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The landscape around the Lightning Dock
Geothermal Project (Courtesy Cryq Energy)
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A hot water resource tapped first for growing roses, then for raising fish, is now supplying New Mexico’s first commercial-scale geothermal electricity.
Cyrq Energy Inc. has turned the key on its $43 million geothermal power plant Lightning Dock. Chief Executive Nick Goodman, Gov. Susana Martinez and electricity provider Public Service Company of New Mexico are touting the project today as a way to diversify the state’s renewable energy resources.
“Renewable energy has its issues, like fossil fuels, but geothermal overcomes a lot of the challenges,” Goodman said. Unlike wind and solar, a geothermal plant can supply energy nonstop.
Cyrq pumps hot water from 1,200 feet to 3,000 feet below ground at estimated flow rates of 2,200 gallons per minute, pulls it to the desert surface to heat a secondary fluid, which in turn spins turbines to generate electricity. The company re-injects the somewhat cooled geothermal water back into the ground nearby. The water never sees the light of day and, Goodman says, it is not spent or wasted.
Cyrq launched production December 24 and is generating about 4 MWe.
