Our ‘hot’ energy potential

Wednesday, April 22, 2009 | 2:09 a.m.

Even though the geothermal energy industry has cooled off over the past eight months, owing to the recession, an industry analyst says Nevada will be the nation’s leader in this field within a decade.

California is now well out in front, producing 2,600 megawatts of energy from the scorching hot water and rocks beneath Earth’s surface. That amount of wattage is enough to power a city of 500,000 people.

But Nevada is expected to rapidly catch and pass California. Within 10 years, it is expected that the state will produce more than 3,600 megawatts of electricity by way of geothermal technology. Meanwhile, California’s production is expected to stabilize at about its present rate.

This is according to someone who should know — Karl Gawell, executive director of the American Geothermal Energy Association. He made his comment about Nevada at a recent conference on renewable energy.

“Nevada is the clear leader in development in every phase,” Gawell said.

This is exceptionally good news, as geothermal plants can operate around the clock, producing clean and affordable energy with little negative effect on the environment.

In Business Las Vegas, a sister publication of the Las Vegas Sun, carried a story last week on Gawell’s comments, as well as the bigger picture of the state’s geothermal potential.

In Business reporter Stephanie Tavares talked to Lisa Shevenell, director of the Great Basin Center for Geothermal Energy at the University of Nevada, Reno. Shevenell acknowledged that the geothermal industry has been hard hit by the recession, but also noted the 630,000 acres of federal land in Nevada that are leased to geothermal developers.

In addition to its potential for putting Nevada on the world’s energy map, geothermal “means jobs,” Shevenell said.

We have written before about scientific studies that have identified Nevada as one of the world’s most promising sites for geothermal development. It is exciting to know that this potential is on its way to being realized.