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A growing interest in clean, renewable geothermal energy broke a Utah record this week. The Bureau of Land Management announced Thursday that it leased over 50,000 acres of public land in Beaver, Iron and Sevier counties for geothermal projects. The lease sales generated more than $5.
5 million in total, averaging about $111 per acre, “the most per acre revenue of any previous geothermal lease sale on BLM public lands in Utah in recent history,” the agency said. That money, and money from future royalties paid by companies that have leased the parcels, will be split between Utah, the county where the lease is located and the U.S.
Treasury. The leases are for 10 years and allow for the exploration and development of geothermal resources. Geothermal energy captures heat within the earth, a renewable resource, in the form of steam.
Volcanoes and Yellowstone National Park’s famous geysers are examples of geothermal energy. Utah has been at the forefront of emerging geothermal technology because of the state’s abundance of hot, accessible rock; scientists and developers don’t have to drill too deep to find good conditions. Beaver County is home to the Utah Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy (FORGE), an underground laboratory sponsored by the U.
S. Department of Energy, which is the largest geothermal energy experiment in the country. Last year, FORGE scientists proved that geothermal energy can work on a commercial scale.
Another geothermal operation in Beaver County, the Cape Station plant , plans to deliver the clean energy to the grid next year, though most of it will power homes in southern California . Fervo Energy, the plant’s owner, said Cape Station is “the most productive enhanced geothermal system in history” and will generate 400 megawatts; for reference, one megawatt can power over 600 Utah homes , according to the state’s Utah Office of Energy Development. The BLM also approved a geothermal energy project in Iron County last month, which is expected to produce 20 megawatts.
Utah Rep. Celeste Maloy in January introduced a bill to expedite approval for geothermal projects on federal land. “Utah is a prime location to invest and develop in geothermal energy,” she said in a statement.
“Sadly, bureaucratic red tape regularly delays such projects.” Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, too, is pushing for more geothermal development in the state.
In December, he unveiled “Operation Gigawatt,” a plan that includes $4.3 million to pay for geothermal research..
