The Bureau of Land Management Battle Mountain District recently approved a geothermal “fast-track” project for Ormat Technologies, allowing the company to begin construction on the Jersey Valley Project located in Pershing County, Nevada. The geothermal development will cover approximately 8,470 acres of land, of which 7,460 are managed by the BLM. When completed, the facility will include a 30-megawatt (MW) power plant, a geothermal well field, and a 120-kilowatt transmission line.

“The State of Nevada has positioned itself in the forefront in this Administration’s quest to develop a New Energy Frontier for Americans,” said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. “This Jersey Valley project should be completed and producing clean energy in about six months, and I couldn’t be more pleased.”

The first phase of the development, for which the BLM’s Decision Record was signed on June 4, includes construction of a 15-MW plant. Commercial operation of the plant is expected to begin by late 2010. A second plant, providing additional generation capacity, may be built the following year. Ormat Technologies obtained a Power Purchase Agreement with Nevada Power Company in 2006 and began conducting geothermal exploration activities at Jersey Valley in 2007.

US Geothermal has taken an ownership interest in Oregon’s Neal Hot Springs project from GCO Minerals and a private estate. Here are some details.

Via MarketWatch:

A 25% mineral interest, which encompasses 600 acres, was purchased from a private estate. An option to purchase an additional 25% interest in 2,110 acres was executed with GCO Minerals Company, a subsidiary of International Paper. The two mineral interest acquisitions in part overlie each other, and when combined provide USG Oregon with 600 acres of 50% mineral ownership and 1,510 acres of 25% mineral ownership in the heart of the defined Neal Hot Springs geothermal reservoir. This acreage includes the two existing production wells, and all of the currently planned new production and injection wells for the 22 megawatt development.

Energy Development Corp., the renewable energy unit of First Gen Corp., will settle today its 22-billion yen debt (approximately $245 million), moving the company closer to overhauling the currency mix of its loan portfolio.

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The company posted a P3.80-billion net income in the first quarter this year, up 68 percent from P2.27 billion year-on-year.

Two units—Green Core Geothermal Inc., operator of the 192.5-megawatt Palinpinon and 112.5-MW Tongonan I geothermal power plants, and First Gen Hydro Power Corp., operator of the Pantabangan and Masiway hydroelectric plants—contributed P1.22 billion to the income.

Energy Development remains the largest producer of geothermal energy in the Philippines to date, accounting for 62 percent of installed capacity.

Radius Gold Inc. (TSX-V: RDU) announced that it has nearly 500,000 acres either under lease or application in Guatemala broken into 7 different tracts. Given that Radius has been in the exploration business for gold in the region for a decade and has run across several hydrothermal systems during that time, this is an interesting shift into an adjacency. In fact, one might call it smart taking the unnaturally high gold prices and using that leverage along with the experience they have in region to partner with an established producer to bring these projects to fruition.

Past studies have indicated that there is large geothermal potential in Guatemala, perhaps as much as 4GWe, but more likely around 1GWe. Presently, Ormat has two plants producing a net of around 46MWe in the region.

Raser Technology’s 15MWe Lightning Dock project in New Mexico is progressing through the drilling stage. They’ve posted a nice video to showcase how the project is moving along. Click the image to the right to view the video.

On July 22, the Geothermal Energy Association (GEA) will explore the future of utility-scale geothermal power at an industry conference held in Las Vegas. With geothermal production expanding to 15 states, many new utilities, coops and public utility districts are considering geothermal for the first time. This session brings together utilities, coops, and PUDs familiar with geothermal to discuss how they have achieved success with geothermal developers and companies. Sessions will focus on approaches and challenges for utility-scale projects in the U.S., federal and state support for utilities and renewables, risk management, transmission issues, and more.

Read more…

According to TickerSpy’s *GEOTH index, geothermal stocks have had a run up of nearly 20% since June 8, 2010. This move seems to be related to the US Government project loan guarantees and has breathed new life into developers.