Project Description:
1. Introduction
Hong Kong Disneyland Resort (HKDL) brings unforgettable, culturally distinctive Disney experiences for guests of all ages and nationalities. Hong Kong is home to the fifth Disney Resort in the world. The city's landscape and vibrant, diverse culture has inspired our Imagineers to create a variety of entertainment that is unique to Hong Kong Disneyland Resort.
HKDL is owned by a joint venture company, Hongkong International Theme Parks Limited, with shareholders, the Hong Kong Government and The Walt Disney Company.
Hong Kong Disneyland consists of the following eight themed areas: Adventureland, Fantasyland, Grizzly Gulch, Main Street U.S.A., Mystic Point, Tomorrowland, Toy Story Land and World of Frozen. These areas feature themed attractions, entertainment and interactive experiences, restaurants, merchandise shops and refreshment stands. Additionally, there are daily parades and nighttime events. The Resort has three theme resort hotels: Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel, Disney Explorers Lodge and Disney’s Hollywood Hotel.
HKDL recently inaugurated Hong Kong’s first and largest car park solar canopy in cast members’ car park, featuring nearly 400 bi-facial solar panels and providing shelter for 80 parking spaces. Together with the resort’s extensive electric vehicle (EV) charging network, the project serves as a smart grid test bed, demonstrates HKDL’s continued commitment to conservation and renewable energy adoption, reinforcing its leading position in sustainable energy and pioneering environmental initiatives in Hong Kong.
2. Innovativeness
1.2 Is the innovative concept come from the project itself or other existing programs?
Even though solar energy and EV charging are established technologies around the world, HKDL’s innovative approach is different from other existing programs, the renewable energy generation from the car park solar canopy and green mobility support from extensive EV charging network forms a synergy for the leading position in sustainable energy for HKDL.
HKDL developed the first and largest car park solar canopy project in Hong Kong by deploying bi-facial solar panels specifically tailored for high density environments like a HKDL’s cast member car park. Bi-facial panel is relatively uncommon to be used in Hong Kong due to complex installation requirements. HKDL put efforts in utilizing the bi-facial solar panels ability to capture reflected light from the ground, setting a new benchmark for renewable energy adoption in Hong Kong.
Simultaneously, the extensive EV charging network was developed in-house to address the unique demand for guests and cast members due to the resort’s special operation pattern. HKDL encourages cast members to transit from traditional internal combustion engine vehicles to cleaner commuting option by offering over 130 EV chargers for both guests and cast members.
It is more than just simply following existing programs by creating a localized ecosystem for both energy production and consumption.
2.2 How the innovative policy design encourages financial support and public-private partnership?
This car park solar canopy project is among the first projects to obtain government facilitation measures. The measures allow for height exemptions and gross floor area (GFA) concessions. The collaboration between HKDL and the Government plays a key role in promoting the development of renewable energy, especially by demonstrating the feasibility and benefits of installing solar photovoltaic systems in open car parks in Hong Kong.
Being the first and largest car park solar canopy project in Hong Kong, the project fosters the public-private partnership. HKDL actively shares practical lessons through site visits with government departments, educational institutions, and the industry, supporting wider adoption across the community.
The car park solar canopy project utilizes the CLP Feed-in Tariff (FiT) scheme, despite not being a direct funding source, it offers financial support to this project as the FiT scheme allows our solar canopy systems to sell generated electricity back to CLP at rates higher than standard tariffs, which helps accelerate the return on investment, in other words, shorten the payback period.
On the other hand, by providing free EV charging facilities across our park and three theme resort hotels, the financial incentive we offered strongly encourages our cast and guests to choose greener travel options. This initiative effectively removes the financial barriers to sustainable commuting, such that they could participate in a more sustainable lifestyle.
3.2 How does the innovative concept catch the trend of future development?
The car park solar canopy project reinforcing HKDL’s leading position in sustainable energy and pioneering environmental initiatives in Hong Kong. Being one of the largest solar energy generation systems in Hong Kong, the resort has comprised of nearly 8,000 monocrystalline solar panels at over 45 locations. This project signifies a new chapter and key milestone for HKDL, paving the way to further expand the resort’s solar panel system.
The 200kW solar canopy is installed on top of HKDL's open car park for cast members’ use and generating over 200,000 kWh of electricity annually. Featuring nearly 400 panels, it provides shelter for 80 parking spaces.
This project catches the trend of future development of solar energy generation systems.
