Push of Imperial County for geothermal not welcome by all
Motel at Salton Sea's East shore, Imperial Valley, California (source: flickr/Omar Omar, creative commons)
Francisco Rojas
12 Aug 2014
The push of Imperial County, the poorest county in the State of California, for forcing electric utilities to buy extra geothermal power sees opposition from business lobbying groups, investor-owned utilities and consumer advocates.
As reported in ThinkGeoEnergy, California passed SB 1139 in order to promote the use of geothermal energy in Imperial County in the West Coast State, making utilities to buy up to 500 megawatts of electricity by 2024 in an effort to bolster geothermal and to increase the funds aimed at said country, yet not everyone is pleased with this ruling, since it is discriminating over other forms of renewable energy.
According to a local news source, “Developers of other types of nonpolluting, renewable power — wind, solar, biomass and even rival geothermal operators in Northern California — are screaming foul. The proposal, they contend, would cost ratepayers $8 billion over 20 years and undercut California’s 3-year-old renewable-energy law”
On the other hand, Timothy Kelley, president of the Imperial County Economic Development Corp. argues that geothermal is a vast and not fully tapped resource that can add much needed jobs and funding for Imperial County, one of the most impoverished regions of California.
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Source: LA Times Website
