USA, Colorado:

Drilling for Electricity, Part One - A Personal Perspective on the Pagosa Springs Geothermal Project (Pagosa Daily Post )

Meeting of the Geothermal Water and Power Authority on
November 10 in the Archuleta County Courthouse.

This government consortium was formed last spring for a specific purpose: to help develop a method for combining private investment capital with federal, state and local tax funding, to fund an exploration for new underground sources of geothermal water in the downtown Pagosa Springs area. Possibly 250 degree water? Possibly in vast quantities? The water, if located, could then be used to generate electricity. It might also be used for other purposes, such as agriculture, or for heating buildings.

Privately owned Pagosa Verde LLC is hoping to raise maybe $26 million from government and private sources to fund a geothermal electric power plant in Pagosa Springs. If they can find water.

It’s my understanding that no one in all of Colorado — one of the 50 states with the highest geothermal power potential — has ever developed a geothermal electric plant using this type of public-private partnership to fund their project. The financial risks are considerable. No one knows if hot water awaits us half a mile under layers of Cretaceous and Jurassic and Triassic rock — and even if water is located, no one knows what its temperature might be.

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