Plants
The largest dry steam field in the world is the Geysers, 116 km (72 mi) north of San Francisco. It was here that Pacific Gas and Electric began operation of the first successful geothermal electric power plant in the United States in 1960. The original turbine lasted for more than 30 years and produced 11 MW net power. The Geysers has 1517 megawatt (MW) of active installed capacity with an average capacity factor of 63%. Calpine Corporation owns 15 of the 18 active plants in the Geysers and is currently the United States' largest producer of geothermal energy. Two other plants are owned jointly by the Northern California Power Agency and the City of Santa Clara's municipal Electric Utility (now called Silicon Valley Power). The remaining Bottle Rock Power plant owned by the US Renewables Group has only recently been reopened. A nineteenth plant is now under development by Ram Power, formerly Western Geopower. Since the activities of one geothermal plant affects those nearby, the consolidation plant ownership at The Geysers has been beneficial because the plants operate cooperatively instead of in their own short-term interest. The Geysers is now recharged by injecting treated sewage effluent from the City of Santa Rosa and the Lake County sewage treatment plant. This sewage effluent used to be dumped into rivers and streams and is now piped to the geothermal field where it replenishes the steam produced for power generation.
Another major geothermal area is located in south central California, on the southeast side of the Salton Sea, near the cities of Niland and Calipatria, California. As of 2001, there were 15 geothermal plants producing electricity in the area. CalEnergy owns about half of them and the rest are owned by various companies. Combined the plants have a capacity of about 570 MW. Hudson Ranch I geothermal plant, a 50 MW plant opened in May 2012, the first in the area in 20 years. A second similar plant is to open in 2013.
The Basin and Range geologic province in Nevada, southeastern Oregon, southwestern Idaho, Arizona and western Utah is now an area of rapid geothermal development. Several small power plants were built during the late 1980s during times of high power prices. Rising energy costs have spurred new development. Plants in Nevada at Steamboat Springs, Brady/Desert Peak, Dixie Valley, Soda Lake, Stillwater and Beowawe now produce about 235 MW.
Read more about this topic: Geothermal Energy In The United States
Famous quotes containing the word plants:
“Probably if our lives were more conformed to nature, we should not need to defend ourselves against her heats and colds, but find her our constant nurse and friend, as do plants and quadrupeds.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Luxurious Man, to bring his Vice in use,
Did after him the World seduce:
And from the fields the Flow’rs and Plants allure,”
—Andrew Marvell (1621–1678)
“The holly and the ivy
Are plants that are well known
Of all the trees that grow in the woods
The holly bears the crown.”
—Unknown. The Holly and the Ivy (l. 1–4)