What was once an unnamed solar carport project is now the largest installed solar carport project on the West Coast.

Over two and a half years ago Neil Bradley, Director of Strategic Accounts was contacted regarding a massive solar carport project opportunity in the Bay Area. “There was no address provided, just a map of a parking lot with layouts. The project was huge. “. Although the details of the project were vague, the size of the project would mean that this solar carport structure would prove to be one of the largest in the nation.

As promised, our team immediately jumped into estimating and bidding this large and unnamed project. Neil explained; “Originally, one of our Estimators, Spencer Falkner only referred to the unnamed project as ‘Neil’s Big Job.’” Throughout the active estimating stages, there was still no address to this exciting new project. “One day, a group of us were in the car discussing the size and little-known details of this mysterious project and it hit us-it’s Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. Sure, enough the next day we found the parking lot for Six Flags Discovery Kingdom on Google Maps and discovered it was an exact match to the unlabeled layouts we were provided.” Neil continued, “We couldn’t believe it; we were bidding solar carports for Six Flags Discovery Kingdom.”

Image Provided By Borrego Solar

The Discovery Kingdom Six Flags solar carport project was commissioned by JLL, an innovative property management company that without hesitation recognized the benefit that solar carports would serve the northern Californian theme park. JLL partnered with the powerhouse solar financing and planning company, SPower in bringing the project to fruition. Recognizing the flawless project development and management abilities that Borrego Solar displays in every project they produce, SPower placed them at the head of this project. With over four decades of solar carport design and installation, M Bar C Construction was the obvious choice for the installation of this record-breaking solar carport. Collaborating with a southern Californian neighbor and longtime electrical partners; Helix Electric in providing project electrical requirements felt like second nature and created the most efficient installation process possible.

The solar carports that span the vast expanse of parking at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom are now filled with 7.5 megawatts of solar carports. These carports represent 11.9 million kilowatt-hours of energy annually amount of that will directly feed Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. This record-breaking project makes Six Flags Discovery Kingdom the first solar-powered theme park on the west coast.

Although the timeline of this project landed specifically within our busy summer season, which are often dominated by school DSA carport projects, our team rose up and answered the call to every project demand. This solar carport project required a team of only 6-15 M Bar C crew members and four and a half months to install one of the largest solar carports in the nation. Kelsey Webster, Marketing Coordinator added; “It was a really exciting project for our team, a common theme for M Bar C is that we love breaking records and we thrive in partnerships with companies that are as passionate about these projects as we are. The size of this project immediately presented us with a record to break and a new bar to set, that’s when our really team shows up and truly shines”.

Want to see the finished product and learn more about the story behind it? Our friends and project champions at Borrego Solar and Six Flags created a clip that explains just what a difference this carport structure is making, check it out here.