Energy policy — geothermal: New website for geothermal exploration and production in Chaffee County
November 20, 2009
Say hello to Chaffee County Geothermal. The group behind the website wants to protect the natural environment and recreations opportunities in the county. From the website:
We are fighting to protect the unique beauty of this area, its water and its quality of life, not to mention its recreational value to so many visitors.
Thanks to The Mountain Mail for the link.
Energy policy — geothermal: U.S. Bureau of Land Management to lease 799.2 acres near Mt. Princeton hot springs for geothermal exploration on November 12
November 8, 2009
Update: From the Associated Press via The Aspen Times:
The Bureau of Land Management had planned to offer 800 acres of public property for geothermal during its auction this month, but will postpone action on the proposed lease until its February auction. Federal officials want more time to study the potential effects of geothermal development on water and property rights.
From The Chaffee County Times (Danny Bay):
According to the SRHA, anyone has the right to enter these federally owned sub-surface lands, prospect, and file a mining claim and plan of operation. Since the geothermal resource sits underground, it is sub-surface land. This is the basis for the sale on Nov. 12, the first geothermal lease to be auctioned by the BLM in the state of Colorado. It is open to anyone who chooses to register. Henderson said that the new owner of the federal lease will only have up to one year to create what will lead to the development of the resource. “They can’t sit on it indefinitely,” Henderson said.
But what [Buena Vista resident Steve] Glover said horrifies him is that if a developer does begin commercial production of electricity, the lease becomes open permanently. “They can ramp it up from a small project and no one could do a blessed thing about it,” he said, adding that it has the potential to expand vastly and turn one of the most aesthetically beautiful parts of Colorado into a semi-permanent industrial area…
Bill Bennett, energy use adviser for Sangre De Cristo Electric Association, said he thinks a plant could be hidden very well by building it inside, like something similar to a greenhouse or by putting bunkers around it to shield the noise. “Geothermal can run 24 hours with no down capacity. A 10-megawatt plant could supply 84 percent of all the electricity we supply all year. There are people who understand that it has no consumption, no combustion and no pollution, but they just don’t want to look at it,” Bennett said.
In response to this, Glover referenced a Salt Lake Tribune article about a 10-megawatt geothermal plant in Utah that, after six months of generating power, produces only one megawatt of net energy and buys almost as much electricity to keep the plant running as the plant produces. “There seems to be a real rush to do this. There’s a lot of ego involved in being the first to do it and I understand this. But it could come at a great cost and it should be carefully considered,” Glover said. “It would be a shame to so easily allow this to go forward.”
Energy policy — geothermal: BLM announces geothermal lease in the upper Arkansas River Valley
September 23, 2009
From The Mountain Mail (Ron Sering):
The area has been the subject of exploration dating back to the 1970s, and recent research by the Colorado School of Mines summer field camp indicated vast potential in the area. Mt. Princeton Geothermal, LLC, conducted thermal gradient testing this summer in conjunction with the CSM field camp and discovered what is to date the hottest known water source in the state.
The area’s proximity to available power lines increases the practicality of tapping the resource, using a binary method of generating electricity. The hot water is pumped to the surface and cycled through a heat exchanger to heat a special fluid with a boiling point lower than that of water. The resulting steam is used to drive turbines that generate electricity…
The lease sale will take place on November 12.
BLM to offer first ever Colorado geothermal lease in Chaffee County
September 14, 2009
From the Denver Business Journal:
[The November 12 sale is] the first time the BLM has offered a parcel specifically for geothermal power development in Colorado. Typically, the BLM’s lease sales offer parcels intended for oil and gas development. The agency will offer for lease a parcel sized at 799.2 acres for subsurface federal mineral rights. The parcel is in Chaffee County, near the Mount Princeton Hot Springs Resort west of Buena Vista.
