Wednesday, January 14, 2015

USA, California:

Surprise Valley Geothermal Power Project Gets Million Dollar Grant (CEC)

Springtime at Surprise Valley Hot Spring, Joe LaFleur
The California Energy Commission has decided to award the Surprise Valley geothermal project a grant of over a million dollars.

The proposed resolution approving Agreement GEO-14-003 with the County of Modoc for a $1,129,619 grant to conduct geothermal resource assessments and exploratory drilling in the Surprise Valley Hot Springs area was passed at a meeting this morning.

The project will install and demonstrate a small geothermal distributed energy unit to generate electricity at Surprise Valley Hot Springs Resort and conduct a geothermal economic feasibility and market analysis to provide information that can be used in future planning for expanded geothermal development in the area.

The geothermal distributed energy unit is anticipated to offset the electrical load of the Surprise Valley Hot Springs Resort and save the resort over $10,000 per year in electricity costs.

In addition the Modoc Joint Unified School District is to get $3.1 million to expand the existing geothermal heating system at Modoc High School to include two additional schools and the public pool in Alturas. The expanded system is projected to save the school district more than $4.2 million in fuel and electricity costs over 25 years.