Archive for the 'Geothermal' Category
More Progress at Blue Mountain
Photo Credit: Nevada Geothermal
Via Yahoo News:
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA–(MARKET WIRE)–Jan 18, 2008 — Nevada Geothermal Power Inc. (NGP) (CDNX:NGP.V – News)(OTC BB:NGLPF.OB – News) is pleased to announce positive results from Well 25-14, completed to a depth of 2370 feet (722 metres), having intersected a strong production zone at 2270 feet (692 metres).
Rig-on flow testing on January 7, 2008, encountered temperatures of 378 degrees F (192 degrees C) and the capacity of this well is expected to be similar to Well 26A-14 and Well 23-14. Longer term testing is planned and results are expected in the next month.
“We are very pleased with the success of how the development drilling is proceeding at Blue Mountain Faulkner I Power Plant. We have drilled approximately 20 MW net capacity from just three wells,” stated Brian Fairbank, President & CEO.
This has to be considered excellent news for Nevada Geothermal, the Blue Mountain project is really beginning to shape up. The last major hurdle for development of the site is transmission, the site is 20 miles from an appropriate interconnect. Given the characteristics of the resource they’re developing, getting a line through should be possible. Of course there are many regulatory and legal aspects to complete that portion of the project. According to Nevada Geothermal, the transmission project is on target and drilling at the site will continue.
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Raser raises cash
Raser Technologies announced significant funding earlier this week from Merrill Lynch for their first 10.5MW power plant in Nevada due to come online in Q3 2008. The funding vehicle is what’s known in the business as a “flip” parternship, where an independent corporate entity (often a LLC) is formed with the funding partner so certain benefits can be distributed to partners as directed by the Managing Members.
C Corporations dictate the benefits are distributed according shareholder percentage. Limited Liability Corporations aren’t bound by that convention so tax benefits for instance, can be distributed as beneficial until some set of requirements are met, then the benefits can be redistributed as agreed. The first tranche appears to be $44M in debt financing over 15 years with tax benefits flowing to Merrill.
Interestingly, using this as a benchmark, the captial cost per MW for the Raser project is $4.2M – higher than the $3M average if all the funds were used for the project. Presumably, the first one will have more expenses than subsequent modules assembled in the same way and the capital cost will be lower over time. Merrill and Raser have an agreement for up to 100MW of projects with options to finance up to 55MW more.
Home heat pumps
Image Credit: WFI Industries
One of the most overlooked and effective geothermal technologies is the heat pump. As shown in the diagram above, the technology can be used for heating and cooling and depending on the annual temperature variance from the base earth temperature, annual savings vs. conventional HVAC equipment can be as high as 50% per year. Essentially, these systems use the earth (or water held in the earth) as a heat exchanger, moving heat from one place to another via a working fluid in a closed loop system.
In a heating situation, if the ambient air temperature is 32F (0C) and the earth temperature is 53F (12C) the working fluid will be used to transfer heat from the earth to the interior ambient environment – a 21F (12C) advantage over taking exterior ambient air – and then will use conventional means to heat the air to the desired temperature. In a cooling situation, it’s the reverse taking heat from the interior ambient air and transferring it to the earth. Since most humans don’t wish to live in 53F temperatures, further cooling isn’t generally necessary.
One of the leaders in geothermal heat pumps is Indiana based WFI Industries, manufacturer of the Water Furnace. It would seem over the past few years that WFI has been discovered, take a look at their stock chart from that time frame:
Image Credit: Yahoo Finance
This is clearly a technology with huge benefits, particularly where the climate has significant differences in ambient air temperature between summer and winter conditions. 5 comments
Geothermal Power: It’s Hot!
This short film was Produced by Frank DiMassa and T.H. Culhane (narrated by T.H.) Sure, it’s a little cheesy, but you can get a look around a Geysers dry steam plant and it does hit the high points on the benefits of geothermal power.
HT: Yahoo Geothermal Energy Group Comments are off for this post
Raft River Unit One Complete
Last week US Geothermal announced that the construction phase of the 13MW Raft River One Unit is now completed. After a little more testing, the facility will enter production (although the test power is being sold presently according to the company.) Congratulations to US Geothermal on making the leap from developer to operator.
Photo Credit: US Geothermal
