Raft River Geothermal Project by U.S. Geothermal

U.S. Geothermal has developed geothermal energy resources for direct use and for electrical power. The geothermal projects have been done in three places, namely Raft River, San Emidio and Neal Hot Spring. The Raft River geothermal project done by the company is located in southern Idaho, nearly 200 miles south east of Boise. The company has developed a geothermal reservoir in an area of 8.3 square miles. This geothermal reservoir can produce power up to 110 megawatts.

The Raft River geothermal project was obtained in the year, 2002. U.S. Geothermal made a contract with the Idaho Power company to provide electricity up to 10 megawatts from the power plant of Raft River Unit 1 for 20 years. The Raft River Unit 1 has begun its commercial operations from January 2008 onwards. This Raft River geothermal project is located in the former U.S. Department of Energy. GeothermEX, a geothermal consulting firm, has completed the technical review of the data available at the geothermal site of Raft River. According to the estimate of GoethermEx, the Raft River geothermal site has capacity to produce 15.6 megawatts per square mile.

The geothermal systems utilize a binary-cycle power plant for the production of electricity. At the binary plant, hot geothermal water is delivered through a heat exchanger to heat a binary liquid. The binary liquid vaporizes in a lower temperature. The vapor produced out of binary liquid turns the turbine-generator unit in a closed loop cycle. Then the vapor is compressed back to liquid.