California Energy Commission - Lithium Batteries

[mtnelect]

California has long been a leader in advancing new clean energy technologies, many of which require
critical minerals such as lithium in their manufacturing. Now the state is positioned to become a leading
source of lithium through a process developed to recover lithium from geothermal brines in the Salton
Sea region, an opportunity referred to as “Lithium Valley.”

 

[mtnelect]

The Lithium Valley Commission transcript of February 24 was published, and layouts plans for the first fully integrated geothermal Lithium in the United States, combining Lithium extraction with renewable energy in an integrated design.

Looking at it in stages, the first stage is small, but it will create about over 200 direct project jobs. Stage 2, which is much larger than stage 1, will add about 940. And by the time they complete the full development of this part of our resource, I think they will have about 1,400 total direct jobs. Some of them will be professional accountants, engineers, etc. The vast majority will be operators and maintenance personnel, actually operating and maintaining the plants that is built.

The average wages from the development, based on my experience in here for almost the last 30 years, will be more than double that of the current median wage in Imperial County. That's an important aspect for this because they are looking for people who want to make a career out
of this industry and stay with this throughout their career. Over 90 percent, easily, will be from Imperial County. I think the number will even be greater than that ...