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Salton Sea Infrared, by Janet Harvey, Ladenburg,
Germany. First
Place GRC Photo Contest 2019.
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[.....]geothermal plants could soon contribute to California’s war against climate change in a new way: by producing lithium, a key ingredient in batteries that power electric cars and store solar power for use after dark.
Now another company claims to have solved the lithium problem.
The process begins in a 45-foot-long shipping container at the John L. Featherstone geothermal plant, a few miles from the lake’s receding shoreline. The plant is owned by Chevron Corp., the New Zealand electricity generator Mercury NZ Limited and a San Diego-based company called EnergySource.
EnergySource, which built and operates the plant, filed a patent application for a lithium extraction technique in June, after three years working on the process. The company wouldn’t allow photographs to be taken inside the shipping container during a recent tour, for fear of revealing details to competitors.
An Australian firm called Controlled Thermal Resources is trying to build a geothermal power plant and a lithium extraction facility capable of producing 15,000 tons by 2023 and 75,000 tons by 2027. The company has leased thousands of acres from the Imperial Irrigation District on top of one of the most potent spots in the underground geothermal field, and it’s negotiating financing to drill exploratory wells next year, Chief Executive Rod Colwell said.
