“There are two well designs. One is to the order of 2,800 metres and the other is to the order of 4,500 metres. There could be several other wells (dug at a later stage),” a source involved in the project told this newspaper. “How many wells are to be drilled is something that is to be still decided,” he added declining to disclose the location of the wells.

An Australian company called Ensign is drilling the well for Masdar hired Reykjavik Geothermal as a consultant for the project. Originally, there were plans to hire six drilling contractors.

Ensign began drilling the wells in January this year and is about “half way” through the targeted depths, the source said. “These wells are a lot more wider than what we will drill for an oil and gas well. You can begin with one well and then branch out into several laterals.”

The offshore well is looking for a geothermal energy source such as steam or hot water. Masdar extensively studied the geography of the area and came up with the approximate depths of the wells. “As to what kind of well design that Masdar may pursue will depend on whether the shallow well (2,800m) design works or the deeper well (4,500 m) design does,” the source said.

Masdar did not answer questions on the issue. Rough estimates put the amount of investment planned into geothermal energy projects at around $11 billion (Dh404bn).

Masdar is looking forward to produce five mega watts of power to power its air conditioning systems at the Masdar city. According to the latest available figures, the global geothermal production capacity is said to be about 28 GWs. About 70 countries are said to have geothermal energy projects.

Geothermal energy projects basically tap into natural temperature gradients deep into the earth’s surface.”

Source: Zawya, Emirates Business

The power production plant will use geothermal waste heat from the facility to generate electricity. The main part of the Swan Hills field produces oil, gas and water from depth and these fluids are pumped to the surface at approximately 73-77 degrees C in very high volumes. The oil and gas are separated from the water, and the water is then pumped back into the formation to be reheated. Free Energy will utilize heat exchange technology to remove sufficient heat from the water before it is re-circulated to produce electricity. Borealis will prepare a technical report on the geothermal qualities and projected longevity of oil production from the project lands, and will be entitled to share in the proceeds from any sale.”

Source: Borealis GeoPower

The parcel to be auctioned is in the Knight Inlet area of British Columbia.

Details about the auction: via BC’s Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources.

Additionally the province reopens submissions for geothermal tenure requests. “The Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources (Ministry) will accept requests to obtain rights to Crown geothermal resources in the form of a Permit pursuant to Part 3, Section 5(5) of the Geothermal Resources Act.

Posting requests in British Columbia do not receive priority based on the time/date of submission. In the case of overlapping requests, the postings may be re-configured.

Posting requests will be accepted until the end of day Thursday, April 1, 2010. Posting requests submitted by the above date and time will be reviewed and, if approved, they will be intended for disposition in 2010 (proposed dispositions in June and September) or early 2011. The Ministry intends to advertise for posting requests a minimum of once per year.”

Source: Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources of British Columbia

Generally risk, so Craig, is defined as 1. The possibility of suffering harm or loss; danger; and 2. A factor, thing, element, or course involving uncertain danger; a hazard. Financial risk is then the “quantifiable likelihood of loss or less-than-expected returns”

Risk. The word immediately brings up the feeling associated with walking across a rope bridge over a deep canyon—for some there is only dread, but for others, sheer exhilaration. Many feel dread because the bridge could fail, but others see it as an opportunity to cross the canyon. The key to understanding risk is to not just see the danger or loss, but also the uncertainty and possibility.

In the geothermal energy industry, there is a problem with risk. This problem is not necessarily tied up in the danger or loss side of the equation—both developers and project investors are keenly aware that some projects may never produce a single electron worth of electricity. The problem is in understanding and quantifying the uncertainty. How much of a chance is there that a project will fail? For any financial investment, and specifically for any energy project to get funded, investment professionals need to “run the numbers.” What is my risk and potential reward? And, one key question: “what is the possibility of a zero return on my investment,” or, in the above analogue, a bridge failure?
Say there was a million-dollar reward at the other side of the canyon and the bridge had a one-in-a-million chance of failing…would you cross? Likely, most people would “risk it” and cross the bridge. How about a $100 reward and a one-in-a-hundred chance of bridge failure? Now, people are starting to re-assess the risk-to-reward ratio; they are “managing their risk.” So, here’s where it gets tricky. What if there was no confidence in the odds of a bridge failure? Meaning the bridge could fail at any time. How could someone assess the risk to reward?

As much as they might like you to believe otherwise, institutional investors do not risk their lives when they invest in projects, but there is significant financial risk when one considers the number of zeroes involved with any major energy project.

