Comments about ‘Iron County company researching 'cool' geothermal power’

"PurpleEnergy is seeking a $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy."
Why can't they spend their own investment since a grant is not a loan?
How will they acquire the land where these warm spots are?

Doesn't Utah hates that fed money?

Utah companies are already selling geothermal power, and this new technique sounds promising. Good luck with the research.

I thought that development of low-temp geothermal sites was the specialty of another Utah company, Raser Technologies, in Provo.

A couple years ago I remember reading stories about a low-temp installation somewhere near Delta, I think. One of the highlights was the fact that it was installed and providing power (to some city in California) in less than a year.

Utah is blessed with significant geothermal resources. It is very useful in that, like coal, it is base-load power, meaning that it can operate 24/7. Unlike coal, it is clean. It doesn't suffer the intermittancy of wind and solar, and it can create jobs and economic opportunities in rural areas without disrupting rural quality of life (no pollution or smells to affect livestock).

It isn't a silver bullet, however, as one writer noted above, it is very location specific (need to go where the hot ground water is), and it does use water resources (unlike wind and PV solar).

The biggest challenge with geothermal is that drilling is expensive and a company cannot "test" a resource inexpensively like wind and solar before developing (e.g., winds can be tested with an anemometer relatively inexpensively to ensure commerically viable resources). Oil companies have big subsidies to help with drilling costs -- geothermal should be allowed similar help to level the playing field.

There's been some fears waged that drilling geothermal causes earthquakes, but most experts note that good geological studies can determine the risks prior to development (like studying bird flight patterns before erecting wind turbines).