The Department of the Interior announced Thursday that it has approved the 2 GW Fervo Cape geothermal energy project in Beaver County, Utah. In addition, the Bureau of Land Management said it is proposing a new categorical exclusion from certain requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act to accelerate the discovery of geothermal resources.
On Oct. 8, BLM said its Cedar City field office has reached a finding of no significant impacts from the project and issued a decision to approve it. The 30-day period to appeal the decision will end on November 7.
The project, developed by Fervo Energy, will span about 631 acres, 148 of which are on public land, Interior said in a statement. Fervo Energy announced in September that it had achieved a “reservoir performance record” at its Cape Station project in southwestern Utah, using advanced drilling techniques adopted from the fracking industry, resulting in well tests that established the project as the most productive enhanced geothermal generating station in history.
Beaver County’s proposed construction will include “well drilling, well stimulation, well completion and well testing of an estimated 320 geothermal wells, as well as the construction or improvements of lease access roads, a distribution network composed of sub-transmission lines, an electrical yard, a general link transmission line, a geothermal fluid pipe collection system, and the construction and maintenance of an off-lease power transmission corridor and road of associated maintenance,” according to the BLM environmental assessment.
BLM’s proposed categorical exclusion will streamline the permitting process for the “up to 20-acre geothermal resource confirmation plan of operations” by providing an exemption under NEPA, which currently requires the completion of two separate environmental reviews.
“Today’s permit proposal would help accelerate the discovery of new geothermal resources throughout the West, especially in states like Nevada, which has some of the largest undeveloped geothermal potential in the country,” Interior said.
The announcements “follow the Nevada State Office of BLM’s Oct. 8 geothermal lease sale, which generated near-record proceeds, marking the most successful sale since 2008 and the second-most,” Interior said.
The BLM sold 64 parcels of land containing nearly 218,000 acres for more than $7.8 million in high bids, which “marks a sharp increase from the previous year’s sale of 96,600 acres for just under over a million dollars,” Interior said.
