Faulkner Geothermal Plant Sets Output Record

New deep injection capacity, resulting from the connection of well 55-15 into plant operations, has improved reservoir pressure support and enabled plant output to be increased accordingly. Output is expected to increase further as additional wells under development are brought on line.

"We believe we have the plant shut down and cable repairs well under control," said Brian Fairbank, president and CEO of Nevada Geothermal. "It has been a challenging time for the company, but we can now focus our attention on proceeding with our resource development work and our goal to increase plant output to 45 megawatts net."

In January, NGP announced that the 49.5-MW plant automatically shut down on January 17, due to a "ground fault" problem in the electrical control system. The initial inspection by the EPC contractor has determined that the plant automatically shut down due to a failure in the buried power cable system.

Power cables leading outward from the control building were improperly configured, causing excessive heat to build up, leading to eventual cable failure in an isolated portion of the power cable runs.