Reedy Creek Improvement District has signed a deal to bring Miami-based solar company Origis Energy to the Disney World area.
The agreement allows Origis Energy to build a new solar farm along the east side of State Highway 429, just west of Disney’s Magnolia and Palm golf courses. The facility will produce nearly 120,000 megawatt hours of power each year.
“We are honored to assist the Reedy Creek Improvement District leadership team realize their vision for the use of utility scale clean energy. Florida is our company’s home state as well. We commend the Reedy Creek Improvement District on the deployment of more solar energy in the Sunshine State.”
-Johan Vanhee, Managing Dir., Operations & Business Development of Origis Energy
Then facility is believed to be 10X bigger than the current Hidden Mickey solar farm near EPCOT and will feature 518,000 solar panel modules across 270 acres. Construction will create nearly 300 jobs and is expected to be finished by the end of the year.
To put it in perspective, Disney’s current solar farm created by Duke Energy spans across 22 acres and is five megawatts. 5-megawatts is enough to power 1,000 homes. Disney’s contract with Duke energy is 15 years long and was first announced in 2015.