Amador County - Kirkwood Meadows Public Utility District (KMPUD) recently announced that a new power plant for the Kirkwood community and resort operations is under construction, with the main building to be erected this fall. The plant is expected to be fully operational in 2011. The utility recently closed on its sale of $5.5 million in Bond Anticipation Notes, the main source of financing for the project. Both the Kirkwood ski resort and surrounding residences have been served by a temporary power plant after the permanent plant was destroyed by a powerhouse fire on January 1, 2010. The new plant will be located immediately north of that location. The plant will serve over 700 residential customers and a number of commercial clients, as well as ski operations at the resort. Julie Koster, Kirkwood Director of Sales and Marketing, said in a release Tuesday that “the proposed power plant is a new state of the art 10,000 square foot facility that will provide power to the entire Kirkwood community, ultimately resulting in the closure of a separate power generation facility being run to support the water, wastewater, fire and KMPUD operations,” said Koster. She said: “The new plant will have similar production capacity to what was destroyed in the fire, but will have world class air quality, generation, switching and distribution technology which will dramatically increase power quality and reliability while reducing particulate emissions by over 70 percent compared to the pre-existing conditions.” Construction of the plant has been in the works for months, but was setback temporarily by an appeal from SMART Energy group in July. The group said in its appellant statement that “the District approved construction of an all-diesel power plant despite the availability of feasible alternatives that would reduce the proposed plant’s adverse impacts on air quality, greenhouse gas emissions, and human health.” The appeal was eventually denied and construction resumed on the facility, but Koster said the new design anticipates changes in technology. “The facility will be built as a prime diesel power plant but will be flexible enough to accommodate alternative fuels and future renewable energy options like wind and solar arrangements,” she said. The KPMUD also continues to pursue a plan to eventually connect Kirkwood with PG&E facilities that are part of the preexisting regional electric grid. Mountain Utilities will manage electric and gas operations until the new plant is fully operational. Wayne Amer, President of Mountain Utilities, said that “while we made it through last winter with a band aid approach, we will have full network redundancy and a switchable distribution system fully operational by October.” This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.-
font size
decrease font size
increase font size
Amador County - Kirkwood Meadows Public Utility District (KMPUD) recently announced that a new power plant for the Kirkwood community and resort operations is under construction, with the main building to be erected this fall. The plant is expected to be fully operational in 2011. The utility recently closed on its sale of $5.5 million in Bond Anticipation Notes, the main source of financing for the project. Both the Kirkwood ski resort and surrounding residences have been served by a temporary power plant after the permanent plant was destroyed by a powerhouse fire on January 1, 2010. The new plant will be located immediately north of that location. The plant will serve over 700 residential customers and a number of commercial clients, as well as ski operations at the resort. Julie Koster, Kirkwood Director of Sales and Marketing, said in a release Tuesday that “the proposed power plant is a new state of the art 10,000 square foot facility that will provide power to the entire Kirkwood community, ultimately resulting in the closure of a separate power generation facility being run to support the water, wastewater, fire and KMPUD operations,” said Koster. She said: “The new plant will have similar production capacity to what was destroyed in the fire, but will have world class air quality, generation, switching and distribution technology which will dramatically increase power quality and reliability while reducing particulate emissions by over 70 percent compared to the pre-existing conditions.” Construction of the plant has been in the works for months, but was setback temporarily by an appeal from SMART Energy group in July. The group said in its appellant statement that “the District approved construction of an all-diesel power plant despite the availability of feasible alternatives that would reduce the proposed plant’s adverse impacts on air quality, greenhouse gas emissions, and human health.” The appeal was eventually denied and construction resumed on the facility, but Koster said the new design anticipates changes in technology. “The facility will be built as a prime diesel power plant but will be flexible enough to accommodate alternative fuels and future renewable energy options like wind and solar arrangements,” she said. The KPMUD also continues to pursue a plan to eventually connect Kirkwood with PG&E facilities that are part of the preexisting regional electric grid. Mountain Utilities will manage electric and gas operations until the new plant is fully operational. Wayne Amer, President of Mountain Utilities, said that “while we made it through last winter with a band aid approach, we will have full network redundancy and a switchable distribution system fully operational by October.” This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Published in
News Archive
Latest from Tom
- Richard Forster previews this week's Amador County Board of Supervisors meeting with host, Tom Slivick. (2 of 2)
- Richard Forster on TSPN TV News December 7, 2015 (1 of 2)
- Ebbetts Pass (State Route 4) Closed for Winter
- State HWY 89 Closed for the Winter
- Richard Forster on TSPN TV News November 23, 2015 (2 of 2)
