Friday, March 28, 2014

USA, Nevada:

BLM Authorizes 45 MWe Expansion at McGinness Hills Geothermal Project (BLM - News Release)

“McGuiness (Little Power Plant in the Prairie)” - McGuiness Geothermal Power Plant by Haim Shoshan. 3rd Place (Tie) in the 2013 GRC Photo Contest

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Battle Mountain District recently issued a site license to Ormat Technologies, Inc. for the construction of their second power plant located on public lands at the McGinness Hills Geothermal Project, approximately 16 miles northeast of Austin, Nevada.

In 2011, Ormat was authorized to construct two geothermal power plants and completed the first in 2012. The second power plant, nearly identical to the first, is a binary air-cooled operation capable of producing approximately 45 MWe. The previously analyzed surface disturbance totals about 16.5 acres and includes a substation used to transform generated low voltage to the higher voltage required for a transmission line. A 9-mile long, 230 kV overhead transmission line connects the site to the existing NV Energy Frontier substation.