US Geothermal has received permission from the US Bureau of Land Management to deepen two wells at the San Emidio Phase II project in Nevada.

The company has also started drilling a new well at its El Ceibillo project in Guatemala.

Drilling at San Emidio Phase II will start on 11 July at two wells that were originally drilled to obtain temperature gradients.

The company said a vegetation survey was completed in May, and a nesting bird survey will be conducted within 10 days before drilling operations commence.

“The two wells were originally drilled to a depth of 1000 feet and encountered high bottom hole temperatures and high temperature gradients,” US Geothermal said.

“Both of these are indicators of a deeper, active geothermal system. If productive zones are encountered, the wells will be tested to determine resource temperature and production characteristics of this south-west zone,” the company said.

Drilling at El Ceibillo started on 9 June, with the new well to be used to test the geothermal reservoir’s flow characteristics and provide data required for the numerical reservoir model being developed by Mannvit Engineering of Iceland.

The reservoir model will be used to determine the size, production characteristics, and power production capability of the reservoir, US Geothermal said.

Image: US Geothermal