Six Flags Great Adventures Moving Forward on Becoming First Solar Powered Theme Park

Six Flags Great Adventure has announced that they, along with their partner KDC Solar, will soon begin construction on the park's property to make it the world's first solar-powered theme park.

“This is a proud day for our company. This project represents a giant step toward becoming a net-zero carbon facility,” said Six Flags Great Adventure Park President John Winkler. “We are pleased that we were able to come to a satisfactory agreement with all parties involved. Clean energy is right for the environment and our future, and we look forward to decades of environmental stewardship with our partner, KDC Solar.”

The expansive Six Flags Great Adventure © Google Maps

To create the energy needed to run the theme park, the "23.5-megawatt solar project will include solar carports over select parking lots and 40 acres of ground-mounted solar panels."  Six Flags Great Adventure has a long history of conservation, including caring for more than 70 species of animals, including some endangered and extinct in the wild, along with recycling 60 percent of its annual waste such a paper, plastic, wood and mixed garbage.

A part of the solar plan also includes the park preserving more than 200 acres of forest, wetlands and wetlands transition areas.  “We are continually searching for new ways to operate more efficiently and enhance our role as good stewards of the environment,” Winkler said.

The construction of the project is scheduled to start this March, and the facility should be operational by the end of 2019.  The development will also benefit the community as KDC Solar will use more than 99,000 hours of union labor during construction.

This is an amazing step forward for the amusement industry!  While several parks have started to adapt solar panels into areas like parking lots, this is the largest development of its kind to date.  Kudos to Six Flags Great Adventure on the partnership and development.