Past Pages April 9, 2012: Geothermal feels heat of low gas prices

Low natural gas prices are pressuring development of new geothermal-power resources in northern Nevada.
But geothermal executives contend that natural gas prices are almost certain to rebound from their current levels — they’re at their lowest in a decade — and geothermal plants will allow utilities to hedge their bets for the next two decades.
The trend of natural gas prices is a big subject in Nevada, where the Geothermal Energy Association reported last week that 59 geothermal projects are at some stage of development. That’s more than any other state.
And nearly all of the geothermal projects that came on line in the United States within the past year were located in Nevada.
Still, geothermal executives working in the state have plenty to worry about.
Nevada has abundant geothermal resources, and state law requires that utilities purchase an increasing portion of the electricity they sell from renewable sources such as geothermal or solar facilities.

— Page 1, by John Seelmeyer

 
Winter’s dry roads ding body shops
Jerry Wientjes, owner of McCarran Auto Body, is accustomed to a flood of vehicles at his shop every winter. But not this one.
Wientjes, whose career in automotive restoration spans 35 years, says McCarran Auto Body usually sees a roughly 70 per- cent increase in cars at its shop during wet winters when roads freeze and unlucky motorists spin out and crash.
But the unusually dry winter means business has hovered at its normal pace of 20 to 30 cars at a time.
“When it snows, we can have over 100 cars,” Wientjes says. “I would have to call customers and tell them, ‘I can’t even look at it (your car) for a week.’ It is total chaos.”
Body shops throughout the Truckee Meadows — many already fighting reduced revenues due to consumer belt-tightening — have seen revenues fall this winter because roads remained relatively dry December through February.
Tim Waldren, owner of Paramount Auto Body on Tacchino Street in Reno, says body shops usually add a few repairmen through the winter, and winter revenues can carry shops through early spring. But this year Waldren was forced to reduce his staff.
|Wientjes says a huge winter month could lead to more than $250,000 in revenues and go a long way toward a $2 million year.

— Page 1, by Rob Sabo

 

Message in a bottle: Prize-winner takes teamwork
The announcement last week was brief:
Linda Rechnagel Anderson of Reno, owner of Design Lab LLC, won the “The Double Gold WOW Factor” award at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition last month.
The story behind the announcement, however, is a long one — nearly two years long, in fact.
And it’s a story that involves multiple businesses in Reno that set out to overcome daunting challenges to create an eye-catching product.
—Page 1, by John Seelmeyer

 

 
EDITOR’S NOTE: Each week, we feature snippets of stories that published a decade ago to provide readers a 10-year perspective of business news in the region. This week’s stories first published in the April 9, 2012, edition of the NNBW.