The financial meltdown on Wall Street, soaring oil prices, the volatility of the natural gas market, concern about global warming and a new administration assuming the White House are driving increasing demand for the energy produced by harnessing heat from beneath the earth"s surface, [cenference attendees] said. ...

Thomas Fair, renewable energy executive for NV Energy formerly known as Sierra Pacific Resources, said the 40 percent larger turnout compared with last year"s conference is "a sign of what is going on in Nevada and across the country."

Nevada has 10 geothermal power plants generating 325 megawatts of power with 73 more megawatts deliverable by 2010. It has a U.S.-leading 45 projects in the works _ more than double the 21 in California, the next busiest state. One megawatt equals 1,000 kilowatts, enough to serve about 1,000 U.S. homes.

The Geothermal Energy Association said new projects are under way in Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

When developed, the projects will provide up to 3,368 megawatts of new electric power capacity, more than doubling U.S. capacity from 2,936 megawatts in 2006, to nearly 6,304 megawatts, the association said.

More than 2,100 megawatts of known geothermal resources can be easily developed in Nevada _ enough to exceed a state requirement that 20 percent of Nevada"s total power production be renewable by 2015, said Lisa Shevenell, the director of the Great Basin Center for Geothermal Energy. ...

Gov. Jim Gibbons said 80 percent of the federal acres leased for geothermal projects in the nation are in Nevada, which issues an average of 60 drill permits annually for geothermal projects. That"s why he is pressing state and U.S. officials to expedite the leasing process. "When it takes eight to 13 months to get a geothermal drill permit approved and only 30 days to get an oil well drill approved, we have our work cut out for us," he said. ...

Barry S. Andrews, senior vice president of Chevron Geothermal, the world"s largest producer of geothermal energy, said it is a "critical time for us in the energy field. While geothermal has gotten more attention recently, it often seems to take a back seat to solar and wind," Andrews said. Chevron launched an international campaign to promote geothermal last year.

Dan Reicher, director of climate change for Google.org, said his company invested $10 million as part of a plan announced last year to develop "enhanced geothermal systems" technology to generate energy from rocks deep below the earth"s surface. "It is indeed the sleeping giant of renewable energy," said Reicher, a former assistant U.S. energy secretary. "Indeed, the giant is stirring."

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