Controlled Thermal Resources Holdings Inc. (CTR) has broken ground on the construction of an integrated geothermal power plant and lithium production facility at the Salton Sea in California. This is the first of seven project stages building towards a multi-billion-dollar clean energy precinct, the “Lithium Valley Campus.”
The 1.85-billion-dollar development includes a clean energy geothermal power plant integrated with a lithium production facility, which is expected to produce 25,000 metric tons of battery-grade lithium hydroxide monohydrate each year, supporting the annual production of approximately 415,000 electric vehicles.
Construction commencement of the company’s first project stage is central to CTR’s larger vision for the Lithium Valley Campus, which includes the co-location of specialized battery material manufacturers onsite to enable direct access to CTR’s clean lithium and renewable baseload electricity. Bringing together multiple industries essential to battery manufacture in one location will transform the current fragmented and carbon-intensive battery supply chain and create an estimated 480 good-paying union construction jobs and, ultimately, thousands of clean energy jobs in the community.