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O p e r at i o n a l I n s i g h t Shane Sweet L EXTREME PROPANE et's just say it's not your typical installation. You have to rebuild a lodge at the very summit of the second highest peak in Vermont. Visitors to the lodge will be coming by gondola as it is the only way for guests to get there. The load is about 4 million BTUs and you have to heat the building throughout the winter months. Delivering fuel to the summit after October and before April or May with traditional tank wagons or bobtails is not an option. You will need big tanks and will need to fill those big tanks before snow flies. There is a gravel "road" that zigzags from the base of the mountain to the summit, though not the kind that you take with the family mini-van. (Think "Hummer"). The "road" is criss-crossed with ski trails, skiers, Snow Cats (groomers), staff on snowmobiles, and pipes and hoses necessary to a snowmaking system that runs pretty much all winter long. The "water bars" on the road would swallow a car. The snow is deep. Drifting snow can bury a building. The site of the lodge and the location of the fuel storage tanks is other-worldly in winter when sub-zero temperatures at the site are the norm. It's arguably a hostile environment.. The tanks are about 250 feet line-ofsight from the lodge and you need to get the propane to the building. The feed from the tanks to the lodge are up a steep 34 grade - through the woods - and must cross the "road" twice. You will deal with the pipe and trim to the building, and the appliances, later. Right now you have to get fuel to the top of the mountain, and you have get tanks on site, ready to accept fuel, and get them filled before weather conditions slam that door on you. So what do you do? In early October at the top of Killington Peak, the weather and conditions can go either way, so with the clock running against you, you haul two 22,000 gallon propane tanks up the "road" to the 4,200 foot summit. The tanks are nearly 10 feet in diameter and nearly 50 feet long, and weigh 25 tons. You get them in the ground, add a state-of-the-art coating system with 75 mils of polyurethane, complete a 10,000 volt quality control spark test, and install an engineered cofferdam piping chamber with a hinged aluminum lid. [Sigh of relief] As soon as the installers give the green light, a bobtail begins regular runs to the top of the mountain. It will take days, if not weeks, to get the tanks full, but as they say, "the hard part is done." This ambitious undertaking unfolded in October at Killington Mountain Resort & Ski Area in Central Vermont with the help of a number of propane experts from around New England. "While we knew getting these tanks NOVEMBER 2013 | FUEL OIL NEWS | www.fueloilnews.com to a 4,241 foot elevation was not going to be an easy task, we choose propane because of its clean-burning qualities," said Kelly O'Brien, marketing manager for Killington Resort | Pico Mountain. "We committed to the installation efforts, which were carried through efficiently and are pleased to continue doing our part to help reduce greenhouse emissions and protect the environment by using clean energy products." Pictures from the project may be seen at: tinyurl.com/ojfou7d. l F O N Special thanks go to Kelly O'Brien and Jim Shands of Killington, Lee Ransom and Aaron Govoni of R.H. White, and Peter Palladino of Highland Tank for their assistance with this article. Propane marketer: Keyser Energy. Propane system consultant: Ed Anderson. Photo credits to Killington, RH White and Highland Tank. Shane Sweet is an energy and management consultant with clients in the heating oil, propane and motor fuel sectors. He served the industry as President & CEO of the New England Fuel Institute "NEFI" from 2007 to 2011, and as Executive VP/ Director and Lobbyist for the Vermont Fuel Dealers Association "VFDA" from 1993 to 2007. He lives in Shaftsbury, Vermont and may be reached at shanemsweet@gmail.com or 802-558-6101 cell/text. Suggestions by readers for future column content, as well as general comments, are welcome.