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Energy Bill Will Revolutionize Geothermal Energy in the U.S., Says Geothermal Energy Association

Posted on: Friday, 29 July 2005, 15:00 CDT

WASHINGTON, July 29 /U.S. Newswire/ -- "This new energy bill will revolutionize geothermal energy use in the U.S.," stated Karl Gawell, executive director of the Geothermal Energy Association. "It will encourage new geothermal power plants helping to ease the West's power crisis, and stimulate new geothermal direct use projects that will help communities and business grow while reducing dependence on imported fossil fuels."

Energy Bill Highlights

The Senate today passed the energy bill and it is expected to be signed into law by President Bush. For geothermal energy, the bill includes significant new tax incentives, improvements in federal leasing laws, and support for continued technology development.

Extension and modification of renewable electricity production credit (Section 45). This year, geothermal was awarded the full, 1.9 cents per kilowatt hour federal tax incentive that has helped spur wind energy projects across the nation. The production tax credit, or PTC, is awarded for ten years to new facilities placed in service by Dec. 31, 2007. Last year, Congress expanded the PTC to include geothermal and other renewables, but they would receive the credit for only half of the period, or five years. The decision to give geothermal the full ten year credit period, placing it on equal terms with wind, is a huge victory for the geothermal community, and will help spur new development across the West.

Clean renewable energy bonds. Congress has created a new Clean Renewable Energy Bond ("CREB") to provide cooperatives and other not- for-profit electric companies, as well as Indian Tribal governments, incentives for building new geothermal and other qualified energy projects.

Geothermal Steam Act Changes. These provisions represent the first major overhaul of the Geothermal Steam Act since 1970. Karl Gawell, executive director of the Geothermal Energy Association, calls them "a dramatic improvement in the law that will encourage the rapid expansion of geothermal energy use in the West." According to Gawell, "the bill streamlines some of the most bureaucratic aspects of the law, provides clear direction for the agencies to make geothermal a priority, gives local governments more funding to mitigate impacts, and ensures that the federal agencies will have the resources needed to implement the new law and quickly work-off a 30 year backlog of unfinished studies and ignored lease applications.

Research and Resource Assessment. The Energy Bill includes provisions directing the Department of Energy's future geothermal energy research efforts to work towards several important goals. It also includes provisions directing DOE to conduct a near-term assessment of the resource potential for all renewable technologies, including geothermal, with the publication of yearly reports on the results.

Geothermal Developments in the West

Congress' decision last year to include geothermal power in the Production Tax Credit has generated significant interest in new production. Between January and May 2005, there were 483 megawatts of new geothermal power purchase agreements signed. These new projects are located throughout California, Nevada, Arizona, and Idaho, and represent the power generation equivalent of the total 2,000 megawatts of wind projects operating throughout California today. Also, there are other power projects in Utah, Idaho, and California, and small-scale projects in New Mexico, Alaska, Nevada and California hoping to move forward that are not included in this total.

Direct uses applications -- where geothermal fluids are used for home heating, spas, greenhouses, or aquaculture -- are found today in 26 states. But federal law has dramatically stifled direct uses on public lands, and the new energy bill changes that. It simplifies procedures to obtain leases for direct use purposes, replaces complex royalty payments with a straight-forward fee schedule, and allows state and local governments to use geothermal resources for public purposes at only a nominal charge. Hundreds of communities and business in the West will now be able to use geothermal resources to meet their energy needs.

What is Geothermal Energy?

Geothermal energy is heat from the earth. The earth's core is extremely hot, creating underground geothermal reservoirs of pressurized hot water or steam. Wells bring this liquid/steam to the surface where it is used to power turbines that run a generator. But in a geothermal facility, unlike other conventional facilities, heat is created without burning fuel. This translates into near zero air emissions from geothermal facilities. And unlike oil and natural gas resources, geothermal resources are not in jeopardy of running out any time soon, nor must they be imported from overseas.

Environmental Benefits of Geothermal Energy

Producing zero nitrogen oxide emissions, and close to zero sulfur dioxide emissions, geothermal energy is an environmentally friendly option for large-scale power production that is available in most of the western United States. According to emissions information provided by a coal and geothermal power plant, a typical, updated coal plant emits 23 times more carbon dioxide, 10,837 times more sulfur dioxide, and 3,865 times more nitrous oxides per megawatt hour than a geothermal steam plant. Particulate matter emissions from geothermal plants are near zero, compared with 20 lbs/MW-h from a typical coal plant.

-- For more information about geothermal energy, and the existing and planned power plants visit: http://www.geo-energy.org.

-- For more information about direct uses of geothermal energy visit: http://geoheat.oit.edu/.

-- For information on the federal research and technology development programs visit: http://www.eere.energy.gov/geothermal/.

http://www.usnewswire.com

Source: U.S. Newswire

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