The company expects that will boost production another 85 megawatts. Even with the new project, power grid managers say they're planning for diminishing geothermal electricity. All supplies are very important to us at this point. The plants are relatively lowmaintenance once they're running - only one engineer staffs each of the 19 Calpine plants in The Geysers. But geothermal plants are more expensive to build than natural gas-fired power plants, Gaywell said.
People are shortsighted on investments and it takes more money upfront to build geothermal.
Most geothermal resources are on public land, lengthening the building process because more permits are needed, Gawell said. Two new plants are in the application process in California. Researchers estimate there are 2,500 megawatts of untapped geothermal resources in Nevada, Gawell said. Idaho, New Mexico and Oregon also have sites that could be tapped, he said. All the technologies have to compete against each other, but geothermal should do pretty good.