nation’s largest associations such as the NFL, MLS, MLB and NBA.

The largest North American solar venue, which also holds the title for the largest solar venue globally, is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway which hosts the Indie 500. The venue is powered by nearly 40,000 solar panels amounting to a capacity of 9,000 kWp.

In second place came the home of the Philadelphia Eagles, the Lincoln Financial Field a significantly lower but still immense capacity of 3,000 kWp. The stadium’s renewable energy generation system is also equipped with 14 micro wind-turbines and is capable of a combined annual production of more than 4 times the power consumed during a season of home game days.

The third place goes to the Pocono Raceway located in Pennsylvania with almost 40,000 solar panels. This renewable energy capacity coupled with its recycling and tree planting program has made the venue one of the most environmentally conscious tracks in NASCAR.

The total solar venue capacity has come a long way since the first reported case of a professional sports facility installing solar panels on its roof. This pioneering achievement took place in 2007 when the Coors Field (home of the Colorado Rockies) installed a solar system with a capacity of 9.9 kW. Since then professional solar sports installations have grown immensely. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association in United States of America, the total cumulative solar power capacity in professional sports facilities reached 25.4 MWp in 2015 (a growth of 13% by year).

Similarly to the European example, sports venues are entering agreements with local energy providers to receive renewable energy. The Verizon center, home of the Capitals, Wizards, Mystics and Valor, will be provided with solar energy for 25% of its energy needs through a recent partnership with Virginia-based WGL Energy Services.

The spread of venue solarization projects would not only save major league sports millions of dollars in energy costs and cut carbon emissions by thousands of metric tons but may spearhead the solarization of the residential sector as football, baseball, basketball or car racing fans are exposed to the great qualities of this technology through the joyful activity of watching their favorite teams and athletes compete for victory.

Solar energy is on the rise and it is reaching and benefiting sectors that previously had no affiliation with it. The sector of sports venues is yet another field where solar energy is expected to have a disruptive effect and change best practices. Let it be driven by sustainability initiatives or mere economic rationality, more and more venues are pursuing solar energy. Besides the overt benefits of this increase in solar venues, an increasing number of people are being exposed to PV and other solar technologies. Given the ability of sports to influence large crowds towards desirable values, sustainability efforts and with it solar energy sector may benefit considerably from this positive trend in years to come.

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