Whistler Goes 100% Renewable For Olympic Year
Whistler Goes 100% Renewable For Olympic Year
Published : 22-Sep-2009 07:44
Whistler is set to open a new hydro electric system that will generate enough renewable energy to match the entire resort's power news."This is going to be a monumental winter season for Whistler Blackcomb. Excitement is mounting for the 2010 Winter Games and we are thrilled to showcase our world-class mountains and PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola to the world," says Stuart Rempel, Senior VP of Marketing and Sales, Whistler Blackcomb.
The Fitzsimmons Creek Renewable Energy Project will produce 33 gigawatt hours of green electricity per year - the equivalent amount of energy required to power the ski resort's winter and summer operations including all 38 lifts, 17 restaurants, 270 snowguns and countless other buildings and services.
The Fitzsimmons Creek area is an ideal location for a successful Run-of-River project. The creek has an abundance of water, the necessary vertical drop, it is not a major fish-bearing stream, and the creek water is not used recreationally within the project area.
This summer, crews installed and buried 3.5km of pipeline, which will carry the water from the intake at Fitzsimmons Creek all the way to the powerhouse, near the Whistler Sliding Centre.
This September, project crews are doing concrete work on the intake structure, backfilling, grading and seeding for re-growth over the buried pipeline, and erecting the powerhouse. The 450m-long transmission line will also be installed and buried this month.
Commissioning and commercial operation date is expected to occur later this fall with the anticipation that the Run-of-River project will be producing power by Christmas.
“The Fitzsimmons Project represents a very meaningful step for us in doing what we can to address climate change inside our own operating footprint,” says Arthur DeJong, Mountain Planning and Environmental Resource Manager, Whistler Blackcomb.
“I look forward to the day this winter when we begin to generate power out of the Fitzsimmons Project. It has been a long and challenging road, and we’ve made great gains, but this project is still only one of many steps that we need to make to become truly sustainable.”
Courtesy of and © Snow24 plc
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