Geysers Plant Capacity Raised

摘要

Western GeoPower Corporation announced on April 9 that GeothermEx, Inc., calculated the optimum capacity to be 35 MWe (gross) for the Western GeoPower Unit 1 project at The Geysers Geothermal Field in Northern California. The revised estimate followed an acquisition in July 2007 of the 413 acre Abril Ranch leasehold. In October 2006, GeothermEx projected the leasehold, consisting of about 600 acres, would support a 28 MWe (gross) power plant. The Abril acquisition increases Western GeoPower holdings at The Geysers to 1,017 acres.rnAn examination of earlier production records from the Abril leasehold showed well Abril 1-1 with an initial capacity of 7 MWe, supplying steam to the original PG&E Unit 15 plant for 16 months until the plant was decommissioned in 1989. Another well, Abril 5B-1, over 0.6 miles northwest of Abril 1-1, never encountered steam but showed a much higher bottom-hole temperature of 290℃ (554℉) compared with all other wells in the company's Geysers leaseholds, implying the presence of a yet-unexplored liquid reservoir below the steam zone. In 2009, well Abril 5B-1 will be examined in greater detail, exploring the potential for a greater-reserve base for the currently proposed plant or for a second power plant.