Geothermal well gets funding

• By RICHARD BURGESS
• Advocate Acadiana bureau
• Published: Nov 10, 2009 - Page: 1BA

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An energy company has been awarded $5 million in federal Recovery Act funds for an electric plant that would harness the heat of water drawn from far below the Earth’s surface to produce power in Cameron Parish.

Louisiana Geothermal in Lake Charles is planning to begin construction of a new geothermal power plant in early 2011, company president George Jordan said.

The proposed power plant would be one of the few of its kind in the Gulf South.

It was among 123 projects in 39 states tapped for funding from the U.S. Department of Energy to support developments in geothermal power, an emerging form of “green” power that produces few harmful emissions.

The proposed Louisiana Geothermal plant is planned for 160 acres near the Cameron Parish community of Sweet Lake.

The project involves drilling a 16,000-foot well and then piping the scalding brine water to the surface, where the brine heats another liquid with a low boiling point to produce steam that turns turbines to produce electricity, according to information from the company.

“It’s proven technology. It’s not like we are doing a science experiment,” Jordan said.

The Sweet Lake area of Cameron Parish has been known to offer a good potential for geothermal energy production since the 1980s, he said, but the cost of building a facility to harness super-heated water for power has been prohibitive in the past.

Federal grants, tax incentives, advances in technology and the high relative cost of fossil fuels are combining to make geothermal projects more attractive.

The company undertaking the project emerged from a group of established south Louisiana oil-and-gas service companies — Louisiana Tank, Jordan Oil and Central Crude, of Lake Charles.

Jordan, who comes from a family involved in the state’s oil industry for three generations, said oil service companies already have the know-how needed to drill and mine wells for geothermal power.

“We are just drawing on skills we already know,” he said.

The proposed plant is projected to generate from two megawatts to five megawatts of electricity — enough to power from 2,000 to 5,000 homes.