The first 1.7 megawatts of tomorrow’s geothermal just went on the grid in Nevada.
Ormat (ORA) has produced 1.7 megawatts of power using enhanced geothermal methods from inside an existing geothermal field, the first power from this source to get on the electric grid.
Enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) are controversial because drilling into hot rocks deep below the earth’s surface has been associated with earthquake-like seismic tremors in Switzerland and northern California.
Of the 3,385.6 megawatts of 2012 U.S. geothermal installed capacity, which was about 0.33 percent of installed U.S. generation and 3.5 percent of U.S. renewable energy generation, none was from EGS, according to the 2013 Annual U.S. Geothermal Power Production and Development Report (PDF) from the U.S. Geothermal Energy Association. But EGS technology could cut geothermal costs and eliminate significant development risks, the report said, by allowing developers “to create multiple stimulated geothermal areas from a single well.”
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