8:00 am Opening Keynote presentations, Karl Gawell, GEA, Moderator
Greg Nickels, Mayor of Seattle, WA, confirmed
Senator Adam Kline, State of Washington, confirmed
Representatives of Federal and State officials, invited
8:25 am Geothermal 101: Understanding geothermal resources and technology
Susan Petty, AltaRock Energy, confirmed
8:45 am Washington State Geothermal Status and Roadmap
Dave Norman, Washington State Geologist, confirmed
Dave Sjoding, Washington State University, confirmed
9:15 am BREAK
9:30 am Ormat, Gold Level Sponsor, Morning Keynote
9:45 am New Geothermal Projects Under Development: Leading Project Developers Discuss the Status of
Their New Geothermal Projects and Keys to Successful Project Development
Ken MacLeod, Western GeoPower, confirmed
Michael Hayter, Raser Technologies, confirmed
Dan Schochet, Ram Power, confirmed
Hank Sennott, Enel NA, tentative
Phil Messer, PBS&J, tentative
Saf Dhilon, U.S Geothermal, tentative
10:45 am New Geothermal Technology Panel: New and future developments in geothermal technology are
described and discussed
Ed Wall, DOE, Panel Chair:
13
Paul Thomsen, Ormat, confirmed
Halley Dickey, TAS, confirmed
Lou Capuano, ThermaSource, confirmed
Charles Baron, Google, confirmed
Kevin Wallace, Power Engineers, confirmed
David Paul, UTC power, tentative
11:45 LUNCH 
12:30 pm Community/Environmental/Tribal: Invite environmental leader to speak on role of geothermal
and environmental issues; invite community official where geothermal is used or being developed to
discuss local issues/benefits
Panel Chair: Karl Gawell, GEA
Ross Macfarlane, Climate Solutions, confirmed
Laurie McClenahan Hietter, RMT, confirmed
Roger Taylor, State, Local & Tribal Deployment, National Renewable Energy Laboratory,
confirmed
Michael O?Connell, Stoel Rives, LLP, confirmed
Additional environmental, community or tribal views (lRachel Shimshak, Renewable NW
Projects, Nancy Hirsch, NW Energy Coalition, Tony Usibelli, WA State Energy Office, Dan
Ritzman, Sierra Club, Becky Kelly, Washington Environmental Council, Diana Enright, Oregon
Department of Energy, Shoshone Tribe, invited)
1:20 pm Transmission: Status and Outlook for Federal and State Actions to Ensure Adequate Transmission
for New Renewable Power Projects
Jonathan Weisgall, MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company, confirmed
1:40 pm Federal Stimulus and Other Support
Ed Wall, Geothermal Technologies Program Director, U.S Department of Energy,
confirmed
2:00 pm UTC Power, Gold Level Sponsor, Afternoon Keynote
2:15 pm BREAK
2:30 pm Financing Geothermal Projects: Status of Federal and State Incentives, Approaches to
Project Financing, and More…
Mark Taylor, New Energy Finance, confirmed
Tom King, U.S Renewables Group, confirmed
CJ Arrigo, Glacier Capital Partners, confirmed
John McIlveen, Jacobs and Company Securities, Inc., confirmed
3:30 pm Overcoming the legal/regulatory hurdles to new geothermal development
Jerry Fish, Stoel Rives, confirmed
John Pierce, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich Rosati, confirmed
Kermit Witherbee, BLM Geothermal Program Manager, confirmed
Bob Fujimoto, U.S Forest Service, to be invited
4:30pm Geothermal Energy from a Utility/Power Company Perspective
Chad Teply or Mark Tallman, PacifiCorp, confirmed
Craig Collar, Snohomish PUD, confirmed
Steve Ponder, NV Energy, confirmed
Additional Representative (Ben Farrow, Puget Sound Energy, Murray Grande, NCPA, and John
Pease, Bonneville Power Administration, invited)

The analysis is located on page 487 of the third appendix.  The link is here.

The pending noncompetitive lease applications were filed by Vulcan Power Corporation in 2000. It is expected that issuing all of the leases in this area would result in two binary power plants at capacities of 30 and 20 megawatts. It is expected that a 30 megawatt plant would result in 15 acres of land disturbance, and a 20 megawatt plant would result in 10 acres of land disturbance for a total disturbance of 25 acres. Existing Forest Service roads would be used to access the sites.  Exploration activities for a 20 megawatt plant and a 30 megawatt plant is expected to involve approximately 12 temperature gradient holes, disturbing approximately 0.15 acre each, for a total disturbance of approximately 2 acres.

Four pending lease applications are included within this area:
• WAOR 056025 – 2,403 acres comprise portions of three adjacent sections of land and a full fourth section 0.25 mile to the west. The legal description of this land is (1) T38N R8E S36; (2) T38N R9E S19, “part so of wilderness”; (3) T38N R9E S30, parts E2, E2W2,Lots 1-4; (4) T38N R9E S31, parts E2, E2W2, Lots 1-4.

