Local town in Colorado exploring geothermal development options
San Luis Valley, Southern Colorado, U.S. (source: flickr/ Jesse Varner, creative commons)
Francisco Rojas
25 Sep 2014
The city of Rico in Colorado is exploring ways to harness its large geothermal potential to create a hot springs resort and electricity for the town, but not for the region just yet.
The town of Rico in Colorado is currently sitting upon significant geothermal potential that is yet to be utilised. This potential can be used for electricity generation of for other indirect uses. The local news report that there might even be potential for a resort.
“I don’t know of anyone in town that is against geothermal development. They’re against mega geothermal development, exporting power, providing power to the whole region. Most people have expressed strong support for a hot springs resort and local electrical generation. If we could provide electricity for our own town, which is highly possible, people would be really excited,” Downer said.
Since 2009 people like Nakagawa and Downer have been committed to bringing geothermal energy extraction to Rico, but funding for renewable energy projects dried up with the nationwide Republican House takeover in 2010, according to Downer. “There was very little happening in Rico for geothermal at that point. The project really went dormant for a while,” Downer said.
That is, until a meeting last month brought together the leading geothermal advocates around the state in Pagosa Springs, where geothermal electrical generation has taken the form of what Rico one day could be. The dominant thread of conversation at that gathering: Rico, the town of 200 located 25 miles southwest of Telluride.
“At the conference down there with all the top players there was a lot of talk of what’s happening in Rico and what they can do to move the ball forward for us,” Downer said.
The development of geothermal capabilities would not cost the town any money, as statewide organizations and the federal Department of Energy are all trying to find new renewable energy resources.
“The town does not have coffers to be able to invest in this. All of our efforts are grant-funded. We have basic infrastructure issues that need to be addressed first, so a large geothermal project is not a high priority,” Downer said.
It remains unclear exactly how much energy could be harnessed from the geothermal activity beneath Rico, as extensive and expensive testing is needed to determine if the large scale drilling required for geothermal energy extraction would be effective. But, interested parties in Rico will continue fighting for geothermal, and the meeting next month with state authorities should shed more light on the feasibility of more widespread development of the untapped resource.
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Source: Telluride Daily Planet
