Owner/operator: Nevada Geothermal Power Inc.
Completed in 2009 and partially funded under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, the 50-MW Blue Mountain Faulkner 1 Geothermal Power Plant is harnessing large amounts of renewable energy by tapping into an underground geothermal reservoir in northern Nevada. This subterranean source of heat allows the binary plant to generate pollution-free baseload electricity.
Hot rocks are hot business in the electric power sector these days. Currently, the U.S. has approximately 2,998.5 MW of geothermal energy capacity installed, which is 30.42% of the world’s total. Proposed and planned U.S. geothermal plants now total approximately 7,800 MW—more than double the geothermal generating capacity that’s already online. Currently identified geothermal resources in the U.S. could provide more than 20,000 MW of power to our nation, and it is estimated that undiscovered resources could provide five times that amount.
There are three general types of geothermal plants:
- Dry steam. Dry steam systems work by tapping into the naturally occurring pockets of steam or hot water that rise from deep underground, bringing with them the energy stored by rocks far below Earth’s surface. The steam or hot water is then used to drive turbines and produce electricity. The best known dry steam projects are the Geysers plants in northern California.
- Flash steam. Flash steam plants flash high-pressure hot fluids to vapor at lower pressures and then use that vapor to make power.
- Binary. Binary plants recover energy from hot fluids to heat a secondary fluid that is used to produce electricity.
One of the great advantages of geothermal energy is that it can be produced with minimal environmental impacts. Another benefit is that geothermal energy can provide continuous baseload electric power generation, unlike other renewable resources, such as wind and solar energy, which are variable.
One example of the new wave in geothermal power generation is the recently completed 50-MW Blue Mountain Faulkner 1 Geothermal Power Plant. To help finance its project, in November 2009, Nevada Geothermal Power Inc. (NGP) applied for and received a $57.9 million cash grant from the U.S. Department of the Treasury in lieu of tax credits for its geothermal power plant. This cash grant was funded by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. The total construction cost for the Blue Mountain power plant was $180 million, and debt financing was handled by Trust Company of the West.
“Geothermal power plants cost less to construct than most other renewable energy power plants, which leads to much more robust project economics, particularly due to government incentives,” explained Brian Fairbank, NGP president and CEO.
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