Jun 24, 2020 · News

760,000 megawatt hours per year of clean power

In rural Kansas a different kind of farm is up and running and on track to generate 760,000 megawatt hours per year.  Featuring 62-turbines, The Reading Wing Facility is part of a partnership with Royal Caribbean Group and Southern Power to offset more than 10 percent of the Group’s direct emissions.

The arrangement — a first — allowed for wholesale energy provider Southern Power to build a wind turbine farm and sell the clean power produced there to offset direct emissions from fuel burned by Group ships.

The renewable energy project is classified as a virtual power purchase agreement, which doesn’t require the Group to be located in the same grid region as the wind farm, a key element given its ships travel to more than 1,000 destinations on all seven continents.

Straddling Osage and Lyon counties the Reading facility is Southern Power’s 11th wind facility and its first to be validated under the Verified Carbon Standard for certifying carbon emissions reductions. The new wind farm is just the latest in the Group’s innovative sustainability efforts, which include programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through innovations at sea and in port.

At a ceremonial blade signing for the Reading Wind Facility Royal Caribbean Group employees lined up to sign one of three giant turbine blades that are part of its wind farm in Reading, Kansas. The blades were signed by the company’s Wichita-based employees before they are hoisted into place.

Among them are Advanced Emission Purification systems, which remove approximately 98 percent of sulfur dioxide emissions; air-lubrication systems to reduce drag and increase fuel efficiency; energy management software – an industry first – to achieve top fuel efficiency; the introduction in the near future of new fuels such as liquefied natural gas; and onboard use of energy-efficient equipment in galleys and the replacement of incandescent bulbs with fluorescent and LED lighting, as well as the introduction of fuel cells.

Learn more about Royal Caribbean Group’s sustainability programs.