New power plant planned at Geysers

ThermaSource, a Santa Rosa geothermal company, has won a contract to drill wells that would supply steam to a new power plant projected to begin operations in 2010 at The Geysers.

Western GeoPower, a Canadian company, announced the contract Wednesday. Terms were not disclosed.

ThermaSource is expected to begin drilling the first of six wells in January. If completed, the Western GeoPower plant would add 25 megawatts of geothermal-generated electricity to the 1,000 megawatts already produced by 22 plants atop the steam fields straddling Sonoma and Lake counties.

Founded in 1980, ThermaSource has planned, designed and supervised drilling on geothermal projects in the West and in nations around the Pacific Rim. The company currently operates drilling rigs at The Geysers and a handful of other California sites.

-- Michael Coit