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Ongoing dispute could hamper geothermal development in the Salton Sea

Ongoing dispute could hamper geothermal development in the Salton Sea Ormesa 1 geothermal plant, Imperial Valley, California (source: Ormat)
Alexander Richter 9 Nov 2015

The ongoing dispute between the Imperial Irrigation District and the California Independent System Operator could negatively impact potential expansion plans for the Salton Sea area, one of the key geothermal areas in California.

California Independent System Operator (CAISO), is an electric operator services firm. It oversees the operation of California’s bulk electric power system, transmission lines, and electricity market generated and transmitted by its member utilities. (source CAISO).

Over the past years, there has been a dispute with the Imperial Irrigation District (IID), which manages water management in the Imperial Valley, California, but also acts as electric energy utility to the valley.

CAISO  controls today around 80 percent of California’s electric transmission system, and – according to IID – has placed it and its renewable energy generators, among them geothermal operators – at a competitive disadvantage in pursuing power purchase agreements. This creates difficulties, by ratepayers being faced with stranded transmission investment costs, but also hampering further economic development

In June this year, IID filed a civil litigation suit against CAISO, stating that CAISO “has exercised its monopoly power”. The dispute started as early as 2011 and has some grave impact on the Imperial Valley and its geothermal operators and developers.

With the ongoing dispute and being put at a disadvantage, the geothermal energy industry in the region will not be able to expand.

Source: Imperial Valley Press, The Desert Review