It was two months ago that the Board of Directors of Wynn Resorts announced that it accepted the resignation of Steve Wynn as CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors. According to The New York Times, Wynn resigned in response to sexual misconduct allegations spanning decades—not the kind of news you want to deal with if you work in public relations (PR) for Wynn Resorts.
While you probably heard about the accusations against Steve Wynn, you may not have heard about the Wynn Resorts announcement that came just two weeks prior. It was then that the company announced that it will power its multi-use development, Paradise Park, with 100 percent renewable energy sourced from a new 160-acre Wynn Solar Facility, making it one of the most environmentally conscious planned developments in Las Vegas. (See video.)
Owned and operated by EGPNA, the Wynn Solar Facility is a stand-alone solar photovoltaic project located in Fallon, Nevada adjacent to the existing award-winning Stillwater hybrid facility, and will share the existing connection infrastructure with the geothermal-solar hybrid plant. The Wynn Solar Facility will generate up to 27 MWdc of renewable energy, equivalent to 20 MWac, to power Wynn Las Vegas until Paradise Park opens. Wynn Las Vegas will begin receiving power in the first half of 2018 which will be used to offset up to 75 percent of the resort’s current peak power requirements. According to Wynn Resorts, this is the largest percentage of renewable energy used by any resort in Las Vegas. The Facility will eventually power Wynn’s newest 280,000-square-foot meetings and conventions expansion with 100 percent renewable energy, making it one of the most environmentally conscious developments in Las Vegas.
Solar Panels Atop Wynn Las Vegas
Combined with the recently installed solar panels covering 103,000 square feet of the Wynn Las Vegas rooftop, enough renewable energy will be generated to power 5,056 homes and eliminate 33,734 metric tons of CO2 emissions from the environment annually.
Just this past week, Wynn Las Vegas announced that its IT infrastructure, housed at Switch’s Core Campus data center in Las Vegas, is being powered by 100 percent renewable energy. Switch was able to retire over 835 geothermal and solar renewable energy credits in 2016, and expects to retire over 850 in 2017, on behalf of Wynn Las Vegas. Independently tracked and verified, each renewable energy credit is proof that one megawatt-hour (MWh) of electricity was generated from an eligible renewable energy resource and delivered to the energy grid.
Wynn Resorts says it is committed to increasing sustainable design practices, creating and sourcing renewable energy, and exceeding LEED Gold Building Certification standards for projects in Las Vegas as well as Wynn Boston Harbor, currently under construction in Everett, Mass.
That’s the kind of news a PR professional loves to hear.
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