GEOTHERMAL ON THE LAND

The new, green land rush; Raser Technologies converts low-temperature water into power. Can this clean energy pioneer strike it rich?
Carolyn Whelan, February 18, 2010 (USA Today)

"…The hamlet of Thermo [Utah] is home to one of the nation's newest geothermal plants, operated by Provo-based Raser Technologies…The water collected in Thermo is piped from wells to mini-power plants where it is essentially converted into energy and sent over transmission lines to California.

"For a century, geothermal plants have supplied heat and power to countries like Iceland, which are abundant with hot and shallow water. And developers have harnessed energy from lower-temperature (165 degrees and up) waters through such so-called binary cycle power plants for decades. Essentially transferring hot water to another fluid that boils at even lower temperatures through a heat exchanger, steam from the lower-boiling-point fluid in a binary system turns a turbine to generate electricity…"

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"…What sets Raser apart from its rivals? The company has rights to 250,000 acres of low-temperature U.S. resources and a key partnership with United Technologies for modular machines. With these binary cycle plants Raser hopes to radically cut the time to market and cost of geothermal power…[A] famous 2006 Massachusetts Institute of Technology study on the potential of geothermal believes binary systems could provide up to 60,000 megawatts (MW) of geothermal energy by 2050…

"Raser had two challenges: it needed land, and it needed technology…[Others have] harnessed mid-temperature energy using costly and mostly customized machines…[but] math showed that extracting even lower-temperature sources through binary systems might be profitable with subsidies if prices for rapidly installed modular units fell over time…[and it turns] out securing rights to mine water on land wasn't that hard back in 2005. Raser was often the only bidder for land parcels other developers had passed up…Today, one-third of Raser’s rights are on private Utah land, which with its other holdings, the company says, makes it the second-biggest owner of U.S. geothermal rights by acreage…"

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"Raser has little to show investors for its efforts…Cost overruns on high pre-crisis material prices and extraction woes have slowed plans…Still there are bright spots: Merrill Lynch and Prudential in 2008 ponied up roughly $50 million for the company’s first 155 megawatts of power. And last month the company secured $19 million in financing…

"…Raser expects a faster ramp-up (and payback from power sales) for a 15-MW plant in New Mexico known as Lightning Dock…Another six sites in Utah, Nevada and Oregon are under development…and it is mulling more efficient construction tactics…Raser expects to be profitable after three plants deliver power, or within roughly two years…"