Here is where the predicament lies for geothermal energy development, as the reward for geothermal energy development is high. According to the US Department of Energy, geothermal energy has one of the lowest levelized costs (average cost of power production over the life of a power plant) of any power supply. Unlike wind or solar, geothermal energy does not rely on variable sources of energy; the earth’s heat provides baseload power without fuel costs. Geothermal energy development has one of the smallest environmental footprints for land use and CO2 production, and can be a source of both power and heat. When this cost-effective, clean, renewable energy is needed most, investors should be more than interested in “crossing the bridge.” So, why then is geothermal energy not the investor’s first choice for energy investment dollars?

The answer comes back to quantifying risk to reward. Like any energy development, geothermal projects have an element of risk. Any honest energy developer will admit that not everything goes according to plan and not everything stays on budget. A big issue for geothermal energy is the vast majority of capital risk on the front-end, including: exploration risk, drilling risk, and power facility construction risk, just to name a few. It is not unreasonable to assume that a geothermal energy developer will spend almost 95% of its capital budget before putting electrons on the grid and beginning to recover the reward. Although this is a distinct disadvantage for geothermal energy development, comparably to fossil fuels and other renewable energy sources for power generation, this is still not the key problem. Successful investors do not avoid risk, they manage it. The real issue is correctly quantifying the risk by identifying all the potential pitfalls. If the investor understands the risk, they could put a number on it (the bridge fails one in 100 times), and then they could decide what a reasonable reward should be and “manage their risk.”

If a developer downplays the risk or overstates the reward, they create uncertainty and mistrust for the investment community. “You are saying the bridge only fails one-in-a-million times, but it failed last week. What are the odds of failure today?” If the developer cannot honestly answer the question, then the unknown or uncertain risk can make quantifying the risk-to-reward ratio next to impossible. However, with every “bridge failure,” developers learn how to build a better bridge and improve the odds of success.

This is where the geothermal industry can be proactive and think like the investor. Developers need to provide sound numbers for things like exploration drilling success, resource recovery, and capital costs. “Yes, there is a one-in-100 chance the bridge will fail, but the reward is still a million.” If these numbers are well-researched and accurate, it allows investors to make informed decisions.

With no misconceptions, the benefits for developers are twofold:

* The investor and the developer are well-informed of the actual risk they are taking.
* The investor is comfortable with their reward for taking that risk.

At the end of the day, the developers have already decided that it is worth crossing the bridge for geothermal energy development, and they have already invested or risked their own time and energies. Now is the time to help the investment community understand where the pitfalls are and why the reward is worth the risk. More than ever, the industry needs investors to cross the bridge with them for clean, renewable, geothermal power.”

Craig Dunn is a geologist with Borealis GeoPower.

Source: North American Clean Energy

According to the release, the plaintiffs allege that the United States Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management illegally awarded energy leases to the Calpine Corporation for industrial development in the Medicine Lake Highlands area, which has been designated as a Native American Traditional Cultural District.

According to the release, the lawsuit against Calpine’s plans to build a 49-megawatt geothermal power plant is one of two against Calpine, the other aimed at fighting the building of a separate power plant in the Medicine Lake area.”

Source: Siskiyou Daily News

These permits, GEP37 & 38 of a combined area of 10732 sq km have been awarded by the Department of Minerals and Petroleum, are for a period of 6 years, are renewable and enable the holder to proceed to commercial development.

Work to delineate the areas most favourable for commercial geothermal energy development is already beginning.

The company said analysis of basic geological information shows that heat emitting granites occur in the Esperance district. This analysis also shows that strong structural events have occurred in the same area and this should assist in the ability to retrieve the geothermal energy for power generation.

During the first year of the project several investigations will map the extent of the heat emitting granites. During the second year it is planned to investigate the granite heat source in detail and carry out shallow drilling.

Deeper drilling designed to provide the framework for harnessing the geothermal heat electricity conversion is planned for 2012.

The development and harnessing of geothermal energy is a significant opportunity for base load
emission-free electricity generation in the Esperance district. Across Australia there are several projects which are likely to result in large scale emission-free electricity generation.

These projects enjoy strong policy and financial support from government agencies.”

Source: Proactive Investors

Mercado called on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to revisit the geothermal project in the pacific side of the province, saying that once developed this can help offset the scarcity or utter lack of power supply in other parts of the country.

Exploration of the geothermal prospects in San Juan town began more than ten years ago, in which it was reported that at least four wells have the potential to generate electricity.
Over time, it was stopped for various considerations, including technical and financial, since only one out of four wells showed promise of a viable geothermal energy source.
This lone well was what Cong. Mercado referred to when he called on the President to revisit the exploration in this site.

Aside from developing geothermal sources particularly in the province, Cong. Mercado was also open to the idea of using nuclear energy as a lasting solution to the country’s recurring power problem.

