Old Rocks
Diamond Member
Tiny town takes geothermal lead « Daily Journal of Commerce
The southern Oregon city of Paisley, best known for its annual mosquito festival, could soon add another distinction: the site of the state’s first commercial geothermal electricity plant. The federal Department of Energy awarded the project a $2 million grant.
Lake County is flush with underground hot water. Sometimes, it bubbles to the surface, as it does at the Summer Lake Hot Springs resort.
Other times, farmers tap into it when drilling irrigation wells. That happened on the property of Mark and Erin Douglas, where the power plant would be built.
“We drilled it in 1980-81,” Erin Douglas said, “My grandpa did, and he talked to people then” about using the water for a power plant.
“It wasn’t hot enough or enough flow to make sense then,” she said.
The southern Oregon city of Paisley, best known for its annual mosquito festival, could soon add another distinction: the site of the state’s first commercial geothermal electricity plant. The federal Department of Energy awarded the project a $2 million grant.
Lake County is flush with underground hot water. Sometimes, it bubbles to the surface, as it does at the Summer Lake Hot Springs resort.
Other times, farmers tap into it when drilling irrigation wells. That happened on the property of Mark and Erin Douglas, where the power plant would be built.
“We drilled it in 1980-81,” Erin Douglas said, “My grandpa did, and he talked to people then” about using the water for a power plant.
“It wasn’t hot enough or enough flow to make sense then,” she said.