In addition to creating dual-purpose land use by generating power on land already used for parking, it also boosts solar energy performance compared with conventional systems. As the solar canopies are elevated, they are especially suitable for bifacial solar panels, helping increase energy yield.
For HKDL’s extensive EV charging network, it anticipates the global shift toward mass electrification of transport. The EV charging network in the resort supports the transition to a low-carbon economy before it becomes a regulatory mandate. In fact, we have also developed fast EV charging station to cater the demand of electricity needed for green mobility, including the upcoming electric shuttle buses in our resort.
5 Inspiration
5.1 Whether the idea can inspire later/subsequent cases?
This is Hong Kong’s first and largest car park solar canopy, it is an exemplary solar project showing that this kind of innovative ideas could be feasible in Hong Kong. Not only it inspired the potential of turning conventional carpark to a solar car park, but it unleashed the potential of any shaded structure like transit hub and pedestrian pathway turning into solar-panel-covered structure, providing both shades and renewable energy generation. Also, our success in deploying bi-facial solar panels could help other parties in designing their own solar system in the future.
Following completion of the car park solar canopy, HKDL continues the journey beyond construction. We stayed in close dialogue with the Government by sharing implementation experience, providing feedback, and offering suggestions on policy refinements that could attract more companies to install solar canopies. In parallel, we also share our lessons learned with the industry, so that others can replicate the model with greater confidence. For example, we worked closely with relevant authorities early on to clarify approval requirements and streamline submissions; we translated on-the-ground operational constraints into a safe, buildable structural design that maintained car park circulation and headroom; and we coordinated early with the utility on interconnection, metering, testing and commissioning to ensure a smooth grid-connection process under the CLP Feed-in Tariff (FiT) scheme.
To align with the Hong Kong's Climate Action Plan 2050, the Environment and Ecology Bureau and the Development Bureau introduced facilitation measures to support the installation of solar PV systems in open car parks by the private sector. These measures assist applicants to install solar PV systems not exceeding three metres in height in open car parks. In addition, the Buildings Department provides a fast-track mechanism to process and approve building plans and GFA concessions. Therefore, it is foreseeable that wider adoption of solar PV systems in open car parks is expected in light of extensive support from the government. HKDL’s car park solar canopy can thus be an inspiration for these future cases, serving as a practical reference to the industry.
At the same time, our experience in EV charging model, including the challenges we have faced could also be a case study for other commercial parties on how to effectively incentivize staffs and consumers toward sustainable commuting.
5.2 What domain has been enlightened by this policy?
The car park solar canopy and EV charger projects enlightened the opportunity of environmental education and public engagement. HKDL has sought to balance its role as a mass tourism destination with a commitment to conserve resources and reduce emissions. The development of car park solar canopy and extensive application of EV charging serve as an inspiration for the public through tangible environmental stewardship and innovative design. By turning sustainability into something visible and visitable, the project brings renewable energy and green mobility to life. Through environmental visits to the resort, students, community groups, and industry stakeholders can see first-hand how renewable energy and green mobility can be integrated into daily operations.
Other than educational purposes, it could also enlighten corporate ESG domain, inspiring commercial and industrial sectors to integrate environmental initiatives into their own business models. As the car park solar canopy and EV charging network are great examples of showing that the resort has built an extensive portfolio of initiatives that demonstrate how sustainability can be operationally effective without compromising guest experience. HKDL also shows that often overlooked sustainability designs, can be pivoted to become valuable assets for renewable energy generation and employee wellness.
6 Clearness
6.1 Is there any open and transparent channel of public communication?
HKDL maintains open and transparent channel of public communication regarding the resort’s green initiatives.
First, for official documentation, projects like car park solar canopy as well as energy-saving milestones are presented in HKDL official website.
Second, ESG reporting like Sustainability & Social Impact Report would include HKDL’s environmental performance and key initiatives.
Third, HKDL publishes press releases, public reporting, and shares major sustainability achievements through official social media channels (e.g. Disney Moments HK on Facebook and Instagram, HKDL LinkedIn etc. to keep the public inform of the latest innovative and environmental achievements
6.2 Is there any difference between this policy and other similar policies?
There are significant differences between the car park solar canopy and conventional solar power generation projects. Most of the conventional solar power generation projects install PV panels on building rooftops. Yet, we have comprehensively occupied a considerable amount of PV panels on the rooftop across the resort. The breakthrough and a key highlight of this project is to utilize multi-use area like carpark to expand our renewable energy adoption. This project also marks the resort’s first-ever use of bi-facial solar panels, which generate electricity from both sides, increases energy output by around 10% compared to conventional single-sided solar panels, given that the system’s scale.
