Photo: Six Flags Magic Mountain
Six Flags Magic Mountain is powering its parking lots with a new 12.37 megawatt (MW) solar installation, the largest solar garage in California. It is expected to generate enough electricity each year to offset the annual energy use of both the amusement park and neighboring Los Angeles’ Hurricane Harbor.
Six Flags says the installation in Valencia is one of the largest single-site commercial solar carport projects in the US.
Developed with solar panel company Solar Optimum, the project installs 22,908 RECOM bifacial solar panels on 36 carport structures. Bifacial panels collect sunlight from both sides, including light reflected from the ground.
The canopies span approximately 637,000 square feet and shade about 4,315 parking spaces: 3,544 for guests and 771 for employees. For anyone returning to their car after a hot day in the park, it’s a pretty useful benefit.
There’s also electric vehicle charging: Six Flags says the facility includes 109 charging connectors in parking lots for guests and employees.
A 2 MW/8 MWh battery system stores electricity for later use. With its nominal power of 2 MW, 8 MWh is equivalent to about four hours of discharge.
Six Flags expects the panels to generate about 20.8 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) annually.
The parks are still connected to the Southern California Edison utility company. They can draw on grid power when on-site generation is insufficient and export excess electricity when on-site demand and available battery storage are covered. Ultimately, the plan is to offset 100% of annual electricity consumption.
Construction officially began on November 1, 2023 with Solar Optimum and DSD Renewables. Magic Mountain follows previous solar installations at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Northern California and Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey.
Here, solar panels occupy space already used for parking, so the same land can house cars, provide shade and generate electricity.
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