Imaging at Rye Patch 3 Enhancement Strategies for Air - Cooled Condensers 4 BNL

In an effort to tap the vast geothermal resources of the western United States, Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson and U.S. Senator Harry Reid of Nevada recently announced a DOE initiative to expand the production and use of energy generated from heat within the earth. The new initiative is known as GeoPowering the West. During a news conference on Capitol Hill, Secretary Richardson also announced that DOE will award nearly $5 million in grants to support the development of geothermal energy projects throughout the western United States. Over $4.8 million will be awarded for geothermal activities in six western states, including Nevada, California, Texas, Utah, Idaho, and North Dakota. The funding will be used to provide technical assistance to support the design and testing of new geothermal technology. " Geothermal power is a clean, reliable, and renewable energy source available in all western states; in fact, it is already a significant supplier of electricity in California, with additional resources in Nevada, Utah, and Hawaii, " Richardson said. " We are confident that this initiative will help to increase the power produced by this existing resource and make it a major contributor to our clean energy mix. " By expanding the production and use of energy generated from heat within the earth, the goal of GeoPowering the West is to provide 10% of the electricity needs in the western states by 2020. GeoPowering the West will focus on three major goals: • Supplying at least 10% of the electricity needs of the West by 2020 with 20,000 megawatts of geothermal energy installed • Supplying the electric power or heating needs of at least 7 million U. S. homes through geopower by 2010 • Doubling the number of states with geothermal electric power facilities to eight by 2006. GeoPowering the West will be a partnership of organizations from both the private and public sectors, representing suppliers, users, and the environmental community. The initiative will provide Native Americans, the agricultural community, rural America, and federal facilities an opportunity to participate. In the 1970s, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) carried out extensive studies at the Salton Sea Geothermal Field, leading to several developments that industry has adopted in the production of power from this resource. These include adding acid to brine to retard the precipitation of silica—a technique that was not regarded as very practical when first proposed by LLNL. But the concomitant …