A few surprises in new Colorado geothermal report

A hot spot in the Republican River Basin. Who would have thought?

Conventional thinking has held that Colorado just doesn’t have the heat-beneath-our-feet for producing electricity.

A 237-page report issued July 1 to meet a legislative mandate finds cause for thinking that it can be done – and in at least one case, far eastern Colorado, between Burlington and Wray, a place you’d hardly expect to be a leading candidate. The San Luis Valley? Sure. It has hot springs. And the San Juan Basin, does too. The report, however, finds that repurposing oil and gas wells to produce electricity in a binary power plant might be the most profitable opportunity.

In most cases, though, the report urges further investment to better understand what is possible, the challenges and so forth.

The report was a collaboration of the Colorado Geological Survey, the Energy and Carbon Management Commission, and Teverra.

To download the report, go here.