Source: Philippines Information Agency (PIA)

New deep injection capacity, resulting from the connection of well 55-15 into plant operations, has improved reservoir pressure support and enabled plant output to be increased accordingly. Output is expected to increase further as additional wells under development are brought on line.

“We believe we have the plant shut down and cable repairs well under control,” said Brian Fairbank, President & CEO. “It has been a challenging time for the company, but we can now focus our attention on proceeding with our resource development work and our goal to increase plant output to 45 megawatts net.”

Source: Company release via Business Wire

To see the interview with Dr Silas Simiyu CEO of the Geothermal Development Company, see link below.

Source: Website, YouTube Video of Interview

“All together, the report identified 6.44 GW of new geothermal power plants under various stages of development and an additional 667 MW of early-stage planned projects that have not yet secured the geothermal resource.

If all of the planned projects were to go forwards as planned, an unlikely scenario, the total U.S. geothermal capacity would reach today’s worldwide capacity of 10 GW — enough to meet the power needs of an average 10 million people or supply 25 percent of California’s 2008 power consumption. But advocates believe the ultimate potential to be much larger still.

For one thing, geothermal energy supplies a steady supply of energy that utilities can count on for baseload power, instead of intermittent sources like solar or wind, which generate power when the sun shines or the wind blows — events that can’t be controlled by utilities. As Henry Kelly, principal deputy assistant secretary for the DOE’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy office, put it: “Unlike waiting for the wind to blow, rocks are hot day and night.”

And geothermal costs can be less per kilowatt-hour over the lifetime of a project.  In 2001 the International Geothermal Association estimated current costs at between US $0.02 to $0.10 per kilowatt-hour, and potential future costs of $0.01 to $0.08 per kilowatt-hour.  The association estimated that investment costs would be around $800 per kilowatt of capacity. For comparison, the association estimated wind costs at $0.05 to $0.13 per kilowatt-hour, with potential costs of $0.03 to $0.10 per kilowatt-hour and investment costs of $1,100 to $1,700 per kilowatt of capacity. In 2006, a National Renewable Energy Laboratory report estimated the United States could develop 26 GW of geothermal power by 2015 and more than 100 GW by 2025.

But while geothermal has serious potential, already providing significant amounts of energy in some places (such as Iceland, where 87 percent of buildings are heated geothermally), geothermal hasn’t yet seen the kind of growth that wind or solar has, said Ron Pernick, a principal at research firm Clean Edge. Part of the reason is that geothermal projects cost a good amount of money upfront — centralized geothermal power plants tend to be large, while distributed heat-pump projects also are relatively expensive and not ideal for retrofits — and projects require a lot of engineering, Pernick said. Large projects also require a lot of political will to complete, he added.

Risk Aversion Limiting Growth: In spite of the growth in projects under development, the difficulty of getting financing has been a drag on the geothermal market, as fewer projects were completed than the association had expected, Karl Gawell, the executive director of GEA said. “This year was clearly hit by the market,” Gawell said. “We didn’t see the increase in [completed projects] moving as fast as we would expect. We expected to see more going through the final stages.”

In spite of all of these challenges, the number of projects under development is increasing, and Gawell expects more projects will get built this year than last year. “I expect it will go up very dramatically down the road,” he said. “There’s almost a backlog now of projects, down the road, moving from planning and construction, so I just hope it doesn’t cause supply and material bottlenecks.” He pointed to the shortage of solar-grade silicon that the solar industry experienced a few years ago. “We’ve got to have both the infrastructure and the market going forward in sync to make this happen.”

For the full article see link below.

Source: Renewable Energy World

The project is one of several being moved forward by Petratherm, following formation of a partnership with Enel Green Power, part Europe’s second largest utility, Enel, to develop new and existing electricity producing projects across Spain and Portugal.

Madrid’s GDH project was highlighted as one of six renewable energy projects of interest within the Madrid Regional Government’s Renewable Energy Cluster, which is seeking to advance renewable energy projects in the region.

Italy-based Enel Green Power is a world leader in geothermal power generation with more than 800 MW of capacity operating and a further 300 MW in development. Petratherm also has four geothermal investigation permits covering areas within the Valles and Abro Basins near the city of Barcelona.”

Source: Power-Gen Worldwide

No terms were disclosed in a news release on the deal by the Ormat Nevada Inc. subsidiary.

The Tuscarora project, which is located on about 9,800 acres of land in Elko County, Nevada, is expected to become operational in 2012.

Up to 40 megawatts of electricity from the project has already been contracted under a 20-year power purchase agreement with Nevada Power Co., a subsidiary of NV Energy Inc.

