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| The Salton Sea in the Imperial Valley (Courtesy ThinkgeoEnergy) |
That seems to be the question Imperial County’s state representatives are trying to find an answer to this week as Imperial County, namely the Imperial Irrigation District (IID) and the Salton Sea Authority, has big plans for developing geothermal as a means to save the sea and power more homes in the state and beyond.
However, geothermal on the whole is losing favor as the preferred renewable energy resource, with geothermal production losing steam steadily over time, as wind and especially solar generation efforts outpace it.
On Thursday, Assemblyman V. Manuel Perez and state Sen. Ben Hueso will host a geothermal energy hearing with many proponents from the industry involved in the discussion.
Ultimately, the discussion is going to be positive; these are geothermal insiders doing the talking, and IID and California Independent System Operator officials involved in the conversation are there to talk about transmission to get the geothermal energy moving.
But there are real concerns whether geothermal reached its plateau long ago, even though we hope that is not the case. The plan afoot by the Salton Sea Authority to develop geothermal around the sea to help restore it has real merit, especially in the sense that geothermal activity is a known quantity around the southern end of the sea.
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