Geothermal Digest

Next up: Alaska comes in out of the cold while Colorado looks to get up to speed

admin — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 19:27:54 +0000

Mount Mageik, Alaska

Less than a week has passed since GD noted that it had been 50 years since the first commercial geothermal power plant in the U.S. had been built. This week we highlight why it seems that 50 years is simply not enough and that public officials remain in the dark about potential geothermal power resources.

In Alaska and Colorado, officials are either finally getting around to setting regulations in place (Alaska) or bringing the public up to speed (Colorado).

In the category of least and most surprising, the Colorado Governor’s Energy Office has put together a workshop scheduled for Sept. 8 in Glenwood Springs. And all indications are that the attempt will be to convince residents that they can use their local resource for heat.

The state has in hand a 2009 study by Dr. John Lund of the Oregon Institute of Technology that showed that a a geothermal district heating program could provide heat to whole sections of the town. Why anyone would need convincing to use the resource in such a benign way is difficult to understand. Perhaps the town could make a trip en masse to Boise Idaho.

In Alaska, the states Oil and Gas Conservation Commission has published regulations to deal with an upcoming geothermal boom in the state. The regulations will go into effect September 30. The state’s Legislature gave the commission authority over geothermal drilling earlier this year, and a re a natural outgrowth of oil and gas drilling.

The new regulations effectively add geothermal resources to oil and gas, and covers such items as authority (Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission), applicability of regulations, variances, estimated regulatory cost charges for geothermal wells (drilling fees, payment and timing) and supplemental appropriations.

The regulations even change the meaning of the term well, which is now defined as a means a hole penetrating the earth, usually cased with steel pipe, and from which oil or gas, or both, or geothermal resources, is obtained or obtainable; or that is made for the purpose of finding or obtaining oil, gas or geothermal resources, or of supporting oil, gas, or geothermal resources production; and includes a well with multiple well branches drilled to different bottom-hole locations. Alaska would appear to be ready go after its geothermal resources.

Finally in a state that understands geothermal, County Commissioners in Churchill County, Nevada, approved the allocation of reimbursed geothermal rents and royalties. In late July the U.S. House of Representatives restored geothermal money and ensured 50% of the royalties go to the state, 25%$ to the counties and 25% to the federal government. However, the story is n’t over yet as evidently the return of money is for but one year.

Comptroller AlanKalt said the county had $1.7 million budgeted funding from rents and royalties for the 2009-10 fiscal year. The is expected to be higher because the Bureau of Land Management conducted two geothermal lease sales during the period. Among other things, the funds will be used to decrease the required employee furlough days from 10 to seven a year.

Other areas that will see money are the Stabilization of Operations Fund, the Compensated Absence Fund, the Road Equipment Replacement Plan, the Risk Management Fund, the Building Reserve Fund and the Water Resource Fund.

Tata Power consortium wins Indonesia bid

admin — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 17:58:40 +0000

In Indonesia, a group led India’s largest integrated private power company, Tata Power, said that the consortium that includes Origin Energy and PT Supraco Indonesia were the successful bidder for the Sorik Marapi geothermal project in Northern Sumatra. The project is believed to hold an estimated 240MW of geothermal generation capacity. The consortium will do detailed exploration over the next 18 months and expects commercial operation for the project to begin in June 2015. Tata Power is also reportedly looking to tap geothermal resources in India itself, but where was not clear.

EDC completes acquisition of BacMan plants

admin — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 17:49:53 +0000

In the Philippines, Bacman Geothermal, Inc., a unit of the Lopez-led Energy Development Corp. (EDC), has completed payment for the 150 MW Bacon-Manito (BacMan) geothermal power plants. The company said that it has closed the acquisition of the asset after making a final payment to the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. Richard Tantoco, EDC president and COO said the company would begin to rehabilitate the plants and restore capacity and reliability and to bring them back on-line in an 18 to 24 month time frame. The BacMan plants boost EDC’s current portfolio of geothermal power generation assets to 1,199 MW. The BacMan I units have two 55 MW turbines and BacMan II consists of two 20 MW turbines.

India’s first GT plant to be built in Andhra Pradesh

admin — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 17:41:10 +0000

In India, the country’s first Geothermal power plant will reportedly be built in Andhra Pradesh’s Khammam district by 2012. A power purchase agreement has been signed between GeoSyndicate Power Pvt Ltd and Northern Power Distribution Company of AP Ltd. The reports did not indicate who would build the plant, which is slated to have an initial capacity of 25 MW. Dr D Chandrasekharam is the founder and chairman of Geosyndicate.

