Wind Turbine Tours Now Available!

 

 

 

 

Wind Turbine Tours now available, click here for more information.

 

Thanks for everybody who made this possible. There was a lot of work involved and Berkshire East is sending a big thanks to the town of Charlemont, Greenfield Savings Bank, Sustainable Energy Development, Powerwind, the construction crews from a lot of great companies and the people within Berkshire East who kept this thing on track.

 

 

 

 

Berkshire East's 900kWh wind turbine, produces 100% of the Berkshire East's annual electrical need. This makes Berkshire East the first ski area in the nation to produce 100% of our electricity from an onsite, renewable source.

The turbine will generate approximately 2.2 million kWh of electricity each year

  • The wind turbine is 277 feet tall

  • Each blade is 91 feet long, there are three of them

  • The center of the hub, is about 195 feet in the air.

  • The blades spin at 27 rpm, at maximum.

  • The installed turbine price was approximately $3 million

       

      Berkshire East received a renewable energy grant from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center for $440,000. The first part of the grant was a $70,000 research grant that proved the viability of the turbine. The second part paid for a portion of the installation. Berkshire East is also supported by a Federal Treasury grant that helps to offset a significant portion of the costs.  Payback for this project will take approximately 7-10 years.

      This machine will power 100% of our facility!

    • You could reach similar savings in greenhouse gasses by ...

      Planting 85,356 trees per year

    • Driving 2,338,400 less miles per year

    • Burning 94,372 less gallons of fuel oil per winter

      • Is made by Powerwind, and is considered one of the best manufactured turbines on the market

      • We spent nearly 3 years researching this project, spent 7 months in permitting and considered many different options

      • The nacelle houses the generator and has a window out the top to look around

      • The hub and three blades went up together in one piece

      • This machine is located nearly 3500 feet from the nearest house

          Click on one of the following shots to open in a new gallery

           

           

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