More coverage from the Salida Citizen (Trey Beck). From the article:
Geothermal resources, such as steam and hot water, are used directly to heat buildings and in greenhouses and aquaculture, and indirectly to generate electric power. Half of the nation’s geothermal energy production occurs on federal land, much of it in California and Nevada, and 90 percent of potential geothermal resources are located on public lands as well, according to the BLM. The earth’s crust may be slightly thinner in Colorado between Leadville and Paonia, a phenomenon known as the Aspen Anomaly, making this region more promising for geothermal development.
Chaffee County stands to benefit materially from the Mount Princeton lease, as geothermal lease revenues and royalties are shared with the states and counties where the leases are located, with 50 percent going to the state and 25 percent to the county. A competitive auction of lease parcels for geothermal energy resources on federal public lands in California, Nevada and Utah earlier this year generated a top per-acre bid of $3,800. Bidding for the Mount Princeton lease will start at $2 per acre.
Silverton: School officials cautiously optimistic about potential for geoexchange project
September 13, 2009
From the Silverton Standard & The Miner (Mark Esper):
A huge drill rig from Geo-Energy Services pulled into town last week and was parked on the school playground. On Friday, drilling began. The drillers worked through one hole to 210 feet, said Sue Morris, owner’s representative for the school district’s massive renovation project…
Morris said the goal of the first hole was to drill to 360 feet, but ground conditions prohibited further drilling.
Nonetheless, the drilling hit a constant water source pumping at 5 gallons per minute and approximately 47.5 degrees, Morris said. “These conditions are good for geo-exchange,” she said…Josh Druege, mechanical engineer for Geo-Energy Services, was on the playground last week as drilling began.
“What we’re anticipating here is finding ground with a temperature of about 45 degrees,” Druege said. “We can still extract heat from that.” He said the process involves using “just a little bit of energy” to boost refrigerants to a level that is extractible to be converted to heat. A system for the school and gym, he suggested, if it is found feasible, might involve 60 loops of small tubes each moving three or four gallons of refrigerant per minute deep below the playground.
Energy policy — geothermal: Aspen is first Colorado municipality to file permit request under Colorado geothermal law
August 31, 2009
Here’s a look at Aspen’s geothermal plans, from Carolyn Sackariason writing for the Aspen Times. From the article:
Last week the council awarded a contract to John Kaufman of Rocky Mountain Water Consulting LLC to prepare a report for the state water court, which has the authority to allow the city to move forward with test drilling and be granted water rights to tap into geothermal heat underneath Aspen, said John Hines, the city’s renewable energy utilities manager. A state engineer has determined that water rights will likely be granted. But first, the city has to prove that it will not harm the Roaring Fork River in its quest to find geothermal resources underground. That is what Kaufman’s report will contain, which will then be submitted to the state water court. The court is expected to rule on Aspen’s water rights Jan. 15, Hines said…
Meanwhile, the city is applying for a federal grant with the Department of Energy to help pay for the entire geothermal project, which is estimated to cost $3.5 million. The test drilling was scheduled to be done this year but because of the high cost of doing it, city officials decided to hold off and try to get federal money. If the grant is awarded, the city could begin drilling early next year…
The goal is to find enough geothermal energy to heat 1 million square feet, the equivalent of 10 large hotels. Doing so would cut Aspen’s natural gas needs by about 15 percent, according to city officials. A geothermal heat district could potentially provide renewable heating and cooling to businesses within a 4-square mile radius of downtown Aspen. Last year Kaufman conducted a geothermal reconnaissance study, which found that warm ground water associated with hydrothermal deposits of silver, lead and zinc ore beneath Aspen may be present in sufficient quantities for direct heat exchange, or for the application of a groundwater heat pump system…
The city’s water rights application makes Aspen the first municipality to apply under the new Colorado Geothermal Act. The geothermal heat would work by taking the steam and hot water produced in the earth’s core and using it to heat a glycol-based solution that circulates through buildings to heat them. Customers would pay according to the thermal units of energy used as the heated liquid goes by their building. Electricity would be needed to move the water. City officials in the past have said they want to find a well or combination of wells that will produce 5,000 gallons per minute of 140-degree water.
