Geothermal Deal Could Bridge the Gap for Future Development (RenewableEnergyWorld)
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| (Courtesy RenewableEnergyWorld) |
The geothermal industry has been struggling with the same barriers to development for years. It's a frustrating situation: while geothermal is a reliable, steady baseload form of renewable energy, its development expenses overshadow its obvious long-term benefits. Meanwhile, other intermittent renewable sources such as wind and solar are able to take advantage – and control – of state
Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) policies and other incentives due to their lower costs of deployment.
A fully dispatchable geothermal plant in Hawaii may influence power contracts in states like California that have a significant amount of energy but dwindling capacity with intermittent renewables. In order to get the utility,
Hawaii Electric Light Company (HELCO), to agree to purchase power from the 8 MWe expansion on its 30 MWe
Puna Geothermal Venture,
Ormat made the entire plant fully dispatchable, meaning that it is controlled by HELCO, who can ramp service up or down to serve the auxiliary energy load for the grid.
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