Louis Capuano, CEO of geothermal energy services company ThermaSource LLC, has been hanging around Northern California's Geysers region since 1974, waiting for the inevitable day that the long-identified, sporadically tapped energy source would become a major earner and shining light for what geothermal energy can do throughout the West.
With operations in the Geysers and most every significant geothermal hot spot in the West, and increasingly internationally, today might be that day for ThermaSource. The company announced a new round of $41.5 million in equity investment that brings its total raised in the last two years to $93 million. ThermaSource landed the new money from previous investors Riverstone Holdings LLC, a unit of the Carlyle Group, and US Renewables Group, along with venture capital firm Rustic Canyon Partners. (Rustic Canyon is an investor in The Deal LLC.)
While the company is involved directly in the down-and-dirty drilling, mudding and cementing aspects of deep geothermal development, the deal demonstrates how venture capital can play a role in capital-intensive cleantech projects that will ultimately rely primarily on project finance.
Like biofuels, wind energy and clean coal development, geothermal projects will require participation of large existing energy companies with deep financial resources and project finance based on individual properties. But to be successful, these projects will also require specialized services and new technology at the front end, and that is where ThermaSource comes in.
Founded in 1979, it's the only exploration and drilling company that serves the geothermal industry exclusively, and it has been adapting technology and equipment from the oil and gas industry specifically to improve returns on geothermal projects. Riverstone and US Renewables are involved in geothermal development and operations in the Geysers and other areas, but ThermaSource does not have ownership in any projects. The company provides services in exploration and drilling, and Capuano said that while the company has good access to debt financing from partner Glitnir Bank, the new equity investment represents an endorsement of the company's strategy of actively working on new technology development in addition to buying capital-intensive drilling rigs and other equipment.
Geothermal has gotten much less attention than wind and solar power, but it received a huge endorsement when Google Inc. announced that it will be a key part of its billion-dollar commitment to renewable energy development through its RE<C initiative. - Clifford Carlsen
See Aug. 12 press release from ThermaSource LLC
See Feb. 6 post from Tech Confidential
For more see SiliconTap.com, EnergyCurrent and CleanBreak
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