Energy policy — geothermal: Upper Ark gets briefing from Mount Princeton Geothermal LLC
August 18, 2009
Here’s a report about last Thursday’s presentation to the Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District about Mount Princeton’s proposed geothermal project in Chaffee County, from Ron Sering writing for The Mountain Mail. From the article:
Fred Henderson III of Mount Princeton Geothermal LLC, who wants to develop geothermal energy near Mount Princeton hot springs, recently completed another round of research. Colorado School of Mines summer field camp personnel visited and conducted additional research on area geology and hydrology, marking the third consecutive year of research by the college. “They’re coming again next year, but after that have been invited to Idaho,” Henderson said. He stressed the project is subject to a battery of regulatory reviews by the Colorado Department of Water Resources. “All will have public meetings mandated by the DWR,” Henderson said. “Citizens are entitled to raise concerns before all permitting.”
The effort has completed the first of a four-phase project plan – thermal gradient drilling to determine potential to generate electricity using geothermal energy. Researchers found the hottest known geothermal resources in the state. Three additional phases are planned, with hoped-for development of an electric generation plant within the next few years. “Where will the facility be?” Henderson said. “It depends where the resources are.” Henderson added size of the facility will depend upon resources available. “We could do a three megawatt facility and make a profit,” Henderson said. He said the goal is to build structures the approximate size of the greenhouses on-site at Mount Princeton Hot Springs…
A technique proposed by Henderson is “pump and dump” which pulls hot water from the ground, through a heat exchanger, transferring heat to a fluid with a boiling point lower than water. Resulting steam drives turbines to generate electricity. Water is then pumped via injection wells back to its source. Henderson explained the technique is nonconsumptive of water resources. “It’s critical to return the water, because it will be reheated,” Henderson said.
Energy policy — geothermal: Mount Princeton Geothermal LLC is proposing a 10 megawatt geothermal electric generation plant near Buena Vista
August 15, 2009
From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):
“This is a big deal,” Bill Bennett, energy use adviser for Sangre de Cristo Electric said Thursday. “Everyone in the valley should be interested in this project. This is a nonpolluting, renewable power supply that could provide all the electricity this valley needs.”
Bennett’s comments came during the monthly meeting of the Upper Arkansas Valley Conservancy District, which heard a presentation from Fred Henderson, of Mount Princeton Geothermal LLC.
Gov. Bill Ritter’s office has scheduled another meeting on geothermal development from 2 to 4:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Upper Ark offices, 339 East U.S. 50.
Last month, the Upper Ark board heard concerns from some residents in the Buena Vista area about the potential impacts of geothermal power generation. Henderson attempted to address those concerns – noise, the potential for earthquakes, land disturbance – during Thursday’s presentation. “I can’t answer all the questions. This is a three- to four-year project,” Henderson said. “We need to drill into the deep aquifer before we can even decide where the plant would be.”
Bennett said Sangre de Cristo’s lines could easily accommodate the output from a 10 megawatt plant, adding that such a plant could easily provide most of the 104 million kilowatt hours Sangre de Cristo customers used last year. “People fight this because they don’t understand it,” Bennett said. “They should be fighting to get this.” Ironically, geothermal power could have little to do with water rights, even though it would likely be administered by the Division of Water Resources. That’s because no water would be consumed in what Henderson described as a “pump and dump” system. Essentially, water would be pumped up from the heat source in the area – which lies somewhere below the 2,000-foot level if engineering predictions are correct – run through a sort of reverse air conditioner and reinjected into the deep underground reservoir. Six extraction and four injection units would be air-cooled, again using no water. What deep-well drilling will attempt to show in the next phase of the project is where the reservoir lies, Henderson said.
