Aspen/Snowmass moving forward with Wind Power
Data supports goal of wind turbines at S’mass
by Brent Gardner-Smith, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer
Friday, April 10, 2009
SNOWMASS VILLAGE — Wind data collected this winter at the Snowmass Ski Area on the upper slopes of Baldy Mountain show that electricity-generating wind turbines would work there, at least in the winter. Now it remains to be seen how the wind blows the rest of the year.
“So far the data looks very promising for this project to be a success,” said Jeremy Celayeta, a sales representative with wind turbine manufacturer Leitwind, which is an Italian division of chairlift manufacturer Leitner-Poma of Grand Junction. “But now it is all based on how the summer winds are.”
Officials from Leitner-Poma, Leitwind, Aspen Skiing Co. and the U.S. Forest Service are working together to test the feasibility of installing three wind turbines on the western edge of the Cirque area above the Big Burn at Snowmass.
The proposed wind turbines need winds blowing at least seven miles an hour to produce electricity and the giant blades would stop spinning for safety reasons when the wind reaches 56 miles per hour.
SkiCo had years of wind data collected during the winter from the Big Burn and Cirque areas. But it was still a question if fresh data collected this winter, in the exact location for one of the three proposed turbines, would prove favorable to the project.
“It looks like it is going to work,” Celayeta said. “And it will be interesting to see what we get these next four or five months.”
If the Forest Service approves the project after an environmental review, if SkiCo agrees to pay for the turbines at roughly $4 million each, and if Leitwind and Leitner-Poma can successfully install the towers and blades, the wind turbines might then generate electricity equal to about 60 percent of SkiCo’s total demand, including its ski four areas and its hotel properties.
SkiCo has committed to lowering its company-wide carbon footprint and top officials see large-scale renewable energy projects as key to reaching the company’s goals.
“We’re still excited about the project’s potential and we hope things will work out,” said SkiCo spokesman Jeff Hanle about the proposed turbines.
A 50-meter (160-foot) meteorological, or “met” tower, was installed on the mountain last fall and instruments on the tower recorded horizontal wind speed measurements at 50 meters, 40 meters and 30 meters above the ground throughout the winter.
The met tower also takes “vertical” wind speed measurements to see how much wind disturbance at the location comes up off the ground, which can take energy away from the wingspan of blades.
“It is a pretty clean air flow up there,” said Jim Stark, winter sports administrator with the Aspen-Sopris Ranger District. He added that overall, the wind data is “almost exactly what we programmed into the energy model. I’m very optimistic.”
Stark has been working on the wind energy project since learning that the Forest Service set a goal in 2007 to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2015.
And he has a return-on-investment study that shows SkiCo would recoup its investment in the approximately $12 million project after eight years by virtue of reducing its energy bills and selling excess electricity back to Holy Cross Energy.
The blades for the turbines would be set on top of steel towers that are 10 feet around and about 70 meters, or 230 feet, tall, although Stark is working with Leitwind engineers to see if the towers could be lowered to 55 meters (180 feet) because of the “clean air flow” in the location.
Concerns about how visible the turbines might be will be evaluated as part of a Forest Service environmental review.
“I’m guessing scenery will be an issue,” Stark said. “On the other hand, the location is about four to six miles away from any really critical viewpoint.”
But Stark feels that the wind turbines might be easily accepted by the public as a positive given current urgent calls for renewable energy sources. He’s gotten no calls of concern so far about the project, but plenty of calls from other interested ski area managers across the country.
“They’re watching to see how this project goes,” Stark said.
A 386-foot-tall wind turbine installed recently at the Jiminy Peak ski area in Massachusetts has been well-received by skiers, and the Grouse Mountain ski area above Vancouver in British Columbia is preparing to install a Leitwind turbine that includes an elevator inside the tower and an observation tower on top.
There are also concerns regarding how giant spinning blades in Snowmass might affect bats, birds and butterflies, although the siting of the towers at 12,300 feet might reduce many of those potential concerns, Stark said. Construction of the towers is also a potential issue as the western edge of the Cirque consists of delicate high alpine tundra.
If after a year’s worth of wind data looks promising this fall, Stark said the Forest Service hopes an application for the wind turbines comes from SkiCo and a coalition of local governments and organizations.
