Overlooking the North side of the Gore Range in north-central Colorado is the Aspen Ridge Ranch, a 522-acre mountain getaway that is centrally located between Steamboat Springs, Winter Park, and Vail. Situated between 8,500 and 9,100 feet, the ranch was conceived as a location for a secluded mountain retreat. Aspen Ridge Ranch is newly designed and constructed with cutting-edge technology to live comfortably off the grid in a mountain setting. Currently the property features a custom 3,000-square-foot 4-bedroom home, a beautiful 1-bedroom cabin with loft, a yurt with its own solar power system, and a large 40x80 insulated shop building. However, the infrastructure has been put in place to build a very large lodge or retreat facility that can house many guests.

Water

The property has a 25,000-gallon underground water storage tank fed by a 525-foot well that produces 10+ gallons per minute. The well has backup systems in place to ensure that water will always be available for domestic use. In turn, lines have been engineered to provide service to the 4-bedroom home, the yurt, and the cabin, and water is available via a 6-inch underground line to serve the large 20-bedroom lodge that has been designed for the property but not yet built. The project has been so carefully planned that there are actually charged fire hydrants installed!

Energy-Independent Off-Grid Property with its own Power Plant

For complete energy independence, a quiet-running micro-turbine electrical power generator powered by propane has been installed in the large shop building. A backup generator of the exact same type is standing by in the event that the primary generator should go down, and as a second backup, there are large battery banks to provide power for significant periods of time.

The solar system at the yurt is rated at 2,250 watts average. The 24-volt system has 18 12-volt deep-cycle batteries for storage, which could provide an average of three days' use for a family of five. The yurt has a backup propane generator that can provide an equal amount of power if the batteries run down in a cycle of cloudy weather.

There are a total of 17,500 gallons (about a year's supply) of underground propane storage on the ranch for power generation and heating. It would be relatively simple to add more solar power panels and battery capacity to make the property very close to self-sustaining without the use of propane. Additionally, there is ample dead wood available on the property and nearby that could be used for wood-burning steam turbines that could also be harnessed for electrical power supply on the ranch.