As Rigel’s first trip to Disney World this December approaches, I was wondering about Disney World’s involvement in solar. As Florida is close behind Texas in their solar growth and Disney is usually a leader in technological advancements, I knew they must be leading the charge for solar installations in the state.
Disney World’s first big solar project was completed in 2016 and had a familiar shape!
Located near the intersection of Epcot Center Drive and World Drive, the 5 MW, 22 acre solar farm is enough to power about 1,000 homes. While this was Disney World’s first large scale solar farm, there have been solar panels on Epcot’s Universe of Energy building since 1982. Adding this mickey shaped solar farm outside of Epcot certainly fits with the original theme of Epcot, Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow!
Disney World far exceeded the now famous mickey solar farm in 2019 by powering up a new solar farm that is twice the size of their Magic Kingdom. Stretching over 270 acres, with an output of 57 MW (WOW!), the solar farm supplies Disney World with up to 25% of their power on sunny days.
In 2021, Disney World announced plans were in the works to develop two new 75 MW solar facilities (DOUBLE WOW!), which were expected within 2 years. The two new installations will span over 1,000 acres and be strategically placed in two different counties. This will help with production on cloudy days, giving the panels more changes to collect solar power in different areas. We can expect to see up to 40% of Disney World to be powered by solar power by the end of 2023! These additional projects will make Disney World the largest commercial solar consumer in Florida. This aligns with their plans to have net zero emissions by 2030. We can expect to see more renewable resources being used at Disney World in the coming years!
I will definitely be on the lookout for the mickey solar panel farm when we are at Disney World! Lookout for another article on solar installations at other Disney parks in the future!