If the project then clears environmental hurdles, and all the other pieces fall into place, the turbines could possibly be installed during the summer of 2011, Stark said.
bgs@aspendailynews.com
Very excitng news from Aspen!
by Brent Gardner-Smith, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer
Friday, April 10, 2009
SNOWMASS VILLAGE — Wind data collected this winter at the Snowmass Ski Area on the upper slopes of Baldy Mountain show that electricity-generating wind turbines would work there, at least in the winter. Now it remains to be seen how the wind blows the rest of the year.
“So far the data looks very promising for this project to be a success,” said Jeremy Celayeta, a sales representative with wind turbine manufacturer Leitwind, which is an Italian division of chairlift manufacturer Leitner-Poma of Grand Junction. “But now it is all based on how the summer winds are.”
Officials from Leitner-Poma, Leitwind, Aspen Skiing Co. and the U.S. Forest Service are working together to test the feasibility of installing three wind turbines on the western edge of the Cirque area above the Big Burn at Snowmass.
The proposed wind turbines need winds blowing at least seven miles an hour to produce electricity and the giant blades would stop spinning for safety reasons when the wind reaches 56 miles per hour.
SkiCo had years of wind data collected during the winter from the Big Burn and Cirque areas. But it was still a question if fresh data collected this winter, in the exact location for one of the three proposed turbines, would prove favorable to the project.
“It looks like it is going to work,” Celayeta said. “And it will be interesting to see what we get these next four or five months.”
If the Forest Service approves the project after an environmental review, if SkiCo agrees to pay for the turbines at roughly $4 million each, and if Leitwind and Leitner-Poma can successfully install the towers and blades, the wind turbines might then generate electricity equal to about 60 percent of SkiCo’s total demand, including its ski four areas and its hotel properties.
SkiCo has committed to lowering its company-wide carbon footprint and top officials see large-scale renewable energy projects as key to reaching the company’s goals.
“We’re still excited about the project’s potential and we hope things will work out,” said SkiCo spokesman Jeff Hanle about the proposed turbines.
A 50-meter (160-foot) meteorological, or “met” tower, was installed on the mountain last fall and instruments on the tower recorded horizontal wind speed measurements at 50 meters, 40 meters and 30 meters above the ground throughout the winter.
The met tower also takes “vertical” wind speed measurements to see how much wind disturbance at the location comes up off the ground, which can take energy away from the wingspan of blades.
“It is a pretty clean air flow up there,” said Jim Stark, winter sports administrator with the Aspen-Sopris Ranger District. He added that overall, the wind data is “almost exactly what we programmed into the energy model. I’m very optimistic.”
Stark has been working on the wind energy project since learning that the Forest Service set a goal in 2007 to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2015.
And he has a return-on-investment study that shows SkiCo would recoup its investment in the approximately $12 million project after eight years by virtue of reducing its energy bills and selling excess electricity back to Holy Cross Energy.
The blades for the turbines would be set on top of steel towers that are 10 feet around and about 70 meters, or 230 feet, tall, although Stark is working with Leitwind engineers to see if the towers could be lowered to 55 meters (180 feet) because of the “clean air flow” in the location.
Concerns about how visible the turbines might be will be evaluated as part of a Forest Service environmental review.
“I’m guessing scenery will be an issue,” Stark said. “On the other hand, the location is about four to six miles away from any really critical viewpoint.”
But Stark feels that the wind turbines might be easily accepted by the public as a positive given current urgent calls for renewable energy sources. He’s gotten no calls of concern so far about the project, but plenty of calls from other interested ski area managers across the country.
“They’re watching to see how this project goes,” Stark said.
A 386-foot-tall wind turbine installed recently at the Jiminy Peak ski area in Massachusetts has been well-received by skiers, and the Grouse Mountain ski area above Vancouver in British Columbia is preparing to install a Leitwind turbine that includes an elevator inside the tower and an observation tower on top.
There are also concerns regarding how giant spinning blades in Snowmass might affect bats, birds and butterflies, although the siting of the towers at 12,300 feet might reduce many of those potential concerns, Stark said. Construction of the towers is also a potential issue as the western edge of the Cirque consists of delicate high alpine tundra.
If after a year’s worth of wind data looks promising this fall, Stark said the Forest Service hopes an application for the wind turbines comes from SkiCo and a coalition of local governments and organizations.
If the project then clears environmental hurdles, and all the other pieces fall into place, the turbines could possibly be installed during the summer of 2011, Stark said.
bgs@aspendailynews.com
Very excitng news from Aspen!
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