It was a momentous occasion with an electric atmosphere for Six Flags Magic Mountain as workers, local dignitaries and collaborators joined in on “flipping the switch” for the thrill capital’s new 12.37-megawatt solar carport and energy storage system on Thursday morning.
To kick off National Energy Awareness Month, Six Flags was finally able to show its project that has been in the works for over 10 years. To add to the celebration, it is also the largest solar carport installation in California and one of the largest single-site commercial solar carport projects in the United States.
Brian Oerding, park president of Six Flags Magic Mountain, said it was phenomenal to see the project come to fruition, especially since he just started about six months ago.
“To see it all come together, right, and really be able to show the community our commitment to sustainability, right? Give back to the community and do our part to be good community partners,” Oerding said. “And then in addition to that, it’s a fantastic way that you can come and enjoy the park and your car be under shade and not be 1,000 degrees when you get back. What a phenomenal guest amenity that we’re able to just add for the experience.”
He added that taking these initiatives can show that the company cares about its partnerships with its team and the community.
“I think as you, as you look at your business, right, you can focus on several different things and of course, we want our team member experience to be great. We want our guest experience to be great. And if you want to stop right there, you’re probably doing OK,” Oerding said. “(Especially) in the environment and in your community. But if you really want to be a good partner and you really want everybody to understand that you understand how important it is, and that you take your partnership with the community serious, then you go above on the next step. And that’s sort of what this feels like, right? It’s like going above and beyond.”
During the celebration, multiple people went up to the podium to explain what the project meant to them and what it took to put it in motion.
Jason Freeman, senior vice president of park operations at Six Flags Entertainment, was one of the people who spearheaded the project.
He said that when the project was first introduced, he said Six Flags was looking for ways to be more sustainable while the park was operating.
“We started investigating different things. Of course, we were already doing waste management and water conservation things, but solar came up as the one thing that could really impact the sustainable future of our parks, but also the communities, because of the amount of energy that we use as a company,” Freeman said.
He added that since some of the parks are “cities within cities,” the company wanted to focus on being good for the community.
“The amount of visitation we get in a 12-hour period in some of our parks, in some of the locations we operate in, we will eclipse the census of the city that we operate in that 12-hour day. So, we want to make sure that we are being a good resource,” Freeman said.
One final thing that Freeman wanted to emphasize about the park is that it is now energy-independent.
“The solar doesn’t feed the park directly, but we are taking the renewable energy and feeding the park, even though this is feeding the meter and the meter is feeding us. So, we are not adding and taking power,” Freeman said.
