Raser Technologies, Inc. (NYSE Arca: RZ) announced that it has taken delivery of the full 50 UTC Power geothermal power generating units ordered for the first geothermal power plant to be built in the state of Utah in over 20 years and provided an update on the company’s progress and strategic initiatives for its geothermal power projects.
The company is being watched closely by many in the industry as it nears the end of the first wave of an ambitious plan to create roughly 100 megawatts of new geothermal energy every year for the next several years.
UTC Power, a United Technologies (NYSE: UTX) company, has shipped to Raser the first 50 generating modular units that will generate electricity from Raser’s geothermal resources. The geothermal plant is planned to have a gross generation capacity of 14 MW when configured under Raser’s proprietary geothermal power plant design.
Each 50 unit project is designed to produce net power generation between 10 and 11 MW that is sold to the purchasing utilities and is enough electricity to power approximately 9,000 homes. Net generation takes into account the station usage or parasitic load needed to pump the geothermal fluids throughout the plant. It is expected that generation during the cool months will exceed generation during the warmer months.
Raser recently announced that it had entered into a power purchasing agreement with the city of Anaheim, California to deliver up to 11 MW of the clean renewable energy from its Thermo plant in Beaver County, Utah. Raser anticipates that it will place its first entire plant in service in October 2008 by beginning delivery of the geothermal energy to Anaheim at that time. The generation units are scheduled to begin being connected starting in August and will be test operated until the final units are connected in October 2008.
Steve Brown, Raser’s Executive Vice President of Construction and Engineering discussed the construction progress of the first Utah project saying, "We finished drilling the second and third production wells and will continue drilling the re-injection wells. Once the production wells have been flow-tested and an independent third party analysis of the test data is completed, we will have fulfilled the final major conditions required prior to Merrill Lynch closing the construction funding for the plant."
Brent M. Cook, CEO of Raser Technologies, "We expect to start sending these first 50 generating units to the Thermo site in the August – September time frame so that the plant will be operational in October. We are nearing completion of all the conditions to close on the first construction funding from Merrill Lynch. We expect to be very busy over the next few months as we begin completing the first wave of projects."
About Raser Technologies
Raser is a publicly-traded, environmentally focused technology licensing and development company operating in two business segments. Raser’s Power Systems segment is seeking to develop clean, renewable geothermal electric power plants and bottom-cycling operations, incorporating licensed heat transfer technology and Raser’s SymetronTM technology developed internally by its Transportation and Industrial Technology segment. Raser’s Transportation and Industrial Technology segment focuses on extended-range plug-in-hybrid vehicle solutions and using Raser’s award-winning SymetronTM technology to improve the torque density and efficiency of the electric motors and drive systems used in electric and hybrid-electric vehicle powertrains and industrial applications.
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