Calpine has taken on as a long-term goal to make that sustainable. Calpine is building a 50-mile pipeline to Santa Rosa and plans to pump an additional 11 million gallons of treated wastewater daily from that city. The company expects that will boost production by 85 megawatts. But 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.
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 geothermal 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. He expects the plan to be renewed when it expires in December.