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SALT LAKE CITY — Snowbird Resort on Tuesday officially broke its all-time record for total snowfall, surpassing the previous record of 783 inches. More snow has meant higher avalanche danger and more interlodge events — a time when avalanche danger is so high that ski areas shut down access to the slopes and order skiers to take shelter in buildings.
Luckily for Snowbird, and the thousands of skiers who make the often treacherous drive up Little Cottonwood Canyon to surf a seemingly endless supply of powder, the resort is self-powered by a cogeneration facility that recently won a national award for exemplary engineering.
Snowbird Power Systems, designed by Utah-based VBFA Engineering in 2021, is a 5.3-megawatt cogeneration system that's 60% more efficient than Snowbird's original cogeneration facility that started running in 1986. VBFA last week announced that its work designing the system earned a National Recognition Award for engineering achievement in the American Council of Engineering Companies' 56th annual Engineering Excellence Awards.
The new system was long overdue.
"The old plant ran for nearly 300,000 hours (while its expected operational life was 120,000 hours), wrote Sara Sherman, communications manager for Snowbird Resort, in an email to KSL.com. "While it could have continued to run even longer, this upgrade was one of the strongest ways we improve our environmental footprint and align with our Play Forever goals."
When it came time to upgrade the facility, VBFA president emeritus Kim Harris, who was part of the VBFA team that worked on Snowbird's 1986 and 2021 cogeneration facilities, said there were some challenges in doing so.
"What was really difficult was (that) the original plant was designed as a steam system, and those engines no longer are manufactured by Caterpillar so they had to go to hot water," Harris said. "They wanted to increase the (electrical generation) capacity, and there was not sufficient room in the existing building to put the new plant. And furthermore, they couldn't just shut it down, tear it out and put in something new — that system had to continue to function electrically and thermally."
To overcome this, VBFA built an entirely new plant outside the existing cogeneration building.
"We had to tie it all into the existing systems, converting all the systems from a steam system to a hot water system, maintaining the operation both electrically and thermally throughout the winter," Harris said. "The intricacies of designing and building the new system while maintaining the old one, and converting it all over, was tremendously complicated and challenging."
So challenging that it earned VBFA what is known industrywide as the "Academy Awards of the engineering industry."
Thankfully, these challenges weren't for nothing, as the new and improved Snowbird Power Systems came with a myriad of upgrades compared to its predecessor.
For starters, Snowbird Power Systems is the only cogeneration facility at a ski resort in North America and gives Snowbird the unique distinction of having its very own power grid.
Being a cogeneration facility means that Snowbird has the ability to recycle heat that is created as a byproduct of electricity generation.
"Most systems release this heat, and it is considered wasted. Cogeneration systems such as Snowbird Power Systems recapture that heat and use it instead of it going to waste. We use it to heat the Cliff Lodge and other facilities such as The Cliff Spa rooftop hot tub and pool," Sherman said.
Recycling heat waste to heat resort facilities and water allows Snowbird to essentially eliminate its dependency on other energy sources.
In doing so, the resort saves 62,000 dekatherms of natural gas a year — the equivalent of removing the emissions from 789 passenger vehicles for one year.
"(Snowbird Power Systems) covers up to 100% of the resort's power needs — 100% in summer, 90% in winter — and reduces Snowbird's reliance on the grid and on coal," Sherman said.
Additionally, the ability to be off the grid and self-sufficient is also helpful in the event of an interlodge and "provides additional resiliency and redundancy for the resort in extreme conditions," Sherman said.
For Harris and VBFA, the award is a nice bow to tie on top of what was a very difficult and complex project.
"It's always great to be recognized," Harris said. "It's a great honor, you know, to be recognized by your peers."
Recognition of all 2023 award winners, including top winners — 16 Honor Awards, 8 Grand Awards and the prestigious "Grand Conceptor Award" for the year's most outstanding overall engineering achievement — will take place at the annual Engineering Excellence Awards Gala Dinner and Awards Program on June 13 in Washington, D.C.
