Company eyeing geothermal development on Augustine Island, Alaska
Augustine Volcano, Alaska (Source: Flickr, U.S. Geological Survey, Creative commons)
Alexander Richter
3 May 2022
The State of Alaska has issued a preliminary approval for geothermal exploration on Augustine Island to developer GeoAlaska.
Reported locally, a company from Alaska is actively pushing forward on planned geothermal development on an active volcano on Augustine Island in Cook Inlet in the State of Alaska. The State is considering to lease land for the planned development to GeoAlaska LLC, a company that is already exploring for geothermal at Mount Spurr, also in the State.
The company sees the opportunity with those two volcanos locations given that they are closer to the population center of Alaska and the Railbelt.
The company is seeking to gather data on Augustine Island and wants to lease state-owned land from the Alaska Division of Oil and Gas through its geothermal program to look into the resource. The Division of Oil and Gas has held lease sales for Spurr in the 1980s and 2008 and for Augustine in 2013.
Ormat Technologies abandoned Mount Spurr after unsuccessful exploration and in previous leasing rounds there was no interest in a license on Augustine Island.
The volcanic activities are seen as a good indicator in the potential, so the company.
The State’s Governor Mike Dunleavy recently proposed legislation that would make geothermal exploration easier by broadening the areas for exploration and extending the exploration periods.
The State has released a preliminary approval last week, it is though a draft with a public commenting period still ongoing. It will take some months, but after the process a final finding will be issued whether GeoAlaska can start exploration work.
A link provided in the original article was not functional at the time we wrote this piece, but here the original link.
Source: KTOO
