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<br />R'" <br />.',..~o <br />.. , <br />OfIIPll...N. FLi <br />, 'oEe ~ 1 1994 <br /> <br />;.. . <br />: . <br /> <br />Far West Capital <br /> <br />November 29, 1994 <br /> <br />Jeff McCoy <br />Salt Lake City Area <br />Western Area Power Administration <br />P.O. Box 11606 <br />Salt Lake City, UT 84147-0606 <br /> <br />I. ''',' <br /> <br />4.aeo'" ..' <br />\......... .,.., " <br />t--." ~.. <br /> <br />~l---~::," <br />, <br />...... . <br /> <br />Gentlemen: <br /> <br />I am writing in response to your invitation [to comment in your October 1994 <br />Replacement Resource Process Infonnation Pack~t and at the Salt Lake City public <br />infonnation meeting. I am writing on behalf of Far West Capital, Inc. ("FWC"), a <br />developer, owner and operator of several operating geothennal power plants in Nevada <br />with additional undeveloped resources in Nevada imd Utah. FWC lilso owns a 17 MW <br />gas fired plant in Lehi, Utah. <br /> <br />In our opinion it is important that a signifibarit portion of the replacement power <br />purchased by W AP A be from renewable resource~. First, W AP A would certainly send the <br />wrong signal if it replaced power from a renewable 'resource with power from a fossil fuel <br />burning resource. Second, the intennountain region seiviced by W AP A is going to be <br />heavily impacted by the need to maintain clean aU' in the Grand Canyon and surrounding <br />national parks, monuments and wilderness areas. : W AP A should not take action which <br />encourages the development of power resources ~hich contribute to the visibility <br />problems or otherwise impact the region's probl~ms in complying with whatever goals or <br />regulations which may evolve to deal with that is~ue. It is our further opinion that because <br />geothennal is a renewable resource essentially uI\ique to the western U.S., WAPA has a <br />special responsibility to encourage the developm~nt of that resource. <br /> <br />Not only is geothennal power readily available to W AP A, it has many advantages <br />over other alternatives: i <br /> <br />1. In tenns of absolute cost, geothetlmal power is the most competitive <br />renewable technology and is less expensive than iany other technology with the exception <br />oflarge gas fired turbines. . <br /> <br />2. Because a geothennal project effectively capitalizes its fuel cost by <br />developing its well field at the time the project i~ built, rate payers are shielded from <br />potentially volatile fuel prices. ' <br /> <br />3. Geothennal is probably the most! environmentally benign power source. <br /> <br />921 Executive Park Drive, Suite B' Salt Lake City, Utilh 84117' (801) 268-4444' Fax: (80l) 266-5155 <br /> <br />