“The Tuscarora project has the potential to yield a sizable geothermal project, and will be developed in phases with the first phase being” 16 megawatts, said Ormat CEO Dita Bronicki.”

Details on the Hot Sulphur Springs (Tuscarora Geothermal Area) can be found >>here<< (from 2005)

Source: Company release via Canadian Business

“Head of the ministry’s geological agency Suchyar said Thursday that with 30 years of operation the geothermal potential equaled 12 billion barrels of oil.

“Compare this potential with our oil reserves, which only stand at 6.4 billion barrels,” he told Antara state news agency.

Suchyar said that by 2014 the country would have utilized geothermal energy to generate 5,000 MW in electricity, which equals the use of 2.4 billion barrels of oil.

A total of eight geothermal energy sites have been discovered so far located in Kebar area in the West Papua capital of Manokwari with 25 MW in potential reserves; in Tehoru (75 MW), Banda Baru (75 MW), Pohon Batu (50 MW) and Kelapa Dua (25 MW) all in Maluku; and Lili (75 MW), Mapili (50 MW) and Alu (25 MW) in Mandar in West Sulawesi.

The National Energy Policy stipulates that the use of geothermal energy as an energy sources should reach 9,500 MW by 2025. However, Suchyar said less than 1,200 MW of geothermal energy had been explored.”

Source: The Jakarta Post

The energy and mineral resources ministry’s decree No. 2/2010 on the list of the power plants included in the 10,000 MW power project designated PLN to construct 11 geothermal power plants with a total capacity of 880 MW.

“But, we will revise the decree, because there are about six geothermal projects that will be transferred to private companies,” J. Purwono, the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry’s director general for
electricity and energy use said Wednesday.

Purwono refused to mention the projects planned to be transferred, saying the government was still waiting for a formal written request from PLN.

Meanwhile PLN president director Dahlan Iskan said that the state electricity utility withdrew from the three projects due to protests from the East Java provincial administration. According to him, the provincial government claimed that it was their right to choose the investors in the projects, not the ministry. In an earlier presentation from the ministry, there are three PLN geothermal power projects that were still looking for financing commitments. The power plants are the 110 MW Ijen Power Plant; the 55 MW Iyang Argopuro Power Plant, and the 165 MW Wilis Power Plant — all of them are located in East Java.

The Ijen Power Plant requires investment up to US$165 million, while the Iyang Argopuro and the Wilis power plants require investments of up to $83 million and $259 million, respectively.

Suryadarma, chairman of the Indonesian Geothermal Association (API), said the decree was inaccurate and not in line with the 2003 Geothermal Law. “The law states that the companies winning the geothermal working area tenders can develop the resource from the upstream to the downstream, meaning that they can build the power plants. But, the decree has forced them to sell the steam to PLN’s power plants,” Suryadarma said.

He added that the decree had hampered the geothermal working area tenders conducted by several regional governments. “Several tenders have been opened, but now the regional government are confused because the decree has limited that the downstream side of the business will be given automatically to PLN,” Suryadarma said. He added the projects that have been put up for tender are the Ijen and the Wilis power plants.

A geothermal power plant requires investment of as much as $3 million per megawatt. Suryadarma said the geothermal exploitation and the construction of the geothermal power plants would take about five years. “If the working areas can secure investors this year, the power plants can be finished between 2014 and 2015,” Suryadarma said.

The second 10,000 MW project was originally expected to be completed by the end of 2014.”

Source: The Jakarta Post

Mines and Petroleum Minister Norman Moore said on Monday that the new permits would increase the state’s potential to generate significant new renewable energy supplies.

The new permits granted by the Department of Mines and Petroleum would enhance what was becoming a “robust” geothermal exploration sector, Moore said.

Eight of the new permits were granted to companies exploring the greater Carnarvon Basin in Western Australia’s north, while the remaining two permits focus on the south-east region, near Esperance.

The Carnarvon Basin was the second area of Western Australia released to competitive bidding for geothermal exploration.

Geothermal explorer New World Energy has received seven of the eight permits in this region, while Geothermal Energy received the other.

“These permits cover a combined work area of 34 556 km2 and involve a total work programme expenditure of A$62,6-million across the six-year life of the permits,” the Minister said.

The south-east area was the subject of Western Australia’s third geothermal acreage release. The two permits in this area were granted to Greenpower Energy and cover a combined area of 10 732 km2, with total work programme expenditure of A$42,9-million planned across six years.

“It is encouraging the geothermal sector in this state is gaining new members at the same time as increasing its geographical spread,” Moore concluded.”

Source: Mining Weekly