California to benefit from Nevada's geothermal energy

California and Nevada are nation's leaders in geothermal energy development. California is, of course, more power hungry market as compared to Nevada and the Wild Rose geothermal power plant in Mineral County, Nevada which should become operational by the end of this year should provide power to neighboring California.

The total output of this geothermal power plant is expected to be around 16 MW, and the power produced from it is agreed to be sold to Southern California Public Power Authority under a 20-year agreement. The selling price is already agreed at a very competitive $99 per megawatt hour with no annual escalation.

There were also some reports which stated that in years to come geothermal power produced in this plant could serve as a replacement for coal power LADWP receives from the Intermountain Power Plant in Utah, thus giving a state more environmentally friendly energy option.

The transmission line on NV Energy’s transmission system, through which geothermal power will be transferred, is expected to become fully operational by the end of this year with the the construction of the new 500 kV One Nevada Transmission Line that will connect service areas in both northern and southern Nevada.

The adequate transmission system is one of the key factors in enabling incorporation of new renewable resources in state and nation's energy portfolio. More geothermal energy instead of coal and other fossil fuels is certainly a good news for our environment, especially in the wake of looming climate change threat.

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Geothermal energy in Nevada – Current outlook

There is a very positive outlook for the future development of geothermal energy industry in Nevada, even despite the fact that California still remains nation's geothermal leader. Nevada is currently the second largest U.S. state in terms of installed geothermal capacity, but in terms of new geothermal energy projects under development in No.1, with 86 geothermal energy projects in the development that once completed should add 3500 MW of new geothermal capacity to the grid.

Once these new geothermal projects go online Nevada could even overtake California, and become nation's geothermal energy leader, though this scenario will certainly take at least a decade before becoming reality.

Geothermal energy industry in Nevada has all the necessary prerequisites needs for success, not only does that Silver State has abundant geothermal energy resources at its disposal but it also has plenty of available land for lease through the Bureau of Land Management together with enough qualified labor force to support new geothermal energy projects.

The only thing that Nevada still has to work on is new transmission lines because new geothermal project can't go online without the adequate transmission system. The state has already talked about building new transmission lines, especially in Northern Nevada, as this should give this region a much better access to the regional grid, making it easier to sell geothermal power.

Northern part of the state is the area of the richest geothermal activity which makes this area a perfect location to most of new geothermal energy projects, of course given the fact that the transmission issue is solved at time.

The states of Nevada and California are really the only two positive examples of geothermal energy development in United States. Geothermal energy is still connected with high upfront costs, and in order to decrease this costs entire U.S. geothermal energy industry will require more funds to finance new research.

The funds for new geothermal energy projects should be given only after thorough examination in order to avoid situations like in July, 2012 when a loan guarantee of $98 was given to Nevada Geothermal Power company that has been in serious financial trouble. Such action give geothermal a negative image in public, and this is the last thing this renewable energy sector needs.

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