Archive for December, 2007
Geothermal: Stealth Renewable
Have you ever wondered why geothermal goes so incognito when the renewable electricity market is so visible? There could be a number of reasons, but we believe it has to do with accessibility to the public and ease of identifying resources.

Photo Credit The Pennine Way
When a lay-person sees the tree above, they can easily posit that wind contributed to the unique shape of the tree. And, since we know generally how trees grow, it’s easy to deduce that there is strong, consistent wind current present in that area. Thus, when people think about wind as a renewable resource, it’s accessible. There is no magic: wind exists and like a child’s pinwheel, it can cause things to move which is sufficient to make the connection.

Photo Credit The Safari Company
When a lay-person sees the photo above, they can reason that it is dry and that it’s likely that the sun shines there on a routine basis and rain/cloud cover aren’t the norm for the region. The connection between a strong sun presence and the potential for energy is very clear to humans, it’s accessible.

Photo Credit: UNR
Now contrast the image above with the tree and desert. What do you observe about the physical characteristics of this land? Does it look like this might be a place one could harness natural resources to generate renewable electricity? This photo happens to be from Nevada’s Dixie Valley, a known geothermal resource area. There is a functioning 60MW geothermal plant in close proximity. The only surface manifestations of the energy potential are hot springs. It’s much less accessible to a lay-person thinking about hot, fractured rocks with super-critical heated water trapped under a cap rock waiting to escape. Can you visualize it? Unless you’ve been around the industry or have a geology background, the chances are that it’s tough to comprehend.
The journal Live Science took a page from VH1’s “Where are they now?” publishing an article on “Whatever happened to Geothermal?” It’s an interesting article and covers many of the issues. Given that geothermal is the only baseload renewable power source (yes gravity hydro is close, but until droughts are solved, it’s not quite baseload) it seems inevitable that geothermal will be “rediscovered” as an energy source. 4 comments
ArcLight/Caithness debt financing advances

Via PRNewswire:
Caithness Coso Funding Corp. (the “Company”) announced the pricing terms of its previously announced tender offers and consent solicitations for any and all of its outstanding $90,000,000 original principal amount of 6.263% Subordinated Secured Notes due 2014 (CUSIP Nos. 128017AK6 and U12295AD0) (the “2014 Notes”) and its $375,000,000 original principal amount of 5.489% Senior Secured Bonds due 2019 (CUSIP Nos. 128017AG5 and U12295AC2) (the “2019 Bonds” and, together with the 2014 Notes, the “Notes”). The tender offers and the related consent solicitations are subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the Company’s Offer to Purchase and Consent Solicitation Statement, dated September 18, 2007, and the accompanying Consent and Letter of Transmittal
(together, the “Offer Documents”).
This deal continues to drag on, but the release shows that progress is being made. The Coso Geothermal plants make up the bulk of the generation assets in the ArcLight Renewco deal and this needed to be sorted out clearly – particularly with respect to the operating agreements in place with the US Government for those assets.
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