GLO Awards First Geothermal Energy Lease On Gulf Coast

[Capitol Annex got the press release on this yesterday, but amid all of the State of the State hustle and bustle, we didn't get to it.]

The Texas General Land Office has awarded the state’s first geothermal energy lease along the Gulf Coast. A company called Ormat Technologies from Nevada paid $55,645 ($5 an acre) for exploration rights to 11,129 acres across seven counties. The tracts of land range from 1,174 acres to 2,480 acres and are along the coast in Jefferson, Galveston, Chambers, Calhoun, Jackson, Nueces and Kleberg counties. The minimum bid was $2 per acre.
Evidently, old well holes will actually make the exploration easier:

“The reason Texas is so appealing is the oil and gas industry has punched a million holes in the ground,” said Paul Thomsen, an Ormat spokesman. “Utilizing these existing wells, uncapping them and pumping up hot brine saves you a whole lot more money than if you have to put a hole in the ground.”

For those of you unaware, geothermal energy is heat that is underground that can be used to produce electricity.

The U.S. is the world’s largest producer of geothermal energy, with heaviest concentrations in California, Hawaii, Utah and Nevada.
And, geothermal energy has fairly good long-term potential, evidently:

But advocates say there is greater long-term potential in geothermal energy, especially along the Gulf Coast and in East Texas. There could be 100,000 megawatts of geothermal potential in Texas and Louisiana, which the MIT report did not include because existing wells would be used to get the energy, said David Blackwell, a professor of geophysics at Southern Methodist University.

“The actual resource base is over 100,000 megawatts; we just don’t know how much we can access,” Blackwell said. “The point is there is enough geothermal to significantly add to the power inventory in Texas. Conservatively, there are tens of thousands of megawatts — it’s huge.”

I noticed, though, in the MSM’s stories on this, they failed to note something important that was in the GLO press release:

…the Texas Permanent School Fund will earn 10 percent of any electricity produced from the geothermal leases.

[...]

“Texas is hot for geothermal energy,” said Jerry Patterson, Commissioner of the Texas General Land Office. “At the Land Office, renewable energy means renewable revenue for the schoolchildren of Texas.”

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