Vulcan Power seeks to boost delivery of geothermal power

Plans are in the works to tap large geothermal zones located in northwestern Nevada that eventually could add as much as 2,500 Megawatts of green power to the grid for customers located in California and southern Nevada.

Bend, Ore.-based Vulcan Power Company last week announced preliminary plans to develop either new power transmission lines or add a substation that could increase the capacity of Nevada geothermal sites to 1,000 MW. Nevada steamfields currently supply roughly 240 MW of geothermal power to the grid.

One plan to substantially increase the transmission capacity for new geothermal power to be developed in northwestern Nevada is to add more transmission lines.

Another involves routing newly developed geothermal power to a substation to be built at Hazen, which in turn would deliver the power to the main grid, says Steve Munson, chief executive officer of Vulcan Power.

Estimated costs for a 500 MW substation that would tap into the Pacific DC Intertie Transmission Line, which extends from the Columbia River to Los Angeles, are between $125 and $180 million. A 1,000 MW tap could cost $170 to $250 million, says Electranix, an independent engineering company specializing in power transmission systems based in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Construction on various phases could be underway within three years. "This is potentially something that could be done soon," says Munson. "In transmission planning circles, that is very fast."