Six Flags Magic Mountain is putting its parking lots to work with a new 12.37-megawatt (MW) solar installation – California’s largest solar carport. It’s expected to generate enough electricity each year to offset the annual power use of both the amusement park and neighboring Hurricane Harbor Los Angeles.

Six Flags says the installation in Valencia is one of the largest single-site commercial solar carport projects in the US.

Developed with the solar panel company Solar Optimum, the project installs 22,908 RECOM bifacial solar panels across 36 carport structures. Bifacial panels collect sunlight from both sides, including light reflected from the ground.

The canopies span roughly 637,000 square feet and shade about 4,315 parking spaces – 3,544 for guests and 771 for employees. For anyone returning to a car after a hot day at the park, that’s a pretty useful perk.

There’s also EV charging: Six Flags says the installation includes 109 charging connectors across the guest and employee lots.

A 2 MW/8 MWh battery system stores electricity for later use. At its rated 2 MW output, 8 MWh works out to about four hours of discharge.

Six Flags expects the panels to generate around 20.8 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) a year.

The parks are still connected to the utility Southern California Edison. They can draw grid power when onsite generation falls short and export surplus electricity when onsite demand and available battery storage are covered. Ultimately, the plan is to offset 100% of annual electricity consumption.

Construction officially broke ground on November 1, 2023, with Solar Optimum and DSD Renewables.

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