Six Flags Magic Mountain will turn its 30-acre parking lot into a solar farm. The 12-megawatt solar carport energy structure will be installed over the visitor and employee parking lot, providing shade for visitors' cars. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/6djyIt8R0d
— Cheri Jacobus (@CheriJacobus) June 27, 2023
Talk about killing many birds with one stone! We've lamented about too much space being allotted for parking lots in America's car culture. We've talked about how great solar energy is, but it takes up a lot of space. And everyone has experienced trying to cool a way-too-hot car, which requires a lot of energy. And there are other benefits to this scheme, too.
The project will be California's largest solar energy project and the world's largest renewable energy site built by a for-profit organization, producing 20.8 million kilowatt hours of energy annually. 3/3
— Cheri Jacobus (@CheriJacobus) June 27, 2023
Six Flags is not the first place to install solar panels in a parking lot, but they might be the first place to make a lot of people aware of it. You see it at schools and government offices in California, but rarely at a private business in which the upfront cost dissuades the bean counters from making the initial investment. However, Walmart is beginning to roll out the idea in California. France passed a law earlier this year requiring that parking lots of a certain size install solar panels.
Construction on Six Flags' "solar carport" will begin later this summer and is expected to be completed late this year or in early 2024. -via Fark