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04/11/2003 Associated Press
IDAHO FALLS-- A father-and-son team are considering opening a geothermal electricity plant on land straddling the Bingham County line.
Carl and Richard Austin spoke to Bonneville County officials yesterday about their plan to generate 100 megawatts using geothermal energy.
The two started Idatherm this year. They plan to drill the first of three test wells this fall. In 1978, a company looking for oil found water at the site headed to nearly 500 degrees.
Carl Austin says he's seeking permits from the Idaho Department of Land and the Department of Water Resources. The Austins are also looking for an environmental firm to identify any possible problems with the area's ecology.
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (AP) -- A renewable energy company is seeking final approval to begin exploratory drilling for hot water in eastern Idaho next month.
Idatherm plans to drill the first well of a geothermal project near Willow Creek along the Bingham and Bonneville county lines. If successful, Idaho could become the fifth state to use geothermal power.
"We're hoping for success," said Carl Austin, exploration manager for Idatherm, which is based in southern Idaho. "I want to know exactly what's down there."
IDA-THERM, LLC
244 Crescent Drive Rupert, ID 83350 US
208-436-9744
Previous drilling has shown promise. In the late 1970s, an oil company struck 480-degree water in that location.
Dependability of geothermal energy as a natural, renewable resource is highly marketable, said Bob Neilson, manager of the renewable energies and power technologies department of the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory.
"It's local. It's renewable," he said. "Fluids are returned to the ground. It's very clean."
Geothermal energy production involves drilling into the earth's crust to allow heat to escape, either as steam or as super-heated water. Pipes carry the hot water to a plant, where the steam turns a turbine to generate electricity.
In 2002, about 43 power plants currently produce geothermal power in the United States, according to the Department of Energy.
The State Department of Public Lands approved the project's operating plan last week. Within a couple weeks, Austin expects to have a drilling permit from the Department of Water Resources for three wells at a cost of about $5 million each. Ideally, Austin said, each well will produce 10 megawatts of power. One megawatt is enough to power about 750 homes. The project could expand to 20 wells, depending on how much steam can be produced, Austin said.
The meeting was called to order at 9:30 a.m. by Cochairman Senator Brent Hill. Other subcommittee members present were Senator Joe Stegner, Senator Clint Stennett, Cochairman Representative George Eskridge and Representative Bert Stevenson. Others present were Norm Semanko, Idaho Water Users Association; Russell Westerberg, PacifiCorp; Rich Hahn, Idaho Power; Robert Hoppie, Idaho Energy Division; Bill Eastlake and Ron Law, Idaho Public Utilities Commission; Kevin Kitz, U.S. Geothermal; Neil Colwell, Avista Corporation; Russ Hendricks, Farm Bureau; Jim Kempton, Northwest Power and Conservation Council; John J. Williams, Bonneville Power Administration and Carl F. Austin and Richard Austin, Idatherm. Staff members present were Mike Nugent and Toni Hobbs.
Dr. Carl Austin and Richard Austin, Idatherm, were introduced to speak to the committee about geothermal energy in Idaho. After giving some background information, Dr. Austin stated that there are at least 14 good looking high temperature prospects in Idaho alone. He has two of these under lease. It is difficult to identify these sources because a geothermal resource is an anomaly, virtually a point anomaly, and board institutional type regional studies will only identify such an economically exciting point by accident. One problem with exploration programs is that once a model is designed, they spend all the money looking at one model. Many a resource has been overlooked because it does not fit that model.
Identification of a high temperature geothermal prospect is based on an intimate knowledge of hydrothermal ore forming processes. It is based on a totally open mind and the ability to ignore institutional mindsets.
Geothermal prospects are those places that exhibit:
1. A heat source
2. Presence of a fluid that can transmit heat
3. A plumbing system that will allow the fluid to flow to the well being produced
4. A provable disposal system in the form of deep nearby permeable zones that will allow spent brine injection
These are what to look for in the basin and range, in the overthrust belt, and in the mega-sills called batholiths. You do not need to have water to run a geothermal power plant and in Idaho geothermal fluids do not involve water rights.
