June 15, 2010

Washington, DC – Nevada Senator Harry Reid today praised the announcement by the Department of Energy (DOE) of a partial loan guarantee for the Nevada Geothermal Power Company’s (NGP) 49.5 megawatt Blue Mountain geothermal project in Humboldt County.

“I am glad to see economic recovery funding being used to put Nevadans to work on a project that will help us achieve energy independence,” Reid said.  “Northern Nevada is the Saudi Arabia of geothermal energy and I thank Secretary Chu for recognizing the Silver State’s enormous job-creating potential to produce plenty of clean and affordable energy.”

“The United States leads the world in geothermal electricity production with just over 3,000 megawatts of installed capacity,” said Secretary Chu. “Our support of the Blue Mountain project demonstrates our continued commitment to realize the potential in geothermal so that we can achieve our nation’s clean energy goals.”

The $98.5 million loan by John Hancock Financial Services will be guaranteed by DOE through the Economic Recovery Act supported Financial Institution Partnership Program.  NGP and John Hancock Financial are the first to access the DOE loan guarantee through this program.