PRESIDIO — The Geothermal Working Group convened at the Presidio Municipal Development District (PMDD) office on Wednesday, July 24. County and city leaders met with local farmers and other interested parties to discuss potential uses for the geothermal electricity and heat to be generated in southern Presidio County. The meeting was also joined remotely by Dub Taylor, chief operating officer of the Texas PACE authority, an innovative clean energy financing tool established by state law.
John Kennedy, city planning consultant for the City of Presidio, kicked off the meeting with a recap of the last meeting and the contributions to that discussion by Dr. Michael Bledsoe, vice president of Food Safety and Regulatory Affairs at Village Farms. As the operator of some of the largest and most sophisticated greenhouse facilities in North America, Village Farms is also renowned for its sustainable and efficient farming practices. Bledsoe had provided valuable insights at the last meeting concerning the energy needs to maintain ideal greenhouse temperatures and the benefits of CO2 capture and water recycling systems, among other things.
Following this brief recap, Terry Bishop of Presidio Valley Farms pointed out, “We are a greenhouse here,” to describe the local climate. He was unsure how greenhouses could be economically applied to growing conditions along the Rio Grande. The meeting participants then discussed past agricultural practices in the area and established that the arable land in southern Presidio County covers around 4,000 acres that were once worked by about 36 farms. Crops successfully grown in the area include lettuce, onions, tomatoes, peppers and cantaloupe. The agricultural industry in the area suffered several major setbacks including the closure of the international border crossing after September 11, 2001, and a fire that destroyed the railway bridge between the U.S. and Mexico in 2008. Farming never really recovered after those events, and the meeting participants were unsure how geothermal could restart area agriculture.
Workforce was another concern mentioned at the meeting. Bishop felt that the local workforce would be inadequate to the challenges of restarting area agriculture. “Most people don’t want to work outside,” he said. Meanwhile, labor from Mexico is fraught with its own complications, including visa difficulties. PMDD Treasurer Liz Rohana mentioned that there could be a way to create a targeted work visa program for the region as part of a larger economic development package to be developed by the PMDD.
Bishop wondered if it might be possible to develop a central processing facility where local people could “work inside.” The facility could use the effluent (waste) heat from geothermal electricity generation to dry and process raw vegetables and grains and to make salsas, soups, and other value-added foodstuffs. The facility could also use waste heat to pack and seal agricultural goods in marketable packaging for U.S. and Mexican consumers. Such a facility would also “have it going both ways,” according to Bishop, meaning that the trucks bringing in raw agricultural goods and packaging materials could then be loaded with finished goods instead of leaving empty. Perhaps once the facility was up and running, local farmers would have an incentive to start planting their fields again and a better idea of what crops would best supplement the needs of the new facility.
The group also pondered the possibility of using waste geothermal heat in high-efficiency heat-exchangers to create large, refrigerated spaces at the port of entry. Entire truckloads of produce could be hauled into these facilities and stored there for inspection. Refrigeration with heat-exchangers would demand only a fraction of the cost of conventional electricity-powered refrigeration. Some of this produce could then be transported to the processing facility, which could potentially be sited along the existing railroad sidings. From there, the value-added goods could be shipped by rail and road to U.S. markets and beyond.
Energy security was another concern expressed at the meeting. Participants discussed recent power outages in Presidio and the ongoing bad news out of the Houston area, where hundreds of thousands of people still remain without electricity several weeks after Tropical Storm Beryl laid waste to the infrastructure there. Trey Gerfers, general manager of the local groundwater conservation district, mentioned the idea of using the geothermal baseload to charge a series of earth-based batteries similar to the BOB (Big Ole Battery) that existed as a backup power source for Presidio but was decommissioned some years ago. Gerfers wondered if perhaps these batteries could be augmented with additional solar fields to power a “fully emission-free industrial zone” in addition to local homes and businesses.
Finally, the group discussed the largest geothermal conference in the world, Geothermal Rising, which will take place October 28-30 on the Big Island of Hawaii. Many of the world’s foremost geothermal energy producers, investors, and entrepreneurs will be present and the conference will also feature a special panel on rural geothermal. Gerfers stated that he had already registered for the conference, booked a hotel room, and made his flight reservation with money out of his own pocket. He emphasized the need for Presidio County to have a “team in attendance” at the conference as the best way to be “taken seriously.” He urged the PMDD members present to send at least one representative, possibly Kennedy, to the conference, and maybe even Presidio Mayor John Ferguson. An ideal team would also include County Judge Joe Portillo and perhaps Chandra Eggemeyer, West Texas regional representative for Texas Economic Development and Tourism Office.
The next meeting of the Geothermal Working Group is scheduled for August 14 at 5 p.m. at the PMDD office and online. Contact John Kennedy at john@bigbend.bike for more information.