Geothermal companies AltaRock Energy and Raser Technologies (NYSE: RZ) both announced setbacks this week.
California-based AltaRock has suspended its engineered geothermal systems (EGS) demonstration project in the Geysers, north of San Francisco. The company said it "encountered a number of physical difficulties" resulting from "geologic anomalies."
"We are continuing with the development of our EGS technology and are currently evaluating a number of alternative well locations, at the Geysers and elsewhere for demonstrating this technology," the company said in a release.
AltaRock has secured investments from both the U.S. Department of Energy and the philantrhopic arm of Google (NASDAQ:GOOG).
Raser Technologies announced Wednesday that it has received notice from the Department of Energy (DOE) that its loan guarantee application for its East Thermo project has been denied. In its notice, the DOE stated “we believe that the East Thermo project possesses fundamental strength, but would benefit from continued development….”
Project East Thermo is a future phase Thermo-area proposed development, approximately six miles to the east of Raser’s Thermo No. 1 plant. Raser submitted the loan guarantee application in an effort to extend its range of potential financing options, which also includes potential pre-paid power purchase agreements.
Raser Shares dropped 16 cents, following the news, but recovered slightly in Thursday morning trading to $1.85. The company’s 52-week range is $1.61 to $9.
Raser recently announced that it had entered into a term sheet with the Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA) for a pre-paid power purchase agreement that would cover Raser’s next 110 megawatts (MW) to be developed out of the Thermo resource.
“We understand the DOE’s decision and remain confident in our ability to fully develop our resources. We have other projects that are further along in the development process than East Thermo and are in better positions at this time for both this and other loan guarantee programs,” stated Raser’s principal executive officer Dick Clayton. “We are moving forward with SCPPA on the pre-paid power purchase agreement and believe that, if finalized, it will assist us in our development efforts at Thermo for the foreseeable future. We are also evaluating the recommendations made by the DOE and determining when the timing may be right to re-submit the East Thermo application.”
Former Raser CEO Brent Cook spoke with SB.com news editor Bart King in April 2009. Listen to the Green Week in Review interview.
In Related News…
The staff of the California Energy Commission (CEC) has prepared a draft report comparing cost estimates for energy generation technologies. The results suggest that the projected costs in 2018 for conventional hydro, on-shore wind, and geothermal will be roughly one-third those for nuclear power while biomass and small-scale hydro come in at half the cost. Higher costs are projected for offshore wind, ocean wave, and sola –but, again, all are less expensive than nuclear.
The report, “Comparative Costs of California Central Station Electricity Generation Technologies,” is available as pdf at the link below.
Loading...