Work continues on schedule at the Reading Wind Facility located in eastern Lyon and western Osage counties.
Lyon County Commissioners took a trip out to the facility Thursday afternoon following their weekly action session. Following their previous visit in July, commissioners noted construction was beginning to shift towards constructing the foundations for the over 60 turbine towers which are estimated to be erected between this fall and next spring.
According to Commissioner Scott Briggs, crews have begun pouring the cement for those foundations. Briggs says he was impressed with the amount of work which has been accomplished over the past few months at the facility site.
He says crews were aiming to have 5,000 feet of underground cable — which connects the turbines to the substation on-site — buried each day.
Southern Power reports they have exceeded those expectations having buried between 7,000 to 9,000 feet in some instances. According to Southern Power, one large crane will be delivered next week and will be operational when turbine components arrive.
According to Briggs, components may begin arriving very soon.
Briggs is hopeful with the establishment of the facility, Lyon and other surrounding counites may be viewed as a leader in energy production leading to a desire for more development locally.
Last October, Southern acquired the 200-megawatt, 24,000-acre project from RES Americas, which gained approval from Lyon County after roughly a decade of discussions, negotiations and research. Royal Caribbean joined the partnership as a link in a verified carbon offset program. Ultimately, the wind farm will create enough wind energy to offset as much as 12 percent of Royal Caribbean’s yearly carbon emissions starting as soon as next year.
