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Hm... some articles are saying "largest new" and others just "largest". I don't think it's the largest but maybe it depends on what we mean by "geothermal devel

Hm... some articles are saying "largest new" and others just "largest". I don't think it's the largest but maybe it depends on what we mean by "geothermal development". The article quotes 400 MW and 125 wells, but according to a Wikipedia list [0] there are at least two geothermal complexes in the U.S. that produce more power than that and at least one that has over 350 wells [1] that appears to not only be the largest geothermal complex in the country, but in the whole world. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_geothermal_power_stations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_geothermal_power_stati... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Geysers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Geysers

dredmorbius 2y ago
The editing on this piece is ... sloppy in the extreme: In a victory for the development, one of the nation’s largest utility companies, Southern California Edison, has agreed to purchase electricity from the development. The 15-year agreement will power the equivalent of 350,000 and begin when the development's first part is operational in 2026. 350,000 what? (The answer is all but certainly "homes", which draw about 1.2 kW each, which puts this plant at about 400 MW output ... as is noted three 'graphs further down the article. Compare against a typical large nuclear power plant at 1--2 GW output per reactor.) As you note there's also the Geysers plant in northern California (near Healdsburg) which has a nameplate capacity of ~1.6 GW, and a 53% capacity factor (that is, it's operational about half the time. Which would make the Met's article wrong on this point as well. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Geysers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Geysers>
hnburnsy 2y ago
I think the article is mis-interpreting what is going on. Fervo announced the following... "World’s largest geothermal PPAs highlight increasing utility demand for clean, reliable next-generation geothermal energy" PPAs are power purchase agreements https://fervoenergy.com/fervo-energy-announces-320-mw-power-purchase-agreements-with-southern-california-edison/ https://fervoenergy.com/fervo-energy-announces-320-mw-power-...

dredmorbius 2y ago

The editing on this piece is ... sloppy in the extreme: In a victory for the development, one of the nation’s largest utility companies, Southern California Edison, has agreed to purchase electricity from the development. The 15-year agreement will power the equivalent of 350,000 and begin when the development's first part is operational in 2026. 350,000 what? (The answer is all but certainly "homes", which draw about 1.2 kW each, which puts this plant at about 400 MW output ... as is noted three 'graphs further down the article. Compare against a typical large nuclear power plant at 1--2 GW output per reactor.) As you note there's also the Geysers plant in northern California (near Healdsburg) which has a nameplate capacity of ~1.6 GW, and a 53% capacity factor (that is, it's operational about half the time. Which would make the Met's article wrong on this point as well. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Geysers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Geysers>

hnburnsy 2y ago

I think the article is mis-interpreting what is going on. Fervo announced the following... "World’s largest geothermal PPAs highlight increasing utility demand for clean, reliable next-generation geothermal energy" PPAs are power purchase agreements https://fervoenergy.com/fervo-energy-announces-320-mw-power-purchase-agreements-with-southern-california-edison/ https://fervoenergy.com/fervo-energy-announces-320-mw-power-...