Via Yahoo News:

REYKJANESBAER, ICELAND–(Marketwire – Aug. 31, 2007) – To comply with securities laws in Canada, Geysir Green Energy ehf. (“Geysir”) wishes to announce that today it acquired ownership of 25,000,000 common shares of Western GeoPower Corp. (TSX VENTURE:WGP – News; FRANKFURT:WE6 – News; “WGP”), representing approximately 13.7% of WGP’s outstanding common shares, pursuant to a private placement subscription agreement at $0.25 per share. Following this transaction, Geysir owns 34,333,334 common shares of WGP, representing approximately 18.8% of WGP’s outstanding common shares, and 9,333,334 warrants exercisable to purchase one common share of WGP at $0.35 per share. Geysir’s acquisition of WGP shares in this transaction was for investment purposes only. Geysir may, depending on market and other conditions, acquire additional common shares of WGP through market transactions, private agreements or otherwise. Geysir may, depending on market conditions, sell any or all of its common shares of WGP.

Via Yahoo News:

BOISE, Idaho, Aug. 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — U.S. Geothermal Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: UGTH, TSX.V: GTH) (the “Company”) is pleased to announce that the Toronto Stock Exchange has conditionally approved the Company’s application for listing its common shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Listing is subject to the Company fulfilling certain specified conditions of the Toronto Stock Exchange on or before November 21, 2007.

About US Geothermal Inc
U.S. Geothermal is a renewable energy development company that is currently building a 13 megawatt geothermal power project at Raft River, Idaho and conducting exploration activities at Neal Hot Springs, Oregon.

This marks the first movement of the handful of geothermal companies financed on the Toronto Venture Exchange to a mature market. Congrats US Geothermal.

Via Business Week online:

Many are in love with the idea of alternative energy. But there’s yet to be an economical alternative to petroleum that can generate large amounts of energy without damming up rivers, crowding the landscape with windmills, or generating radioactive waste.

That may be about to change, however, as interest grows in an emissions-free energy source that can generate power at prices competitive with traditional fuels. It’s virtually inexhaustible, and it’s right under your feet. It’s the heat emanating from the earth’s molten core, also known as geothermal energy.

Geothermal could have a major effect on the energy future of the U.S., according to a study published in January by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Using existing technology, there is the potential to generate geothermal energy in the U.S. equivalent to 2,000 times the country’s total energy consumption in 2005, the study says.

Read more…

Here’s the key question on geothermal development: If it’s OK to risk $10M on a petrochemical wildcat well, why is it not OK to risk $1M on a wildcat geothermal well? As one of our partners says, nearly all of the producing geothermal fields and plants (including those under development) are as a result of exploration that happened in the 1970’s. Where is the geothermal exploration program? What will it take to engage those with the geotechnical skills to engage in this segment? (We know, money, and lots of it.)

Our view is that as emissions restrictions tighten, carbon taxes become a reality, and peak oil has definitively happened, the talent will engage as geothermal power will be the next frontier. We know from attending the SMU conference that oil companies are starting to wake up, we know one project where Chevron is assembling its own geothermal data set (as one of our partners talked to the primary researcher doing the work.) Can we expect geothermal exploration in the near future?

Ormat International, parent company of Ormat, announced today that they’ve been awarded the contract to build and operate a 340MW facility in Indonesia called the Sarulla Project. This is a joint venture between Japan’s Itochu and Indonesia’s Medco Energi Internasional Tbk that amounts to an estimated $800M investment.

At present, Indonesia has geothermal capacity of about 787MW and estimated geothermal potential of over 20,000MW.

Today, at the BLM land auction, Montara Energy Ventures acquired development rights to a property in Nevada. Following a series of activities including surveying and testing, we will announce our development plans for this property. There is a long way to go yet, but think “renewable energy park” where multiple resources are harvested concurrently.