BLM NEWS RELEASE
Geothermal leases not sold at the March 22 competitive geothermal lease sale were available the following day for non-competitive offers. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) offered 34 parcels non-competitively and received offers for 12 parcels. The non-competitive rental fees of $44,843, in addition to the competitive lease receipts of $456,353, resulted in $506,446 in total revenue from this year’s geothermal lease sale.
Of the 51 parcels offered this year, 17 parcels sold competitively. Two parcels in Churchill County received the highest bid per acre prices: bonus bid of $253,580 at $60 per acre for a 4,227-acre parcel by Ormat Nevada Inc., of Reno, and bonus bid of $8,320 at $13 per acre for a 640-acre parcel by TGP Development Company LLC of San Diego, Calif. The second highest bonus bid of $29,370 was paid by Geothermal Technical Partners of Sparks, NV for a 4,894-acre parcel in Mineral County. Thirteen parcels received bonus bids of $2 per acre.
The sale offered 51 parcels in Nevada totaling 151,119 acres; 42,627.47 acres sold competitively and 44,842 acres received non-competitive offers on March 23. The remaining 63,648 acres will remain available for non-competitive lease offers for two years.
Geothermal leases are for a 10-year period. Annual rental for a competitive lease is $2 per acre for the first year, and $3 per acre for lease years 2-10. Annual rental for a noncompetitive lease is $1 per acre for lease years 1-10. Additional environmental analysis would need to be conducted to receive permits to drill or build a facility to develop the energy from the geothermal source.
Additional sale information is posted on-line at: www.blm.gov/nv/st/en.html.