• WAOR 056027 – 2,560 acres comprised of four contiguous sections of land. The legal description of this land is (1) T37N R8E S11; (2) T1S T37N R8E S13; (3) T37N R8E S14; (4) T37N R8E S24.

• WAOR 056028 – 2,544.970 acres comprised of four contiguous sections of land. The legal description of this land is (1) T37N R8E S10, “pt outside NRA”; (2) T37N R8E S15; (3) T37N R8E S22; (4) T37N R8E S23.

* WAOR 056029 – 1,941.920 acres comprised of four contiguous sections of land with a portion of each excluded due to the excluded land being a National Recreation Area. The legal description of this land is (1) T37N R8E S16, “pt outside NRA”; (2) T37N R8E S17, “pt outside NRA”; (3) T37N R8E S20, “pt outside NRA”; (4) T37N R8E S21, “pt outside NRA”.

The lease sites range in elevation from 800 feet to 3,400 feet above mean sea level and are traversed by several creeks, roads and trails. Other land uses include several gravel pits and quarries. There are no known buildings within the lease sites or within 0.5 mile of any of the lease sites.

Washington State’s identified resources are 0.25% of the national assessment and expand to 1.25% of the potential when EGS is included.

The press release via EarthTimes is here

• Updated GIS database utilizing data from historical BPA studies
• Existing data review
• Temperature with depth maps
• Geochemistry
• Geology
• Fracture/fault mapping
• Seismic data
• Stress/tectonic regime
• Transmission lines
• Access/land availability
• Gathered new geochemistry data from springs and wells
• Preliminary costs: exploration, wells, plant
• Potential exploration/development options

The two most important Washington State specific geothermal findings were SnoPud’s  goal of 90 MW from Geothermal in the Cascades by 2020 and the estimate by the National Geothermal Resources Council that Washington State’s geothermal potential could be double previous estimates and exceed 600 MW.

The event was opened by SnoPud Director Steve Klein and Congressman Jay Inslee (via recorded video).  Congressman Inslee, whose district includes part of the service district of SnoPud, talked about making Washington State a geothermal leader and was looking forward to "cut(ting) the ribbon on the first plant" .  Congressman Inslee has also arranged for $500K in funding to assist SnoPud in developing their geothermal plan.

However, the state faces a significant challenge as resource estimates are from a 1979 study.  "Comprehensive research and exploration have not been done (in Washington State)" according to GRC Executive Director Curt Robinson.  And yet, he felt confident enough to cast an estimate of 600 MW, primarily in the Cascades and Central Washington. 

Western Washington’s geothermal potential remains unknown and is largely masked by the rainfall on the western slopes of the Cascades.  Experts still feel that several sites may exist along the I-5 transmission corridor, a critical factor in the siting of any geothermal plant.

Development costs have soared in recent months as capital, material and exploration costs have significantly spiked. Guy Nelson with the Geothermal Working Group stated that the current rule of thumb is now $4 Million per MW.  Geothermal power can range from 6.6 to 11.6 cents per kiloWatt hour.

Rural PUD’s also learned about the new loan assistance program by the USDA for ground source heat pumps.  This program offers a great opportunity for Eastern Washington utilities to help homeowners install and finance home heat pumps that are critical for utilities interested in peak shaving, and homeowners interested in significantly reducing their home heating and cooling costs.

Representatives from Seattle City Light, Tacoma Power and Skamania PUD were in attendance, as was State Senator Adam Kline.  Senator Kline is talking to Senate leadership about introducing the Geothermal Study Bill again this year.   He is confident that a straight forward study bill (no policy, regulations, funding or taxes) that explores both power generation and heat pumps will garner strong interest by legislators throughout the state. 

Geothermal_Update_August_7_2008

The first Geothermal workshop in Washington State will take place August 11 and 12 in Everett.  Coordinated by Snohomish Public Utility District, hosts include the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, American Public Power Association and the Western Area Power Administration.

The cost of the workshop is $125.

The target audiences for this workshop is utility staff who are interested in learning about geothermal technologies – including geothermal heat pumps (GHP) and geothermal power production – and who want to compare them with other resource options, or who want to learn how to improve on existing programs. Through presentations, case histories, and demonstrations, attendees will learn:

- New drilling and installation techniques

- Cost comparisons of geothermal power and other resource options

- Cost effectiveness tests of GHP from the utility and customer perspectives

- Case histories of GHP systems energy savings over conventional HVAC systems

To learn more about the event contact – Guy Nelson, UGWG (541) 994-4670 energyguy@utilityforum.com

The preferred Alternative in the Draft PEIS considers all public lands and National Forest System lands with potential for geothermal development available for leasing except those that are withdrawn or administratively closed to geothermal leasing. The Draft PEIS also evaluates another alternative based on public input gained during scoping that would limit geothermal leasing for electrical generation to areas near transmission lines.

Written comments on the Draft PEIS may be submitted by any of three methods:
- e-mail – geothermal_EIS@blm.gov
- fax – 1-866-625-0707
- US Mail – Geothermal Programmatic EIS, c/o EMPSi, 182 Howard Street, Suite 110, San Francisco, California 94105