Imperial Valley Geothermal Project is a complex of eleven
geothermal power stations located in the
Salton Sea Geothermal Field, along the southeastern shore of the
Salton Sea
The Salton Sea is a shallow, landlocked, highly salinity, saline endorheic lake in Riverside County, California, Riverside and Imperial County, California, Imperial counties in Southern California. It lies on the San Andreas Fault within the S ...
in the
Imperial Valley
The Imperial Valley ( or ''Valle Imperial'') of Southern California lies in Imperial and Riverside counties, with an urban area centered on the city of El Centro. The Valley is bordered by the Colorado River to the east and, in part, the S ...
of
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
. It is the second largest geothermal field in the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
after
The Geysers
The Geysers is the world's largest geothermal field, containing a complex of 18 geothermal power plants, drawing steam from more than 350 wells, located in the Mayacamas Mountains approximately north of San Francisco, California. Geysers produced ...
in
Northern California
Northern California (commonly shortened to NorCal) is a geocultural region that comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California, spanning the northernmost 48 of the state's List of counties in California, 58 counties. Northern Ca ...
.
Description
Parts of
Imperial Valley
The Imperial Valley ( or ''Valle Imperial'') of Southern California lies in Imperial and Riverside counties, with an urban area centered on the city of El Centro. The Valley is bordered by the Colorado River to the east and, in part, the S ...
lie atop the
Salton Sea Geothermal Field, a region of high
geothermal energy
Geothermal energy is thermal energy extracted from the crust (geology), crust. It combines energy from the formation of the planet and from radioactive decay. Geothermal energy has been exploited as a source of heat and/or electric power for m ...
with an estimated 2,950 MW of geothermal potential. Of that total, 2250 MW are currently developable, while the remaining 700 MW would become available as the Salton Sea (a saline lake) dries up.
About 403 MW is generated by the existing power plants, ten of which are owned by CalEnergy and one by EnergySource.
Geothermal power and lithium extraction
The geothermal activity below the Salton Sea loosens up
lithium
Lithium (from , , ) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal. Under standard temperature and pressure, standard conditions, it is the least dense metal and the ...
that can be mined. The
California Energy Commission
The California Energy Commission, formally the Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, is the primary energy policy and energy planning, planning Government agency, agency for California.
Created in 1974 and headquartered in S ...
estimates the Salton Sea might produce 600k metric tons of
lithium carbonate
Lithium carbonate is an inorganic compound, the lithium salt of carbonic acid with the chemical formula, formula . This white Salt (chemistry), salt is widely used in processing metal oxides. It is on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines, Wor ...
() per year, of a reserve of 3.4 million tonnes.
In 2016, the
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
n firm Controlled Thermal Resources (CTR) announced plans to build a 140 MW geothermal power plant and a lithium extraction facility capable of producing 15,000 tons (13,600 tonnes) by 2023 and 75,000 tons (68,000 tonnes) by 2027. The company hopes to create a major new domestic source of the mineral, which is a key ingredient used in batteries for
electric car
An electric car or electric vehicle (EV) is a passenger car, passenger automobile that is propelled by an electric motor, electric traction motor, using electrical energy as the primary source of propulsion. The term normally refers to a p ...
s and
energy storage
Energy storage is the capture of energy produced at one time for use at a later time to reduce imbalances between energy demand and energy production. A device that stores energy is generally called an Accumulator (energy), accumulator or Batte ...
. The project is expected to be operational by 2023.
General Motors
General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...
announced a strategic partnership with CTR in 2021 to secure a local supply of lithium. The majority of the battery-grade lithium hydroxide and carbonate for the Ultium battery will come from this plant.
Geothermal power stations
This is a table of all constituent geothermal power stations.
[
]
See also
* List of geothermal power stations in the United States
* List of power stations in California
A list is a Set (mathematics), set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of t ...
References
External links
{{Generating stations in California, state=autocollapse
Buildings and structures in Imperial County, California
Geothermal power stations in California