The auction held in Reno, involved lands in both Nevada and California and brought in nearly $20 million in bids, including the highest per-acre bid in history.  The results of the Bureau of Land Management’s second competitive sale of geothermal leases signal significant expansion of this renewable, low-emission source of energy. “We were extremely pleased with the unexpectedly high interest in our first competitive sale, in June, for lands in Idaho and Utah,” said BLM Deputy Director Henri Bis-son, “and the success of today’s sale is a sign of continued rising interest in developing the nation’s considerable geothermal energy resources, most of which are found on public lands.” A total of 49 parcels – 43 in Nevada and six in California – were offered for lease in today’s combined sale.  More than 2,700 acres in the famed Geysers geothermal field of California brought bids totaling over $8 million, including the historically high bid of $14,000 per acre for a 470-acre parcel, which totaled $6.5 million. 

This bid by Binkley Geo Resources, LLC, of Santa Monica, California surpassed the previous record of $11,000 per acre, in a 1982 sealed-bid sale of a 440-acre Geysers parcel.  The second-highest bid was $2,000 per acre for a 320-acre California parcel offered in today’s sale, for a total of $640,000. All of the California parcels are located in Sonoma, Mendocino or Lake Counties. The 122,849 acres in Nevada sold for nearly $11.7 million. Fifty percent of all revenues from the lease sale – including bonus bids, rentals and royalty monies collected on the leases – are distributed to the state in which the leased lands are located; 25 percent is distributed to the respective county.  The remaining 25 percent goes to the BLM. Under previous regulations, geothermal parcels were leased using a sealed bidding process. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 directed changes in the way federal geothermal resources are leased, including a requirement that leasing be competitive.  Today’s sale offered on a competitive basis parcels that had been requested for leasing under previous regulations.   

“The new regulations and nomination process implement the direction Congress provided in the Energy Policy Act,” Bisson said, “but when you add in the results of the two transitional competitive sales, you begin to see this as a larger, pivotal moment for renewable energy development on public lands.”  Geothermal energy production uses steam and hot water heated naturally beneath the surface of the earth to generate electricity with little or no need to burn fuel.  Geothermal energy currently accounts for 8.5 percent of renewable energy generation and 0.3 percent of the total U.S. electricity supply.  Though it generates a small portion of the nation’s electricity, the U.S. continues to be the world leader in generating electricity using geothermal energy.  In 2005, geothermal energy generated approximately 16,010 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity.  Almost half of the nation’s geothermal energy production occurs on public lands, and about 90 percent of U.S. geothermal resources are found on federal lands.  The BLM administers 29 geothermal power plants, which use federal resources in California, Nevada and Utah.  They have a total capacity of 1250 MW and supply the needs of 1.2 million homes.