The Reedy Creek Improvement District voted recently to accept a 15-year agreement with Duke Energy to build a solar power facility near Epcot, on 20 acres near World Drive and Epcot Center Drive. Duke will lease the land and Disney will buy the power.
Construction on the power plant, with 48,000 solar panels in the shape of a Mickey Mouse head, will begin in mid-summer and should be completed and the plant in service by the end of the year.
The 5-megawatt facility represents 1,000 residential rooftop systems, but Disney wasn’t able to confirm what percentage of their power they would receive from the new facility.
Disney already uses some solar power, with panels at Ellen’s Energy Adventure and a water-heating system at a wardrobe facility at the Animal Nutrition Center, but nothing on the scale of the new project.
According to Disney and Reedy Creek, this project shows their continued commitment toward sustainability, joining the factory that creates electricity and fertilizer from food scraps and the conversion of its bus fleet to cleaner fuel.
