Augustine’s geothermal power draws bid; state issues call for competitors
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Petroleum News
Alaska’s Division of Oil and Gas has received a proposal for geothermal exploration on Augustine Island in Cook Inlet - the name of the individual or company, per state statute, has not yet been released.
Also according to state statute, on June 29, the division issued a call for public comments and competing proposals for geothermal exploration on and around Augustine Island with public comments and completed applications for proposed exploration due by 5 p.m. July 30.
The area includes all of Augustine Island, including some tidelands and adjacent waters within approximately 3 miles of the island, excluding nearshore tidelands of the mainland to the west. The area contains about 65,992 acres divided into 26 tracts, ranging from 2,489 to 2,560 acres.
The division said the call will initiate the process to allow exploration for geothermal resources, “which could result in a disposal, by either a geothermal prospecting permit or a geothermal lease.”
Past interest There has been interest in this area in the past, and in 2013 the division issued a final finding for an Augustine Island geothermal lease sale. That sale was held in conjunction with the Cook Inlet areawide sale in June 2013. The state received a single bid, for tract 13, $1.02 per acre from Nicholas Van Wyck, $2,544.90 for the 2,495-acre tract.
In its finding for that sale the division discussed the history of Augustine Volcano, which, it said “has explosively erupted, sometimes ejecting very large fragments of magma thousands of feet into the atmosphere. Larger-sized volcanic debris, called blocks or bombs, typically strike near the vent of the volcano.”
The Alaska Volcano Observatory has reported ash clouds from the 1976 and 1986 eruptions reaching high enough to damage aircraft, with five jetliners experiencing severe exterior abrasion in 1976 and in 1986 a DC-10 encountered an Augustine Volcano ash cloud on descent into Anchorage, and although it landed safety, the division said, air traffic was routed around the ash cloud for several days.
In its 2013 finding the agency said the geothermal energy potential at Augustine Island is indicated by the presence of the volcano, but said data is not yet available on the subsurface and geologic data related to geothermal potential of the volcano, with Alaska Volcano Observatory published field studies conducted on the island related to geohazards and volcanology of the volcano.
Challenge of transport There are challenges in transporting geothermal energy, the division said in a 2013 director’s finding, and “currently geothermal energy must be used or converted to electricity within a few miles of its recovery from the ground reservoir.”
Augustine Island is far from the existing electrical power grid, with the nearest power plants some 150 miles away at Beluga and 112 miles at Nikiski.
That was in 2013.
But public interest in cleaner sources of energy continued to grow, including investments in technology for geothermal power.
The main problem facing renewable energy is that the biggest sources, wind and solar, are variable. While fossil fuel power plants can be constant or turned on and off on demand - wind and solar come and go with, well, the wind and sun.
Geothermal has the best chance of the renewables to be constant, reliable,
And the increased financial incentives for renewables that have come with the Biden administration have been a boon for geothermal investment, including technology research.
Thus, Augustine Island’s geothermal potential might not go to waste because of its distance from the electrical grid. New technology might present a solution.
- Petroleum News
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