Unfortunately, states have many rules and regulations. In Idaho, a high temperature geothermal resource is a public commodity and you cannot own it per se. You can only lease access to it. Idaho's laws, rules and regulations are the main reason no one has done any serious high temperature work to date in the state. Dr. Austin believes these problems can be worked out. Idatherm has developed a broad political base to help us work out these issues and hopefully get Idaho's rules to match modern technology.
Idaho has major undeveloped, unexplored, high temperature geothermal resources. It is the intent of Idatherm to identify these and lease them to the extent their finances allow and to put them into production after working through the regulatory requirements. One project in Idaho is expecting 100 MW with a productive life of 200 years.
The problems are:
There are very few people with the experience and qualifications to go out and identity high temperature geothermal projects and in particular to evaluate their probability for successful exploitation. You have to have people with the right training, experience and mind set.
The leasing practices of BLM and the general attitude of the USFS will make the development of geothermal resources on federal land rather unattractive. Idatherm is working to get this situation changed. In Idaho, state lands are the best, followed by private lands.
Idaho's rules and regulations are seriously outdated and need to be modernized.
Venture capital is always scarce. There are no guaranteed loan programs for drilling at present. Geothermal is not that bad a risk; people just have little or no experience with it.
In Dr. Austin's opinion, geothermal electric generation belongs in Idaho's anticipated power supply mix. It is a power source with very high reliability, on line experience being in the very high 90s, has little surface signature, if done well consumes no water, emits no greenhouse gasses and is totally independent of fish, rainfall, climate patters, changing fuel costs and so on. Individual producing fields will have life expectancies measured in centuries.
If Carl and Richard Austin have their way, a remote patch of land southeast of Idaho Falls will be the site of a $250 million power plant that uses hot water from the earth to produce electricity. The father-and-son team from Oakley were in Idaho Falls on Thursday to tell Bonneville County officials about their plan to generate 100 megawatts from geothermal energy at a site along Dan Creek Road on land straddling the Bingham County line.
"We're seeking benign indifference or friendly support," said Carl Austin, exploration manager of Idatherm, the company he and his son set up this year.
They plan to drill the first of three test wells this fall near the site where a wildcat oil and gas exploration company called Quasar probed in 1978.
Quasar's work took place during the Carter administration's energy crisis, and there was hope that oil and gas might be discovered in eastern Idaho. That was not to be, but Quasar did find water at temperatures of nearly 500 degrees. Carl Austin, who has been involved in geothermal development for more than 40 years, said that if he hadn't had Quasar's information, there is no way he would have identified the site as a prospect.
He is involved in seeking the proper permits from the Idaho Department of Land and the Department of Water Resources. He said they are looking for an environmental firm to identify any possible issues with regard to the area's ecology.
"We want to make sure we don't get into a pointless problem," he said.
The plant Idatherm proposes to build will be privately financed and owned, he said. It would be about one-third the size of the Coso Geothermal Project in California, which Carl Austin helped develop.
Other advantages of the site include the geology, with permeable rock that would allow water used in energy generation to be returned to its source. The site also is located close to power transmission lines from the Palisades Dam, which allow the power to be delivered economically to the grid.
Austin estimates the project's chances for success at 60 percent. Over the past 40 years, the average success rate for geothermal projects in the western United States has been 11.3 percent.
"This is an extremely favorable probability for success," Carl Austin said.
The Austins presented their plan to County Commissioner Lee Staker; Steve Serr, the county planner; and Bill Manwill, road and bridge chief.
Staker said his main concerns would be keeping the road open in the winter, and that although the project would mainly benefit Bingham County's tax base, the costs would be more likely to fall on Bonneville County.
Carl Austin said construction of the plant would require 150 to 200 people, and that when finished, the plant probably would employ 50 people.
The energy market will make it easy to sell the power from the plant. Both Idaho Power and PacifiCorp are seeking extra power.
If it goes through, the plant will be the first of its kind in Idaho, Carl Austin said.
"We decided we'd break some ground and go do it. Somebody's got to do it, and here we are," he said.
Reprinted with permission