For the resort’s EV charging network, the extensive EV chargers are designed to fit the unique demands of guests and cast members. The normal charging speed of chargers are specifically designed for low turnover rate of parking lot, it is because normally guests and cast members typically stay in the resort for a whole day, the lower power charger are sufficient to cater the charging demand. On the other hand, fast chargers are also installed to cater the charging demand for electric shuttle bus operation.
Additionally, unlike most of the commercial sites that charge for EV charging, HKDL offers complimentary EV charging, which successfully serves as an incentive to encourage EV adoption for both guests and cast members.
7 Practicability
7.1 Has any effective measure for moving ahead been made?
The car park solar canopy in cast members car park is only one of the resort’s continued efforts in renewable energy adoption. With the experience of this pioneer project, including the operational data in our cloud-based real-time monitoring system, we could make technical adjustments such as panels orientation, structural design, and grid connection to ensure maximized yield for future solar energy expansion in the resort.
On the other hand, our EV charging network is moving ahead by progressively installing fast EV chargers to cater the charging demand of bulky EV with large battery, such as the electric shuttle buses and in-house fleet of EV.
7.2 Is there any numerical goal for reference?
Both phase 1 and phase 2 of the car park solar canopy are successfully completed. The 200kW solar canopy is installed on top of HKDL's Team Disney car park for cast members’ use and generating over 200,000 kWh of electricity annually. Featuring more than 400 panels, it will provide shelter for 80 parking spaces. The total scale of solar energy generation systems in HKDL is one of the largest in Hong Kong, with nearly 8,000 solar panels resort-wide, generating 3.6 million kWh annually, with over 45 locations.
For EV chargers, there are over 130 EV chargers installed across the resort. HKDL will continue expanding EV charging provision as part of our plan.
8 Replicability
8.1 Could the ideas, methods or techniques be applied internationally?
The ideas, methods, and technologies of integrating bi-facial solar panels into existing car parks as well as deploying extensive EV charging networks could undoubtedly applicable internationally, especially to cities and condensed places where the land is limited for development with high vehicle density.
We also shared our experience with different Disney parks globally, the other sites could take reference to our innovative projects and apply to their sites.
9 Cost-effectiveness
9.1 Will it be cost-effective to implement?
The solar canopy car park project has joined CLP Feed-in Tariff (FiT) scheme, ensuring a higher rate of electricity back to CLP than standard tariffs. Moreover, the bi-facial PV panels are expected to generate higher yield of renewable energy than the conventional single-sided solar panels. Therefore, the profit return after joining FiT scheme would be more considerable, making the project more cost-effective in a long run.
9.2 Is there any measurable reduction of emission or energy use? Please describe the measurement method.
The reduction of emission could be calculated via the data obtained from our cloud-based real-time monitoring system, for both car park solar canopy and EV charging network.
Our real-time monitoring online platform covers the performance of each PV panels comprehensively, including the bi-facial solar panels in the car park solar canopy, such that we could accurately measure the renewable energy regeneration from our solar system. Additional optimizers are also installed to maximize the yield of each solar panel. Eventually, emissions reductions are measured by multiplying the total kWh generated by CLP carbon intensity factor.
For EV chargers, real-time monitoring online platform is also available, we regularly monitor the charger’s utilization to calculate the emissions reductions from vehicles electrification, compared to fossil fuels’ emission factor.
10 Consistency
10.1 Are adopted measures consistent with energy policy and strategy?
The solar canopy car park project is a direct response to Hong Kong's Climate Action Plan 2050, specifically supporting "Net-zero Electricity Generation" and "Green Transport".
Whereas the EV chargers project is consistently aligned with the government’s Hong Kong Roadmap on Popularisation of Electric Vehicles. We have been promoting EV transition by expanding the EV charger’s coverage, with over 130 EV chargers at the resort. It is to ensure our resort could support government policies that no new registration of fuel-propelled private cars including different types of hybrids in Hong Kong in 2035 or earlier, eventually reach zero vehicular emissions by 2050.
10.2 Is there any long-term measure or implementing organization for this project?
HKDL in-house Facilities Services team are responsible for overseeing the construction, operation, and maintenance of solar projects and EV charging network, we have internal guidelines and standards to ensure the long-term satisfactory performance of our projects.
11 Completeness
11.1 Is the achievement scale measurable?
Achievement of both the car park solar canopy and EV chargers are measurable. As mentioned, data could be obtained from our cloud-based real-time monitoring system, making our achievement highly measurable. Real-time yield for each panel and EV charger utilization could be tracked.
