WOMEN IN ENERGY
GEA Reports Show Industry Poised to Create Thousands of Jobs in 2011
the Geothermal Energy Association (GEA), Executive Director Karl Gawell announced the findings of new industry reports that show the geothermal industry will add thousands of jobs as dozens of new clean geothermal power plants come online or enter advanced stages of devel- opment. GEA released reports on job creation
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in the geothermal industry and an industry update that showed how the industry is creating more jobs than conventional en- ergy and is creating jobs that are perma- nent, full-time, and often provide a higher wage; in some cases with pay that doubles county and state averages. The GEA report—“Green Jobs through Geothermal Energy”—found that the fed- eral stimulus, tax incentives, and strong state renewable standards continue to fuel the growth in geothermal power and job
t a recent press preview for the 2010 Geothermal Energy Expo, hosted by
creation. Every geothermal project that came online in 2009 took advantage of the tax reimbursement provisions of the stim- ulus bill, which helped maintain momen- tum for new projects and continue to cre- ate new jobs in America. Four of the top five states with geothermal power under development have substantial renewable electricity standards. In addition, the ben- efits of the stimulus to the geothermal in- dustry have yet to be fully realized. About 95% of the projects receiving ARRA fund- ing are either less than 50% complete or have yet to break ground. “Recovery Act funding is going to
make a huge difference over the next year to push projects to completion and create more jobs. The majority of the ARRA in- vestment will really start to pay dividends for the economy in 2011,” said Karl Gawell, GEA Executive Director. GEA anticipates that 2011 will be a high-point of geothermal activity in the
US under the stimulus legislation. There will be approximately 500 to 700 Mega- watts of power projects in the final con- struction phase in 2011, and these projects will add approximately 3,000 construc- tion jobs, primarily in Nevada and Cali- fornia. ARRA also appears to have drawn a diverse group into the geothermal sec- tor. Almost half of the Geothermal Tech- nologies Program awards from the stimu- lus went to non-industry entities such as colleges and universities; cities, counties, and other state and local institutions; tribal entities; and The Department of Energy’s National Labs. “Ram Power is proud to be part of the
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burgeoning geothermal industry in the Western U.S. which owes its existence and robustness to the support of the state and federal mandates and incentives. We believe that the Imperial Valley in South- ern California and the Geysers in North- ern California are two world class geo- thermal resource areas and we are diligently working to finance and execute more than 300MW of projects, for which we have power sales agreements. Over $1B will ultimately be invested in Ram projects in California—creating drilling and construction jobs as well as high-pay- ing, permanent plant operations jobs across the state,” said Jeremy Magrath, Project Manager, Business Development, Ram Power Inc. “Potter Drilling is developing a revolu-
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tionary hard rock drilling technology that holds the promise to lower the cost and risk of developing geothermal power. Re- covery act funding has helped Potter Drilling to create and maintain high pay- ing green jobs and to accelerate develop- ment of our technology,” said Jared Pot- ter, CEO, Potter Drilling Inc. As more geothermal industry jobs are
2009 2010 Figure 1: Advanced Phase Project Development 2006 – 2011 Source: GEA 40 PROFESSIONAL WOMAN’S MULTICULTURAL MAGAZINE CELEBRATING 10 YEARS OF DIVERSITY
WWW.PROFESSIONALWOMANMAG.COM 2011
being created, a number of colleges and universities across the country are emerg- ing with undergraduate, graduate, and cer- tification programs related to geothermal.
MW in Advanced Phase (IV) Development
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