Royal Caribbean Cruises signs PPA for 200 MW wind farm in the USA

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. has announced it has signed an agreement with Southern Power for the 200 MW Reading Wind Facility. This project, Southern Power’s eleventh wind facility, is located in Osage and Lyon Counties, Kansas, and is Southern Power’s first to be validated as a carbon offset project under the Verified Carbon Standard.

The agreement with Royal Caribbean provides Southern Power with the economic basis to construct the project. The facility is expected to generate roughly 760,000 megawatt hours per year over the duration of the 12-year agreement, which translates to enough clean energy to offset 10-12% of Royal Caribbean’s annual carbon emissions starting in 2020.

The 200 MW project was originally developed by RES who will lead the construction of the wind farm alongside Southern Power. It is expected to consist of 62 wind turbines manufactured by Siemens Gamesa. The project is expected to break ground in the second quarter of 2019 and is expected to be complete by the second quarter of 2020. Southern Power will operate and maintain the facility upon completion.

Royal Caribbean was advised on the execution of this agreement by Schneider Electric Energy & Sustainability Services.