Author Archive for admin
To the readers of Geothermal Digest:
It is with deep regret that I must inform you that this newsletter and web site will be shut down, effective immediately. The nearly two-year old experiment has simply not produced the results necessary to keep it alive. I have truly enjoyed following the exploits of the geothermal industry at what is truly a very [...]
Helping Hand: DOE lets loose $70 million to advance geothermal and backs a $350 million loan
In Washington, D.C., DOE Secretary Steven Chu is making up to $70 million in new funding over three years for technology advancements in geothermal energy to accelerate the technology’s development. At about the same time, Ormat Technologies, Inc. announced that its subsidiary, Ormat Nevada Inc. received an offer of a conditional commitment from the DOE [...]
Mighty River to build another big geothermal plant
In New Zealand, Mighty River Power has confirmed it will build a $383 million geothermal plant north of Taupo. The plant will have an initial output of 82 MW and will be built on the Ngatamariki geothermal steam. The development follows the commissioning of Kawerau and Nga Awa Purua power plants and will raise [...]
Geothermal power development gets big grant
In Kenya, Geothermal Development Co. has picked up an $81.5 million grant from the French Development Bank (AfD) to procure drilling rigs. Drilling activities will be accelerated at Menengai in Nakuru and part of the grant be used to train the company’s drilling staff. The first phase of the $818 million project is expected to [...]
Bago GT plant to shut down for study again amid calls for permanent shutdown
In the Philippines, Energy Development Corp. (EDC) says it will shut down the Northern Negros Geothermal Power Plant in Mailum, Bago City in July for further resource study. The plant was built to produce 49 MW of geothermal power but only produces 8 to 9 MW. EDC temporarily shut down the plant in November 2010 [...]
Geo-exchange system overtaxed
In Delaware, a state-of-the-art, green building built four years ago in Sussex County to house the Emergency Operations Center could not take the 100 degree heat it experienced a week ago. The Center houses millions of dollars of computers, radios and dispatch consoles all giving off heat of their own. And even with a geothermal [...]
West Virginia’s geothermal potential has legislators’ attention
In West Virginia, the state’s congressional delegation is reportedly looking at geothermal as an energy and economic producer. As we reported in October of 2010, a study out of Southern Methodist University in Dallas found a large area in the eastern part of the state to have elevated heat flow and upper crustal temperatures, at [...]
Chena Hot Springs project to get $1 million geothermal grant
In Alaska, the Chena Hot Springs Resort will receive a $1 million federal grant to help research and develop geothermal power at the site. Entrepreneur Bernie Karl has already built a geothermal plant at the hot springs, but the grants, which will actually go to the Fairbanks North Star Borough, will be used to model, [...]
Research leads to product, leads to start up
In Minnesota, researchers at the University of Minnesota Department of Earth Sciences have applied for a patent, and plan to form a start-up company to commercialize new technology that will sequester CO2 deep underground while extracting heat. The concept, called CO2-plume geothermal system (CPG) was developed by Earth sciences faculty member Martin Saar and graduate [...]
Opinion: Green energy needs government stimulus to grow
In an interview with money.canoe.ca, Peter Marks, chairman, president and chief executive of Robert Bosch North America said “Green energy has the potential to slash household power bills in the longer term, though government support will be needed to get the technology off the ground. Any new technology before it reaches an economy of scale [...]
