![]() A tribe in Nevada has fought a proposed project that it fears will damage hot springs it considers sacred, while a plant in Hawaii has long faced community opposition due to noise and hydrogen sulfide leaks. ![]() While early efforts to support geothermal have enjoyed broad bipartisan support, it’s unclear how far lawmakers are willing to go to tilt the scales in its favor.Īs with most energy sources, some geothermal projects have faced pushback from locals who oppose development in certain areas. That could include guaranteed loans for uncertain well-drilling operations, regulatory overhauls and staffing investments, or even mandates for more “baseload” power plants - whose output remains steady - from renewable sources. Will some local ecosystems be sacrificed to fight global climate change?īackers of geothermal energy acknowledge that scaling up the industry likely will require significant public support. Stateline Story ApLocals Worry Wind and Solar Will Gobble Up Forests and Farms “There’s no doubt in my mind that it will play a significant role in the energy future of the West.” “ will likely continue to be the biggest workhorses of powering the grid, but we see a role for low-cost geothermal electric as part of that baseload solution as we phase out coal and natural gas,” Polis said in an interview. The association will study permitting challenges, workforce issues, markets and mapping, among other factors. Jared Polis, a Democrat who chairs the 22-member Western Governors’ Association, announced the group would be launching an initiative to explore expansion of the “underdeveloped” resource. ![]() Some emerging systems, if successful, could raise that figure as high as 15%, backers say.Įarlier this summer, Colorado Gov. “It’s not intermittent, it runs all the time, and that’s a very compelling advantage.”Įxperts say that nearly every Western state could tap into more geothermal power, with potential to produce as much as 5% of the national electricity supply using existing technology. “ is hugely greater than what we’re generating right now,” said Roland Horne, the Thomas Davies Barrow professor of earth sciences at Stanford University. Some are starting to view geothermal - which currently provides less than half of a percent of the country’s power - as an underutilized power source that can be accessed 24/7. Many state leaders have focused on battery storage or preserving nuclear plants to complement their wind turbines and solar panels. Harnessing underground heat is more expensive than developing wind or solar energy, but experts say the dependable output from sources like geothermal is critical to shore up the grid at times where the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing. Used in the United States since 1960, geothermal plants pipe steam or hot water from deep wells to power turbines that produce electricity. But as states ramp up their transitions to renewable electricity, some leaders see a big role for geothermal as a stable, renewable power source. Geothermal power currently provides only a tiny fraction of the nation’s electricity.
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