Bottle Rock Geothermal Power Plant

The Bottle Rock Power Plant (BRPP), originally owned by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR), is located within a leasehold of approximately 350 acres known as the Francisco Leasehold on High Valley Road, Glenbrook Area, Lake County, within the Geyser Known Geothermal Resource Area, near the town of Cobb. BRPP was certified by the California Energy Commission (CEC) in November 1980. 

BRPP consists of a 55-Megawatt geothermal turbine generator, manufactured by the Fuji Electric Corporation, an Ecol-Aire condenser system, a Research-Cottrell counter flow cooling tower with five cells, a Peabody-designed Stretford system to abate hydrogen sulfide, and an existing steam field comprised of three separate well pads. 

In November 1990, DWR suspended operation of the Bottle Rock project due to insufficient steam production. The steam field for Bottle Rock could only produce about 15 MW instead of the licensed 55 MW capacity. In April 1993, the CEC approved an amendment modifying monitoring and reporting requirements in consideration of the plant's non-operational status. 

In May 2001, the CEC approved BRPP’s ownership transfer from DWR to the Bottle Rock Power Corporation (BRPC). In December 2006, the CEC approved BRPP’s restart of operations, including 11 design changes at the facility, and transferring ownership from BRPC to Bottle Rock Power, LLC (BRP). BRP, LLC has been owned by BRP Holdco, LLC since 2006 when US Renewables Group (USRG) and Riverstone-Carlyle (Riverstone) bought the project and funded the re-start effort. BRP HoldCo, LLC is still the owner of Bottle Rock Power, LLC. 

In December 2013, the CEC approved a petition amending the conditions of certification for the BRP maintaining the bond requirement for the project but adjusting the required amount from $5 Million to $1,341,500 in 2014, increasing to $1,676,875 in 2019. 

In April 2015, BRO issued a letter stating they would be shutting down and placed into non-operational status effective April 1, 2015 for an undetermined length of time. On November 20, 2015 Baseload Clean Energy Partners, LLC purchased 100% of the membership interests in BRP HoldCo, LLC from USRG/Riverstone. There was no change in operational control of BRP, LLC or in ownership of that entity by BRP Holdco, LLC, notwithstanding the upstream ownership change.