Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
1960
The country's first large-scale geothermal electricity-generating plant began opera-
tion. Pacific Gas and Electric operated the plant located at The Geysers. The first
turbine produced 11 megawatts (MW) of net power and operated successfully for
more than 30 years. Today, 69 generating facilities are in operation at 18 resource
sites around the country.
1978
Geothermal Food Processors, Inc., opened the first geothermal food-processing
(crop-drying) plant in Brady Hot Springs, Nevada. The Loan Guaranty Program
provided $3.5 million for the facility.
1979
The first electrical development of a water-dominated geothermal resource occurred
at the east Mesa field in the Imperial Valley in California. The plant was named for
B.C. McCabe, the geothermal pioneer who, with his Magma Power Company, did
field development work at several sites, including The Geysers.
1980
TAD's Enterprises of Nevada pioneered the use of geothermal energy for the cooking,
distilling, and drying processes associated with alcohol fuel production. UNOCAL
built the country's first flash plant, generating 10 MW at Brawley, California.
1982
Economical electrical generation began at California's Salton Sea geothermal field
through the use of crystallizer-clarifier technology. The technology resulted from a
government/industry effort to manage the high-salinity brines at the site.
1984
A 20-MW plant began generating power at Utah's Roosevelt Hot Springs. Nevada's
first geothermal electricity was generated when a 1.3-MW binary power plant went
into operation.
1987
Geothermal fluids were used in the first geothermal-enhanced heap leaching project
for gold recovery near Round Mountain, Nevada.
1989
The world's first hybrid (organic Rankine/gas engine) geopressure-geothermal
power plant began operation at Pleasant Bayou, Texas, using both the heat and the
methane of a geopressured resource.
1992
Electrical generation began at the 25-MW geothermal plant in the Puna field of
Hawaii.
