Las Vegas Family Waterpark Resort Teams up with United Technologies to Go Green
$1.1 billion family resort and waterpark that Las Vegas WET is building is slated to generate its own power thanks to a generous partnership with United Technologies' UTC Power. Las Vegas WET partners are very close to signing an agreement with UTC Power to provide the first fuel cells in the state of Nevada. The resort plans on using fuel cells and microturbines to generate up to 95% of the power needed to run the resort, and to heat and cool the buildings and the water in the waterpark.
Las Vegas, NV (PRWEB) November 28, 2006 -- What's fun and wet and green and lives in Las Vegas? It's the 100+ acre indoor/outdoor waterpark and snow dome being built by the Las Vegas WET consortium. The project, scheduled to break ground early next year, is very close to penning an agreement with United Technologies' UTC Power subsidiary. UTC Power manufactures the fuel cells and microturbines that will be used to generate electricity for the resort, and heat and cool the buildings and the water in the waterpark.
"We knew that we wanted to generate our own electricity and that we wanted to get away from fossil fuels as much as possible," said Las Vegas WET's CEO, Steve Dooner. "Our objective is to reach as close to a zero carbon footprint as possible. Using fuel cells and microturbines helps us achieve that."
While the Project will be connected to the power grid, it expects to draw only 5% of its total power requirements from the utilities. "We have to meet certain usage criteria, and we will. We will have more than enough capacity so that in the event of a power failure, we will still be operating at 100%," said Dooner. Unless another development comes in between now and the beginning of construction next year, this will be the first fuel cell installation in Nevada.
Las Vegas WET chose United Technologies to create the "micro-grids" inside the $1 billion+ project after examining multiple alternatives and manufacturers. What really sold the company on UTC Power was a tour of the UTC-installed power plant at the Reagan Presidential Library outside Simi Valley, California. "I was standing in the plant which was not only generating almost a megawatt of power, but was heating and chilling water. I could carry on a normal conversation, and the ambient air temperature was in the 70's, and this was in September when it was still warm outside!" Dooner exclaimed.
The final agreement will be hammered out once the exact size and scope of the power requirements are determined. In addition to power generation, Dooner's team is discussing hydrogen-powered vehicles (also manufactured by a United Technologies subsidiary) to move people around the property. By using hydrogen, the by-product is air and water. Geothermal heat pumps are also being considered to help heat and cool the buildings "It's an amazingly simple process really, you let the earth heat or cool your water pipes depending on the time of year," Dooner said.
The company is investigating other systems in an effort to be as environmentally-friendly as possible.
About Las Vegas WET:
Las Vegas WET, LLC is a Nevada Limited Liability Company formed by a group of former Disney and Universal Studios theme park veterans to develop and operate a themed destination resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. The company's funding comes from Wall Street institutional investors and management anticipates opening in 2009.
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