Reported locally in the U.S., the recent competitive auction of federal land for geothermal exploration has seen a number of players – known and unknown – acquiring acreage for development. Among them is “U.S. Energy Corp., a natural resources exploration and development company with interests in molybdenum, oil and gas, geothermal, and real estate.” The company “announced that its affiliate Standard Steam Trust LLC (SST) successfully acquired additional geothermal prospective acreage at a BLM lease sale.

SST was formed to acquire, explore, develop and market geothermal resources in the Western United States. In December, 2008, U.S. Energy bought a 25 percent interest in SST for $3.445 million.

In July, SST successfully acquired an additional 22,033 acres at a BLM lease sale in Reno, Nevada. This additional acreage increases SST’s total land holdings to 95,566 acres of BLM, state, and fee leases in eight prospect areas in three states: Idaho, Nevada and Utah. Only a very small part of Wyoming (a sliver near Afton) is included in SST’s geothermal target area, and no Wyoming acreage is currently held by SST.

According to U.S. Energy’s Web site, www.usnrg.com, Geothermal power offers a number of advantages over other alternative energy sources, including continuous and reliable output, as geothermal is not weather dependent. It is the only base load renewable power source. Additional advantages include minimal pricing volatility, limited environmental impact, high sustainability and improved security of supply. When viewed over the life of the project, geothermal is among the least expensive options when compared with both fossil fuel and alternative energy. Initial infrastructure costs are substantially lower than some other alternative forms of production, and nominal energy inputs are required once the power plants are in production.

SST’s business plan for 2009 will be assembling a portfolio of industrial scale prospects with a total targeted power resource of approximately 2,000 MW; individual prospects are targeted at 100 to 500 MW.

“The newly acquired acreage strategically complements and enhances our existing acreage positions,” stated Keith Larsen, CEO of U.S. Energy Corp. “Given the recent geothermal equity market activities in Canada we are confident that our investment in the geothermal sector has great potential to significantly enhance our shareholder value,” he added.”

Source: Wyoming Business Report