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US Geothermal offered $102.2m federal loan for 22MW Oregon project

US Geothermal is hoping to start commercial operations at the Neal Hot Springs site in 2012

The US Department of Energy has offered a $102.2 million loan to support a 22-megawatt geothermal power project in southeastern Oregon.

The conditional commitment is for US Geothermal, Inc., to construct generating facilities at its Neal Hot Springs site, near Vale in Malheur County.

The Department said the project would create 150 jobs during its 20-month construction, with 10 full-time operations jobs when it starts up in 2012.

The project is to use supercritical binary geothermal cycle systems to generate power, a technology allowing power generation at lower temperature geothermal resources some 2,800 feet below the ground surface.

The DOE said this would produce energy more efficiently than traditional geothermal projects, and if successful could open up potential for geothermal projects in many more locations in the US.

Announcing the loan commitment, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said: “Our nation needs to transition to cleaner energy sources, and supporting innovative projects and new technologies like this is an important part of the equation. This project will create jobs while providing clean, baseload energy to help power America’s homes.”

“Major milestone”

US Geothermal President and Chief Executive Officer Daniel Kunz said: “This loan commitment provides our company with access to low cost capital and is a major milestone accomplishment. Neal Hot Springs is one of several important development opportunities for U.S. Geothermal that we believe will emerge over the next year or two, and we are grateful for this critical vote of confidence from the Department of Energy.”

The Neal Hot Springs project already has a 25-year power purchase agreement in place to sell power to the Idaho Power Company (see this BrighterEnergy.org story).

Houston-based TAS Energy Inc will be supplying the power plant for the project.

TAS founder and Chief Technology Officer, Tom Pierson, said: “TAS is excited to be a part of the Neal Hot Springs project where over 95 percent of the content of the TAS power plant is expected to be supplied by manufacturers from U.S.-based factories.”