From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):
Mount Princeton Geothermal LLC is investigating whether a $30 million-$40 million, 10-megawatt geothermal electric generating system could be built in the Chalk Creek area…
Envisioned are up to six production wells that would remove heated water from the ground, convert some of the heat energy to electric power and return cooled water to the same aquifer from which it is remove through four reinjection wells, said Fred Henderson, chief scientist for the project. “We still have to spend millions of dollars to see if the project is possible,” Henderson said…
There are roughly 500 homes in the area, and one of those residents, Steve Glover, an engineer, made a presentation to the Upper Ark board Thursday with his concerns about the proposal. “These fissures could go down 10,000-15,000 feet. If they model it wrong, then what are we stuck with?” Glover said. Glover also asked the Upper Ark board whether it could intervene with the Division of Water Resources in determining whether water used in the project – up to 23,000 acre-feet a year would circulate through the plumbing of a geothermal plant – is tributary to the Arkansas River basin…
The state’s role is to issue a well permit, but only after determining that the water does not impact existing water rights. “The application for a well permit would trigger the state engineer’s involvement,” said Julianne Woldridge, the Upper Ark’s water attorney…
It’s not known whether the project is possible because of the nature of the aquifer in the Buena Vista area. Formed by geologic uplift, the underground structure of rock is a spider’s web of intersecting fissures, Henderson said, overlapping his fingers at diagonal angles to illustrate the point.
The idea of a geothermal electric plant is to take water out of the ground at 2,000-3,000 feet, where it is near boiling temperatures, and use it to run a turbine and generator. The cooled water must then be re-injected into the same aquifer. There are questions about whether the water would need to be injected higher, lower or at the same depth in the aquifer, as well as where on the surface the injection wells should be located. Henderson said the first determination of whether deep production well sites are connected to injection well sites can only be determined for sure by deep drilling, which is scheduled to begin later this year as the third phase of the Mount Princeton project.
From the Associated Press via the New York Times:
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said the West has vast untapped potential for harnessing wind, the sun and geothermal energy to create electricity. But ”it doesn’t do any good to generate energy if you can’t get it to market,” Salazar said during the annual meeting of the Western Governors’ Association. That’s long been the concern of Western governors eager to develop renewable energy projects but frustrated by limitations in the transmission system and sluggish bureaucracies…
Salazar said four Western states — Arizona, California, Nevada and Wyoming — will get federal renewable energy planning offices to help make sure projects don’t get stalled.
More coverage of the Western Governors Association Annual Meeting from Mike Stark writing for the Denver Post. From the article:
Sunday’s main discussion, which included Canadian officials and experts from the Middle East and Australia, focused on managing water amid changing climate conditions…Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute, an environmental think tank based in Oakland, Calif., was one of four panelists who spoke Sunday. He said there’s evidence of intensified water disputes, ecosystem collapse in some places and a population growth that’s driving a sometimes-fractured water management system.
Here’s a recap of a recent seminar on geothermal potential up in Chaffee County, from Ron Sering reporting for The Mountain Mail. From the article:
The seminar gathered public and private entities from throughout the state – including a variety of local officials and leaders to learn about issues and prospects for abundant area geothermal resources. Joani Matranga, western regional representative for the Governor’s Energy Office, outlined broad goals for the group. “We want to identify our geothermal resources for economic development and expand direct use of heat energy,” she said. The group also wants to start the first electricity production in Colorado.
Geothermal energy is roughly divided into three applications: geoexchange, which uses the natural temperature increase beneath the surface of the earth, direct use and electric power generation.
Geoexchange takes advantage of warm subsurface temperature with ground source heat pumps that pipe liquid through the ground and back to the surface to heat buildings in winter. The same temperature differentials permit cooling in the summer.
“Direct use,” John , professor emeritus of civil engineering at the Oregon Institute of Technology, said, “is providing heat, or cooling directly to buildings, greenhouses, aquaculture ponds, and industrial processes.” Colorado has at least 40 types of direct use geothermal applications. Locally, these include several hot spring spas and the Colorado Gator Farm aquaculture operation in the San Luis Valley…
Geothermal electricity production takes advantage of a new generation of technology to produce electricity using hot water cooler than 300 degrees, officials said. Past application required steam resources, which are fewer than hot water. The water is piped out of a geothermal well and through a reservoir of fluid that boils at a temperature lower than water. Resulting steam drives turbines to produce electricity. The water is subsequently reinjected to the aquifer. A cold water source cools the binary fluid for reuse and the cycle begins again. Although not without potential water resource issues, the process is considered a nonconsumptive use of water resources.
