Hot Geothermal With Cool Rocks  

Earth2Tech has a look at Raser Technologies and their plan to harness relatively low temperature geothermal sources. I like their CEO's strategy of going for lots of small, easy resources - which is a big contrast to the home run strategy of the HFR geothermal players here.

Raser Technologies, a technology licensing company working in geothermal and electric motor efficiency, has inked an agreement with Merrill Lynch that will see the investment bank finance up to 155 megawatts of Raser’s geothermal power plants. Merrill Lynch has committed $44 million to fund the construction of the company’s first geothermal power plant, which Raser says will generate 10.5 megawatts of power. Financial terms of the overall agreement were not disclosed.

While most geothermal power plants are located on extremely hot geothermal wells, Raser (RZ) is looking to capitalize on low- and medium-temperature sites. Raser cites a USGS survey that identifies 120,000 megawatts of untapped, low-temp geothermal opportunities as proof of the market opportunity. Raser is able to exploit these cooler resources by using UTC Power’s PureCycle binary geothermal power systems, which require lower temperatures than the traditional flash or dry steam geothermal technologies.

... [CEO Brett] Cook explaining the company’s strategy of exploiting lower-temp sites:

... you can win far more games by consistently hitting a lot of singles and doubles rather than trying to hit a home run every time . . . our primary focus is on a game winning strategy of consistently and reliably hitting singles and doubles with the abundant lower temperature sites.

Two agreements between Iceland and the Republic of Djibouti could help the East African country replace its current diesel-generated electricity with green electricity.

First, Iceland's Minister of Industry Ossur Skarphedinsson and Mohamed Ali Mohamed signed an agreement on energy cooperation where the countries will share expertise to support Djibouti's course towards energy sustainability. Second, Reykjavik Energy Invest (REI) and Djibouti Energy Company announced the signing of an agreement on the financing structure for the Djibouti Asal Rift Geothermal Project. As part of the Asal Project, REI intends to build a geothermal power plant, which is estimated to start production in 2012. REI's projects in Djibouti are part of the company's $150 million commitment to investments in geothermal energy in Africa announced by Bill Clinton and President Grimson at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York in 2007.

"The cooperation between Djibouti and Iceland will help transform the oil-based energy system of Djibouti to clean, geothermal-based energy. This cooperation could become a landmark in the clean energy future of East Africa," said Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, President of Iceland.