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Date: June 29, 2010
Section: Front page
Company seeks heat under Bow
Town opens land up for exploration
By:Trent Spiner Monitor staff   
Bow officials have agreed to open the town's land to energy exploration after a Massachusetts scientist said geological maps show there's enough stored energy underground to indefinitely produce more power than the Seabrook Station nuclear power plant. If the right mix of rock formations exist beneath Bow, J. David Reynolds said his company, Atlantic Geothermal LLC, would like to build a geothermal power plant at a cost of between $768 million and $5.5 billion. It would transfer heat from the deepest part of the earth's outer crust - 30,000 to 40,000 feet deep - to the surface, where it would power turbines to create electricity.
"It's pretty exciting technology," said Harry Judd, chairman of the board of selectmen and an attorney specializing in energy issues.
Selectmen voted last week to allow Atlantic Geothermal to conduct non-intrusive testing throughout the town and agreed to help the company approach landowners if additional testing is required on private property.
Testing will not require drilling or cutting trees, Reynolds said. A series of devices on the surface of the earth will measure the magnetic and electric conductivity of rock formations up to 40,000 feet deep. With that information, Reynolds said, a three-dimensional model of the bedrock can be formed, enabling scientists to determine the best spots to tap for energy.
"We want to draw heat from deeper down even though we're not going to the core of the earth," he said.
With a price tag of $1 million, testing can't move forward until the company is awarded a grant from the federal Department of Energy, said Reynolds, the company's founder and manager. His deal with the town expires in 180 days.
Reynolds said earlier studies have shown there are underground vertical formations of granite in the Concord area that measure between 300 and 400 degrees. He said other scientists have found no evidence that the heat was being produced by radioactive isotopes breaking down within the earth's mantle, so he hopes those rocks are being heated from the earth's core.
"We want to expand the knowledge of the geology in the area," he said. "We believe it will verify what we believe to be there."
If tests show that the granite formations are conduits for energy from the core, Reynolds said, an intricate series of piping can be constructed underground to capture the energy. That piping would draw heat to the surface, where it would boil liquid to power turbines. On the surface, the power plant would have a cooling tower and take up less than 10 acres.
Daniel Enderton, executive director of MIT's Sustainable Energy Revolution Program, said there is a wide spectrum of uses for geothermal energy, from moderating the temperature in a home or business to attempting to produce power.
There are two general theories on how to make a large-scale geothermal plant work, though they can share characteristics, Enderton said.
"Hydrothermal systems" seek to capture superheated water that is already beneath the surface while "engineered geothermal systems" fracture pieces of rock below the surface and heat water by pumping it between the cracks.
"There's a lot of work that still needs to be done by researchers and entrepreneurs and engineers to make this technology work," Enderton said. "It's a very exciting and active part of geothermal development."
Reynolds likened the operation to a closed radiator in a car that circulates heat.
If construction moves forward, Reynolds said the power plant can be built in phases starting with a 160-megawatt facility. That's about a third of what the coal-fired Merrimack Station in Bow produces. A plant that size would generate 100 jobs and about $30 million in annual tax revenue, Reynolds estimated. It would cost $760 million, he said.
Reynolds said the plant could also be built as a 330- or 1,330-megawatt facility. The largest facility would take six years to build, employ 200 people and produce almost $200 million in annual tax revenue.
The plant would run around the clock and produce no emissions.
Atlantic Geothermal has evaluated five locations throughout New England, but so far Bow seems to be the most promising. Judd said the proximity to major power transmission lines would make building a plant in Bow easier.
"I'm an optimist," Reynolds said. "The main driving factor behind why we're doing this is to develop alternative energy."
Reynolds approached Judd last week about representing the company as it tried to move to the Concord area. In a letter to selectmen, Judd said he would forgo the business to help bring the project to Bow.
Selectmen voted to authorize Judd to negotiate a deal with the company on the town's behalf. In a lengthy meeting Friday morning, Judd, with the backing of Town Manager Jim Pitts and the town's attorney, wrote a memo setting guidelines for the use of town lands. Selectmen have the authority to lease land for up to a year. A vote at town meeting is required for a longer period.
"They're not going to pay the town anything now," Pitts said. "If they get interested in a site, of course we'll talk money."
In the memo, Atlantic Geothermal agree to give the town two days notice before it starts testing. It must also turn over test results within 14 days.
Trent Spiner can be reached at 369-3306 or tspiner@cmonitor.com.

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