11.2 Will it make a considerable success in project goals?
The car park solar canopy project is successful by becoming Hong Kong’s first and largest car park solar canopy. One of our project goals is to apply Hong Kong’s next generation sustainability solutions. The distinctive aspect of Hong Kong Disneyland’s ESG journey is its role as an incubator of innovation with impact reaching far beyond tourism. The resort has its own developed innovative technologies that have been scaled across Disney's global portfolio, the bifacial solar panels that capture energy from both sides is one of the examples.
The extensive EV charging also lead to increased adoption of green commuting among guests and cast members. Such emission reduction initiatives are successfully implemented and allow HKDL to receive multiple accolades, including Gold Awards at Hong Kong Awards for Environmental Excellence (HKAEE), “Corporate Energy Management Runner Up – International Award” from the Association of Energy Engineers in the United States, and CLP Smart Energy Award.
12 Verifiability
12.1 Is there any data presented to support the project? Is there any supportive measurement or reference for the provided data?
The data is supported by cloud-based real-time monitoring system as mentioned above. Besides the internal real-time monitoring system, the meter readings from Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) and CLP Power Hong Kong are also verified for data accuracy.
13 Impact
13.1 Will it make a significant change in the field of energy efficiency and energy saving?
The Hong Kong’s first and largest car park solar canopy could redefine the development of solar system in the industry. Structurally, the car park solar canopy providing shade and shelter for the vehicles, resulting in energy saving by reducing the need for air-conditioning when drivers return to their vehicles, which could be significant during hot summer in Hong Kong. In terms of the solar panels itself, the bi-facial solar panels generate more renewable energy as it generates energy both direct from sunlight and reflect from the ground.
13.2 Will it impact multiple operational areas or just single specific area?
The impact from the car park solar canopy and EV charging system is multi-faceted. As there is limited land available in Hong Kong for traditional ground-mounted solar installation, the car park solar canopy maximizes the use of available land by installing solar system in an open car park, serving dual-purpose by generating solar energy while providing shade and shelter. It benefits the resort as it saves land for the usage of other developments, ensuring that there would be enough space for rides and attractions that are going have larger footprint. The bi-facial solar system could also generate economic profit via the CLP FiT scheme. Moreover, providing shaded parking and free charging, these two innovative projects could enhance staff relations and brand marketing. Therefore, it will impact multiple operational areas undoubtedly.
14 Women Empowerment
14.1 Will the project empower women through education, training, skill development, or access to capital and markets?
Many female leaders, engineers, and technicians are highly involved in these projects, especially in HKDL in-house Facility Services Department. For example, training across design, maintenance, data analysis are provided to develop our female cast members’ project related expertise and skillsets for future innovative projects in the resort and the market.
15 Equality
15.1 Will the project make a positive impact on gender equality or benefit both women and men?
Diversity and inclusion has always sat at the heart of HKDL’s philosophy. In 2021, the resort implemented its new “Inclusion Key” as part of Disney’s “Five Keys” – joining “Safety”, “Courtesy”, “Show” and “Efficiency” as its core values. The addition of “Inclusion” emphasizes the commitment to creating a culture where everyone is welcome and where ideas from the resort’s diverse workforce can help it grow. It illustrates that all genders that involved in our projects could be participated. Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are already integrated in our business.
16 Just
16.1 Will the project deliver domestically defined equitable benefits, and pursue positive environmental, social, and economic outcomes?
Equitable benefits would be delivered. By making EV charging free of charge, HKDL eliminates the financial obstacles for guests and cast members. For the car park solar canopy, it is accessible to all cast members, providing shelter to their vehicles, which reduces depreciation to vehicles as it can be protected from direct sunlight exposure.
Socially, this promotes social equity by ensuring that the benefits of green technology are accessible to all individuals equally, no matter their social status. Environmentally, the projects reduce the carbon footprint by generating renewable energy and consuming cleaner energy. Economically, profit would be generated from the large-scale solar system.
17 Inclusiveness
17.1 Will the project create resilient firms, institutions, and communities, and provide support for decent work and workforce development?
The car park solar canopy project creates resilient renewable energy generation, along with the resort’s extensive solar system, the emission reduction and profitability could support HKDL business in a long-term. Both car park solar canopy and EV charging system require a strong Facility Services team to manage the projects, comprehensive training and education are provided to support the team, securing decent work and workforce development.