Although some western states such as Utah regard geothermal as a mineral resource, Colorado governs it under water law. Key to permitting geothermal ground water in Colorado is to prove the resource is “nontributary” – it has limited or no connection with surface streams.
Here’s an article about the recent test drilling up in Chaffee County, from Ron Sering writing for The Mountain Mail. From the article:
Mount Princeton Geothermal has gained permission for first exploration of geothermal resources in the area since the 1970s. The process is similar to drilling a water well, except the goal is to measure heat. “These holes,” [Fred Henderson III, of Mount Princeton Geothermal, LLC] said, “are nonconsumptive and will be used to measure the temperature change by depth to determine heat flow in each well. We measure the temperature gradient every three feet.” The project is the first of its kind in decades. “The goal with these six holes is to complete the western side of the high heat flow anomaly drilled by AMAX Exploration Co. from 1973-75,” Henderson said.
A drill site on a plateau south of the Mount Princeton chalk cliffs, resembles a water well. ASAP Drilling of Buena Vista planned to penetrate 600 feet. “Test holes will be capped,” Henderson said, “but left open for later temperature measurements to serve as monitoring holes to detect changes as we proceed with our program.” “We will set up a monitoring network,” Henderson said, “to understand how much we are adding to or changing the water table.”
Thermal gradient testing is the second part of a four-phase program by Henderson and Mount Princeton Geothermal. Additional wells are planned during May and possibly June. “We have to learn about the resource,” said Joani Matranga of the Governor’s Energy Office, “and what we can do with it.”
The next phase will be deep slim hole drilling and pump tests, scheduled this year. “That is critical for a whole bunch of reasons,” Henderson said. “One is to prove we won’t be interfering with anyone’s water table. There are a lot of people’s homes up there – second cabins – and they don’t want us to harm their water. It’s critical for us to do it right.” The goal is to begin production and injection drilling to begin developing a geothermal electrical generation facility next year. “We don’t yet know where the plant would go, because we don’t know where the hot water is,” Henderson said…
The Mount Princeton group must pass a number of other permitting and regulatory tests, including assurances the water resources used are nonconsumptive and, in the case of geothermal ground water, nontributary to more senior water rights. “We don’t want to be connected to the water table. We want it to be nontributary. We will check this by well testing,” Henderson said.
Energy policy — geothermal: Evaluation of geothermal potential underway in Chaffee County
April 30, 2009
From The Mountain Mail (Ron Sering):
Thermal gradient drilling began Monday for six holes to gather information about possible generation of electricity using geothermal energy in Chaffee County. Personnel at Mount Princeton Geothermal LLC said the first hole will be on land owned by Taylor Adam east of the intersection of CR 289 and 290 at the bridge south of Deer Valley Ranch and west of Dead Horse Lake. The drilling is the first in several events occurring this week regarding geothermal exploration.
Officials with the governor’s energy office will host an all day geothermal conference at Salida Steam Plant at 8:30 a.m. Thursday.
Friday, officials of Mount Princeton Geothermal will host a tour of test holes and discuss plans for a project to construct the state geothermal electric generation project in the Mount Princeton area. The tour will begin at 8 a.m. with breakfast at Mount Princeton Hot Springs followed by a carpool tour.
The wells, the first such exploration in the area since the 1970s, are permitted as monitoring test holes by the Colorado Division of Water Resources. “The holes are non consumptive (no water pumping) and will be used to measure thermal gradient (temperature change at varying depths) and rock types to determine heat flow in each well,” Fred Henderson III, chief scientist for the local geothermal group, said. “The goal with these six holes is to complete the western side of the high heat flow anomaly drilled by AMAX Exploration Co. in the 1970s.”
More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
