Through a new joint venture, BHE Renewables and Occidental will use TerraLithium technology to prove we can recover
lithium from geothermal brine in California’s Imperial Valley using an environmentally safe method.
WHAT IS BHE RENEWABLES?
BHE Renewables, a Berkshire Hathaway Energy business,
owns, operates and develops renewable energy
projects in 11 states. Headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa,
BHE Renewables owns solar, wind, geothermal, and
hydroelectric projects that produce energy for both the
wholesale market and for customers under long-term power
agreements. BHE Renewables’ 10 geothermal clean power
facilities operate as CalEnergy in the Imperial Valley.
WHAT ARE OXY AND TERRALITHIUM?
TerraLithium is a wholly owned subsidiary of Occidental
(Oxy), an international energy company, that provides a
technology platform for extracting lithium from geothermal
and other brines to produce ultra-pure battery grade lithium
hydroxide and lithium carbonate. TerraLithium leverages
Occidental’s 100 plus years of chemical manufacturing
expertise and experience managing different types of
brines.
HOW DOES THE JOINT VENTURE WORK?
It combines BHE Renewables’ brine access and over 40
years of geothermal operations experience with Occidental’s
century of brine processing expertise and TerraLithium’s
Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) technology. DLE is the
most environmentally safe process for recovering lithium
compared to other methods, which include mining and
evaporation ponds.
HOW MUCH LITHIUM COULD YOU CAPTURE?
The successful recovery of lithium from BHE Renewables’
existing geothermal plants is expected to produce
approximately 90,000 metric tons of lithium carbonate
equivalents per year. That’s enough to produce
approximately 11 million electric vehicle car batteries each
year.
WHAT COMES NEXT?
The joint venture will continue refining the process and
increase to demonstration scale.
HOW AND WHEN WILL COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION
BEGIN?
The joint venture is working to further refi ne the DLE process
to help ensure that it achieves performance outcomes before
moving into commercial lithium production. We are focused
on process economics and making sure the process is
environmentally safe and beneficial for the Imperial Valley
Community.
ARE YOU TAKING LITHIUM OUT OF THE SALTON SEA?
No. The geothermal brine that BHE Renewables uses for power
generation and potential lithium production is drawn from a
mineral-rich reservoir at least half-a-mile deeper than the base
of the Salton Sea. There is no connection to the Salton Sea, nor
to any source of groundwater.
HOW MUCH WATER WILL BE USED?
This estimate will be formulated and refined during our
demonstration phase. We are committed to minimizing our
water requirements for lithium production. The current process
will use a very small amount of the total water provided by the
local water utility. The joint venture is committed to responsible
and efficient operations to reduce and optimize its water usage.
WILL THE LITHIUM PROCESS CAUSE AIR POLLUTION?
DLE is integrated with the geothermal process, which creates
steam from a renewable energy resource. It causes no
significant emissions or pollutants. The geothermal facilities
were built with the best available control technology that
reduces emissions to trace levels. The plants undergo regular
third-party testing to ensure compliance with permits issued by
the state of California.
WHAT ABOUT EARTHQUAKES? WILL POTENTIAL LITHIUM
PRODUCTION CREATE MORE SEISMIC ACTIVITY?
BHE Renewables’ operating facilities do not contribute to
seismic activity, and there is no anticipated contribution to
seismic activity from potential lithium production. This was
the conclusion of an in-depth scientific research project that
examined potential lithium development in the Imperial Valley
region. The research was conducted by Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory in collaboration with the University of
California, Riverside and other institutions. It was submitted to
the U.S. Department of Energy for review and was published*
in 2023. BHE Renewables is continually monitoring the natural
seismic activity in this area and reports findings to California
Geologic Energy Management Division.
BHE RENEWABLES IMPERIAL VALLEY OPERATIONS
• 10 geothermal clean power plants in the
Imperial Valley
• Process over 50,000 gallons per minute of
super-heated geothermal brine
• Produce 345 megawatts of electricity
• Powering approximately 250,000 average
California homes
• In operation since 1982