U.S. Geothermal plans to submit an application to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to build its expanded San Emidio phase II geothermal plant, U.S. Geothermal President Douglas Glaspey said in a March 10 4Q16 earnings call.
The company in February said that an updated reservoir model for the project in Nevada resulted in a significant increase in the potential size of the San Emidio II reservoir of up to 47 MW, from an estimated 10 MW.
“An application for project development of this larger facility will be submitted to the Bureau of Land Management this month to start the environmental assessment process to get approval to fully develop the well field and build the larger power plant at San Emidio,” Glaspey said.
U.S. Geothermal also declined a small generator interconnection agreement that it had with NV Energy for the project due to the increase in project size. Glaspey said that the company will now be submitting a new application for a large generator interconnection agreement later this year.
“Anything over 20 MW needs a different type of interconnection agreement,” he said.
DOE Grant
Last December, U.S. Geothermal completed the data collection phase for a U.S. Department of Energy grant to advance resource definition efforts at the company’s San Emidio and Crescent Valley projects.
Glaspey said that the research encompasses electromagnetic surveys for 3D resistivity interpretation and passive seismic data for seismic and mission tomography.
“Interpretation of this data is expected during the second quarter, and actually we’re expecting some of the early interpretation to come in very soon,” he said. “The collection of the remaining Crescent Valley work is planned for June.”
He added that, once all the data has been analyzed and it results in the identification of potential fluid flow pass, follow-up drill sites will be targeted and drilled later this year, or early in 2018.
Earnings report
U.S. Geothermal on March 9 reported operating revenue in 2016 of $31.5 million, compared to $31.2 million in 2015. Adjusted EBITDA in 2016 was $17 million, compared to $17.6 million for the prior year, and EBITDA was $14.9 million in 2016 compared to $16.4 million for the prior year.
Net Income, as adjusted, in 2016 was $5.2 million, compared to $6.3 million in 2015. Net Income in 2016 was $3.59 million, compared to $4.95 million in 2015. Net Income attributable to U.S. Geothermal, as adjusted, in 2016 was $2.03 million, or $0.11 per share, compared to $3.23 million, or $0.18 per share in the prior year. Net Income attributable to US Geothermal in 2016 was $0.46 million, or $0.02 per share, compared to $1.85 million, or $0.10 per share in the prior year.
Lead image credit: Chris English | Wikimedia
