Steamboat: Partnership Explores Geothermal Energy For Gondola Transit Center Redevelopment

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, COLORADO- -The Gondola Transit Center (GTC) is being redeveloped through a partnership between the Steamboat Springs Redevelopment Authority (SSRA) and Steamboat Ski and Resort Corporation.

The project will transform the base of the Steamboat Ski Resort with a new transit center and pedestrian plaza and will include a new high-speed gondola that will ferry passengers to the base of the mountain from a new skier drop-off area in the Meadows Parking lot.

The new GTC will depend on new snowmelt systems to keep the pedestrian plaza and gondola loading areas clear of snow through the winter months, to ensure safe and effective operation and to improve the user experience.

With a goal of powering the new snowmelt system with a low or no carbon power source, the project partners are studying the feasibility of a potential geothermal system that could store thermal energy captured around the base area for later use in the snowmelt system and adjacent buildings.

Both project partners are excited about the prospects of this effort and it’s potential to reduce building-related carbon emissions and furthering the goals of the Routt County Climate Action Plan. The geothermal feasibility study is partly funded by a grant from the Colorado Energy Office.

Over the first couple days in October, the team hosted Bertram Drilling, which drilled a 440-foot-deep test borehole into the middle of the Stampede Trail at the ski resort base. A closed loop pipe was then grouted into the well, which was then used

to test the thermal capacity and conductivity of the subsurface geology later.

The capacity and conductivity results will help the team forecast the number of wells that will be needed to support the thermal energy needs for the GTC’s snowmelt system and surrounding buildings.

Preliminary feasibility findings are expected from the study by the end of the year and should help to inform decision making and drive further progress for the larger GTC project.