Articles
3 February 2012

Raser Technologies Inaugurates Utah Geothermal Plant to Revolutionize Energy

by PR or News Wire

03 February 2012—

Raser Technologies, Inc., a leader in geothermal power generation, inaugurated its first commercial-scale power plant, in Beaver County, Utah, demonstrating the viability of advanced technology that can make geothermal a major price-competitive resource for this country’s energy supply. The plant’s output has already been committed to supply electricity to Anaheim.

The company noted that the Beaver County plant, called Thermo, was built in only six months using its revolutionary modular construction design, greatly reducing the normal five-to-seven years typically required for traditional plant development and construction technology.

Raser uses technology developed by UTC Power, a United Technologies Corp. company, to generate electricity from underground water at temperatures much lower than other technologies. This opens the door to vast resources of underground, heated water that in the past was considered useless for generating electricity. The company estimates that by tapping U.S. geothermal resources, the country could eventually generate one-third of its energy needs.

“This is a momentous occasion,” said CEO Brent M. Cook of Raser Technologies at the plant’s ribbon cutting ceremony. “This power generation plant with its ground-breaking, rapid-deployment design and construction system and UTC Power’s low-temperature technology can make geothermal a mainstream source of energy for the nation.”

Cook noted that the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) recent report estimates that the nation has approximately 150,000 MW of identified and unidentified shallow geothermal resources, enough to meet approximately one-third of the nation’s electrical demand.

“We are pleased to welcome here today,” he added, “Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who has been a powerful advocate for geothermal in the Senate; Lt. Governor Gary Herbert of Utah; and the many partners that have made this historic geothermal plant possible.”

At the event, Cook introduced Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), a powerful advocate for geothermal in the Senate as well as Lt. Governor Gary Herbert of Utah.

Senator Orrin Hatch said, "In May of this year, I stood at this very spot and broke ground for a new kind of geothermal power plant. Today, just six months later, I stand here again and look around in amazement to see a complete power plant. Raser's new modular power plant design has begun a revolution in the power industry. If Raser can continue to replicate this successful model, it will unlock this country's most abundant and practical sources of renewable energy.”

Lt. Governor Herbert added, “Here in Utah we are blessed with some of the largest reserves of geothermal energy in the nation. We should be developing this clean renewable source of energy. The state of Utah applauds Raser’s innovation that enables the commercial production of the important resource.”

Using its rapid-deployment construction system, Raser Tech took 50 binary cycle units manufactured by UTC Power and linked them together like a computer network to create the 10 MW facility.

Seven other plants, tapping into Raser’s geothermal resources, are in the works for the western U.S. with another underway in Indonesia.

Cook added, “With the major construction of Thermo completed, we will work over the next four to six weeks to complete the commissioning process and have the plant operational for the next 35 years.”

 


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