more coverage, good article.
There was another geothermal power article in the online NY times, also some good links to docs there about geothermal in general. But from there I found a link to this article about ram on 'green venture beat'.
I'm really impressed we've not seen so much as a speedbump in this recent rise in stock price, its very nice to see. Now, let get it up to 5$ and bring on the margin players I say.
https://green.venturebeat.com/2009/12/30/ram-brings-goethermal-a-step-closer-to-financial-feasibility/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Venturebeat+%28VentureBeat%29
Ram brings geothermal a step closer to financial feasibility
It’sa little known fact — the Earth’s geothermal resources could satisfythe world population’s power needs many times over. So why is it onlygenerating little over 10 gigawatts of power globally? The primereason: Few companies have figured out how to make thecapital-intensive plants economically feasible. But geothermalconglomerate Ram Power may have found an answer with its new development in Nicaragua.
The company, based in Reno, Nev., is embarking on a 72-megawatt geothermal project in the Central American country(PDF) — a big leap forward considering that it has only built a10-megawatt facility in the past (also in Nicaragua). The new plant,expected to come online in the start of 2012, will be broken intophases to help shoulder the enormous cost.
To pay for the first phase, which will build 46 megawatts ofcapacity, Ram has closed a $77 million credit facility provided by agaggle of lenders, including the Central American Bank for Economic Integration, Cordiant Capital and Export Development Canada.It adds this sum to an undisclosed amount of equity it raisedpreviously. This segment of the project is slated to complete by April2011.
The second phase, kicked off soon thereafter, will expand theplant’s capacity to the full 72 megawatts. This should be completed bythe end of 2011. Both phases will be using flash Fuji TurbineGenerators. If the first phase of the plan proves successful, Rambelieves that financing the second should come easier.
Also helping Ram’s case is that its basically a consortium ofto-tier geothermal companies. In October this year, Ram Power, PolarisGeothermal, Western GeoPower and GTO Resources decided to join forces.As a single unit, it also has plans to buy or build another 50 to 100megawatts of generation within the next year or so.
Utilities are already taking notice. Ram has scored power purchaseagreements with Southern California Edison for up to 400 megawatts offuture geothermal generation.
As an industry, geothermal power has been growing by 3 percent everyyear on average, since 2005. The largest obstacles are still economic.Capital costs for a cutting-edge geothermal facility run above $4million per megawatt installed.
Once capital is raised though, the energy itself costs about anickel per kilowatt-hour — even cheaper than nuclear power. Geothermalalso produces less waste and is better for the surrounding environmentthan a lot of other sources of renewable energy. This makes it seemlike a bargain.
of course, this bargain is predicated on the presence ofreadily-available geothermal energy. To date, the overwhelming majorityof the Earth is not well-suited to this tpe of generation. It’s eithertoo expensive or the terrain isn’t appropriate. Going forward, it willbe up to innovative organizations like Ram to overcome these obstaclesand fully tap geothermal’s potentia