The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP) is set to start buying electricity from a new geothermal generating station in northern Nevada, DWP announced today on Twitter. Unless the Los Angeles City Council decides to intervene in the next few days, 13.71 megawatts of power from the Wild Rose Geothermal Facility near Gabbs, NV will start flowing toward L.A.'s grid in January 2014.
The DWP's announcement came in low-key form Monday morning on Twitter:
R Board apprvd long-term purch of geothermal pwr--clean/renewable energy avail 24/7 to help replace coal pwr.. ow.ly/iLsRx
— LADWP (@LADWP) March 11, 2013
The 35-megawatt Wild Rose facility, owned by the geothermal firm Ormat, is now under construction in Mineral County, Nevada west of Gabbs. Approved by the BLM only a few months ago, the plant is expected to begin generating power late this year.
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Hmmm. Where will they draw the water from? These plants average net water losses of anywhere from 1/4 gallon/kWh to 3 gallons/kWh and this is a desert we are talking about, right?
Unless I have read the studies incorrectly, even if they start out by merely depleting the water initially found in the well, they will almost certainly need to draw millions of gallons fresh water due to evaporation, etc.
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Geothermal Resources Council says :
Great news - a very solid investment. A steady supply of electricity that doesn't vary with the weather! Always available 24/7, 365.