Thursday, May 10, 2012

USA, Nevada:

U.S. Geothermal Announces New San Emidio Power Plant Beginning Performance Testing (Press release - Marketwire)

San Emido Power Plant (Courtesy U.S. Geothermal)
U.S. Geothermal Inc., announced today that its engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor has started performance testing on the new 8.6 net megawatt San Emidio power plant. Performance testing includes guaranteed output, capacity, reliability and continuous operation tests that the plant must pass to achieve both commercial operation under the PPA and substantial completion under the EPC contract.

The plant has undergone component commissioning during the past three weeks and has operated at generation levels of up to 9 megawatts net (12 megawatts gross). During commissioning and performance testing, all power generated is sold under the PPA at a rate of $50.00 per megawatt-hour until commercial operation is achieved. Upon acceptance of commercial operation by NV Energy, the power rate will increase to $89.75 per megawatt-hour with a 1% annual escalation.