Utah geothermal plant runs into cold-water problem

Geothermal plant’s cold water means it buys nearly as much power as it makes.

Raser Technologies Inc. long has boasted its new Hatch geothermal power plant near the west-central Utah city of Beaver would launch a new era of energy production — one in which electricity would be produced from low-temperature underground water that wasn’t viewed as hot enough to produce power.

Yet six months after Raser flipped the switch on the plant and began generating power, the company is buying almost as much electricity to keep the place running as the plant is producing.

The problem: The plant can’t operate at full capacity because its production wells are producing geothermal water that isn’t hot enough, even though its temperature is higher than the 180 degrees Raser initially said it would need.

“We’ve run into a few challenges with some of our wells, but we now are reworking them to try and optimize the heat we’re getting. Also, we will soon be bringing another [geothermal] well on line,” said Issa Arnita, a Raser spokesman.

Salt Lake Tribune