Federal Lands Open for Geothermal

Here is yet another sign of the recent trend toward geothermal power. In what should be a significant development for the geothermal industry, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced that it plans to open up over 190 million acres of federal land to geothermal energy production. The land spreads over 12 western states. 118 acres are managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the remaining 79 are National Forest lands.

This move may result in tripling U.S. geothermal production – 5,540 megawatts (MW) of new geothermal power by 2015. Furthermore, according to the U.S. Geological Society, that estimate may actually be too low. The USGS claims that nearly 10,000 MW of power could be generated from the aforementioned lands, with upwards of 30,000 MW possible from still-undiscovered geothermal resources. And that’s not to mention Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) which, USGS posits, could offer another 517,800 MW of power.

Indeed, geothermal is already making strides. In Utah, Raser Technologies recently announced the completion of its 10 MW geothermal plant. That’s just the start for Utah and other western states. Alaska, California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington already have 19 pending geothermal leases between them. Add the newly allocated federal lands to that and you can see big things in the works for the geothermal industry.

Source: U.S. Department of Energy

Posted on November 5th in Geothermal by Dan.