Gradient moves HQ to Reno

admin — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 17:29:19 +0000

In Nevada, Gradient Resources, formerly Vulcan Power Company, unveiled a new name and logo at the inauguration of its new corporate headquarters in Reno. Nevada Senator Harry Reid was on hand to thank management for bringing green jobs to the state. The company was founded in Bend, Oregon where its headquarters were based since its inception in 1991. Gradient’s properties cover approximately 170,000 acres of private and federal land. In addition to the new Reno headquarters, the company has six geothermal power projects in advanced development in the state near the towns of Fernley, Fallon, Hawthorne and Lovelock and currently employs a total of 101 in the state. Gradient CEO Craig Mataczynski said his company will bring some 300 MW of geothermal energy and create more than 1,000 construction and drilling jobs and an additional 80 permanent jobs.

France joins alternative, emerging bandwagon with $1.7B investment

admin — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 16:07:50 +0000

In France, the country’s Environment and Energy Management Agency has launched a program that will inject $1.71 billion into alternative fuels and emerging technologies. The government will allocate $1.14 billion in loans and $570 million in subsidies through the next four years. The money will go to biofuels, carbon capture and storage, green chemistry, and solar, marine and geothermal energy – which hopefully will not stay at the end of the list. The loans and subsidies will go to research demonstration, pre-commercialization and technological testing stages between research and commercial development.

Opinion: Alternative Energy: Will U.S. lead or follow?

admin — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 16:01:03 +0000

Seth Doane of CBS writes “In the wake of the Gulf oil disaster, calls for cleaner, greener energy, are growing louder. ‘Now is the moment for this generation to embark on a national mission to unleash America’s innovation to seize control of our own destiny,’ President Obama said in June. If that rallying cry sounds strangely familiar, it should.” Follow along in the rest of the story through a legacy of missed political opportunity in the U.S.

Ground source saves medical building 70%

admin — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 15:43:22 +0000

In Washington, while it may take years to recoup initial investment costs, while it does, a medical building in Spokane is using a ground-source heat pump to heat and cool their building, and saving 70% in energy bills. Owner David Owan said that the heat exchange unit alone cost around $690,000, which is more than twice what it would have cost for a conventional heating and cooling system for what is a 23,000-square-foot building. However, while a traditional HVAC system would cost about $4,000 per month in energy bills, his heating and cooling system is only about $1,200 per month, 70% less.

Energy system transformation centers in the west

admin — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 15:10:02 +0000

In Nevada, researchers at Brookings Mountain West say that as the nation works out a clean energy future in order to create a more competitive “next economy,” it should look to the Intermountain West. Mark Muro, Senior Fellow and Policy Director, and Sarah Rahman, Senior Policy Analyst for the Metropolitan Policy Program said America needs to transform its energy system to reduce its carbon intensity and make clean energy cheap. The report, titled “Centers of Invention: Leveraging the Mountain West Innovation Complex for Energy System Transformation” points out that the Intermountain West region, including Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah, possesses a unique confluence of world-class innovation assets. These include research universities, national and corporate research labs; varied energy resources ranging from lowsulfur coal to solar, wind, and geothermal energy potential; and unparalleled opportunities to build out next-generation energy systems, whether smart energy grids or energy efficient buildings, as future population growth demands the building of new infrastructure from the ground-up.

Have waterfront, will heat – or cool

admin — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 18:04:29 +0000

In Canada, freeze protection solution manufacturer Heat-Line said it has developed a new line of geothermal products that represent a breakthrough in geothermal transfer technology. LIMNION LIMA-1 by Heat-Line is an energy transfer system for lakes, ponds and rivers that works with geothermal heat pumps to efficiently provide low cost heating and cooling. The company’s founder and CEO, Lorne Heise, claims that “anyone with a waterfront, riverfront or pond home can heat and cool it without using any fossil fuels.” The breakthrough is in the desing, where a single LIMNION LIMA-1, designed for up to 6 tons of thermal transfer, has a footprint approximately 1/600 of the size of a conventional lake loop or mat. The LIMA-1 does not adversely affect the ecosystem as it suspends itself harmlessly within the lake water anchored with a 100 pound ball of which only the bottom 4 inches is in contact with the lake bottom.