Bolton Valley in Vermont is the second New England ski area to add a wind turbine to supply a chunk of its annual energy.

The resort has extensive snowmaking and offers night skiing to 10pm every night except Sunday so the extra power, currently valued at $33,000 a year, about 15% of the resort's annual energy bill, will be a major asset for the resort.

"It helps us in terms of our sustainability; it helps us in terms of our cost of power," said resorts spokesman Larry Williams.

The turbine cost about $750,000 and local experts think it may be the first of many at the region's ski areas, which they say are a "natural" location for the turbines with power lines already reaching the hilltops above the slopes and objections to visual impact and development less likely. Indeed this is one of the first new turbines in the state for several years and the resort hopes it will be the first of three, with two larger, more powerful turbines planned. Mr Williams said he hopes the resort will ultimately be 100% wind powered.

Jiminy Peak in nearby Massachusetts was the first to install a turbine, the huge 253ft (84m) high Zephyr 1.5MW wind turbine, provides approximately 33% of the electrical demands of the resort annually. During the winter months, when the wind resource is the strongest, it may provide as much as half of their electrical demand. The turbine generates approximately 4,600,000 kWh each year of which, Jiminy Peak uses about half directly, the rest returned to the grid.