Construction Begins On Controlled Thermal Resources Lithium Valley Campus In California

NILAND, CA - FEBRUARY 15: In an aerial view, steam emanates from Controlled Thermal Resources' Hell's Kitchen lithium and renewable power plant, the first of several to be built despite the threat of a lawsuit to stall or stop it on February 15, 2024 near Niland, California. Geothermal plants create steam power from boiling, mineral-rich brine drawn from deep under geothermal fields. A race is on to develop processing to separate raw lithium out of the waste stream to be used in the production of batteries for electric vehicles. This geothermal field at the eastern edge of the Salton Sea has is being called the future "Lithium Valley", with the potential to extract 18 million metric tons of lithium from this geothermal field, roughly the equivalent of 382 million electric vehicle batteries, according to a report by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The area is believed to have the world's highest concentration of lithium contained in geothermal brines. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)