Industry, government experts say conditions perfect
for development of geothermal energy

An unusual combination of economic and environmental forces have created a “perfect storm” that could help geothermal shed its back-seat status to its renewable cousins wind and solar energy, experts said at an international conference in New York this week.

One after another, state and federal regulators, oil company
executives, investor-owned utility officials and private
developers on Monday recited the conditions in play to an
overflow crowd of more than 1,000.

The financial meltdown on Wall Street, soaring oil prices, the
volatility of the natural gas market, concern about global
warming and a new administration assuming the White House are
driving increasing demand for the energy produced by harnessing
heat from beneath the earth’s surface, they said.

“There is not going to be another opportunity like there is
now,” said Rebecca Wagner, a former manager at a geothermal
development company who serves on the state Public Utilities
Commission in Nevada, which has the most potential geothermal
power in the country.

“This is the perfect storm of events to prove the geothermal
industry is going to help address and possibly solve a lot of
our energy issues,” she said.

Steve Chalk, deputy assistant U.S. energy secretary for
renewable energy, said the nation is “at the cusp of an
historic movement in renewable energy.”

“We’re going through a renaissance now with geothermal - a
rebirth,” he said.

Thomas Fair, renewable energy executive for NV Energy formerly
known as Sierra Pacific Resources, said the 40 percent larger
turnout compared with last year’s conference is “a sign of what
is going on in Nevada and across the country.”

Nevada has 10 geothermal power plants generating 325 megawatts
of power with 73 more megawatts deliverable by 2010. It has a
U.S.-leading 45 projects in the works _ more than double the 21
in California, the next busiest state. One megawatt equals
1,000 kilowatts, enough to serve about 1,000 U.S. homes.

The Geothermal Energy Association said new projects are under
way in Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, New Mexico,
Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

When developed, the projects will provide up to 3,368 megawatts
of new electric power capacity, more than doubling U.S.
capacity from 2,936 megawatts in 2006, to nearly 6,304
megawatts, the association said.

More than 2,100 megawatts of known geothermal resources can be
easily developed in Nevada _ enough to exceed a state
requirement that 20 percent of Nevada’s total power production
be renewable by 2015, said Lisa Shevenell, the director of the
Great Basin Center for Geothermal Energy.

“It’s great to see growth. It’s finally happening. It was dead
for a long time,” said Shevenell, also a research
hydrogeologist at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Paul Brophy, president of the Geothermal Research Council
founded in 1970, said tens of thousands of acres of land under
the supervision of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management have been
leased for geothermal exploration and/or drilling. He has seen
dramatic growth in interest from small and large investors _
“even renewed interest from some large oil companies.”

Gov. Jim Gibbons said 80 percent of the federal acres leased
for geothermal projects in the nation are in Nevada, which
issues an average of 60 drill permits annually for geothermal
projects. That’s why he is pressing state and U.S. officials to
expedite the leasing process.

“When it takes eight to 13 months to get a geothermal drill
permit approved and only 30 days to get an oil well drill
approved, we have our work cut out for us,” he said.

Yoram Bronicki, president of Reno-based geothermal developer
Ormat Technologies, said the industry must do more to promote
itself.

“I don’t know if we have failed, but we certainly have not
succeeded until now to capture the imagination of other people
on the public relations level,” he said. “Everybody else looks
at the wind turbine as the staple of renewable energy.”

Barry S. Andrews, senior vice president of Chevron Geothermal,
the world’s largest producer of geothermal energy, said it is a
“critical time for us in the energy field.”

“While geothermal has gotten more attention recently, it often
seems to take a back seat to solar and wind,” Andrews said.
Chevron launched an international campaign to promote
geothermal last year.

Dan Reicher, director of climate change for Google.org, said
his company invested $10 million as part of a plan announced
last year to develop “enhanced geothermal systems” technology
to generate energy from rocks deep below the earth’s surface.

“It is indeed the sleeping giant of renewable energy,” said
Reicher, a former assistant U.S. energy secretary. “Indeed, the
giant is stirring.”