Archive for February, 2010
Fire erupts at Soda Lake plant
In Nevada, a fire erupted early Monday at the Magma Energy’s Soda Lake Amor No. 4 geothermal plant. A county fire official said a malfunction in one of the generating units caused the fire and that no one was injured. A cause for the blaze was not immediately known, but the plant was said to [...]
Introducing Americas Geothermal: G4G acquisitions lead to name change
In Canada, G4G Resources Ltd., which to now described itself as a company with projects in iron ore, iron production and alternative fuels, says that it will change its name to “more effectively reflect the nature of the business with which it is involved”. Subject to TSX Venture Exchange and shareholder approval – and [...]
Reservoir gets three more Serbian GT permits
In Canada, Reservoir Capital Corp. said that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Southern European Exploration D.o.o. has been granted three additional licenses to explore for geothermal energy in the Vojvodina Region of northern Serbia. Historical oil, gas and geothermal exploration in these areas – Kupusina, Adorijan and Vrbica – have shown aquifer temperatures in excess of 200 [...]
Opinion: Government dollars supporting “alternative alternatives”
From Business Week, with wind and solar capacity rising, other alternatives that do not depend on favorable weather – geothermal, wave, and biomass – are seeing government backing worldwide. The result is, as Scott Mackin of Denham Capital Management said “The subsidies were the main reason we invested.” in Hamburg-based Novus Energy, which operates two [...]
New Mexico Tech going deep for heating system
In New Mexico, drilling crews completed a 1,100-foot exploratory well at the base of “M” Mountain. And while they are looking for geothermal resources, the intent here is only to heat buildings – in fact all of the buildings on New Mexico Tech’s main campus. Researchers hoped to find fluid at at least 160°F, but [...]
Senators promote renewables while DOE helps nuclear make a comeback
In Washington, two senators have circulated draft legislation that would promote low-carbon energy from renewable sources and nuclear plants. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) called for a national renewable electricity standard that would require utilities to obtain an ever-increasing percentage of their power from sustainable sources, including geothermal. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) has released a “discussion draft” that [...]
Preliminary program for IGC 2010 online
In Germany, the preliminary program for the 6th International Geothermal Conference (IGC 2010) is online. The event will take place in Freiburg, Germany on May 19-20, 2010 and an early registration discount is available until February 28. The conference begins on the 19th with the short course “Exploitation of geothermal reservoirs” in co-operation with experts [...]
170 GT projects detailed in GTP database
In Washington, the Department of Energy’s Geothermal Technologies Program (GTP) has established the GTP Projects Database, which was created to increase the transparency of GTP’s funding activities, specifically those related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The database allows users to access details for more than 170 Geothermal Technologies Program-funded projects. Users [...]
Japan offers Kenya $320 M for GT development
In Japan, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama announced that his country will extend a loan of $375 million to Kenya for geothermal power generation, drought responses and reforestation. A full $320 million of that amount will go to geothermal development. Hatoyama also offered Japan’s assistance for Kenya to develop a nuclear power plant and said Kenya [...]
Raser partners extend Thermo 1 financing
In Utah, Raser Technologies, Inc. reached an agreement with project financing partners to extend the final performance and completion test of the Thermo No. 1 Project to June 30, 2010. The company recently recompleted four wells to reduce the inflow of water from the coolest formations and increase the average temperature of water entering the [...]
