LOS ANGELES, Aug. 15, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Encore Clean Energy, Inc. (OTCBB:ECLN) is pleased to announce that it has signed a Letter of Intent with ThermaSource, Inc., a Geothermal Engineering Consulting company. ThermaSource is an internationally recognized geothermal technology firm run by energy veteran Louis Capuano.
Under the Letter of Intent, Encore and ThermaSource will form a new joint geothermal energy development company that will design, build, own and operate "micro-geothermal" renewable energy generating ventures in California. The venture plans to utilize Encore's proprietary MPG(tm) heat-to-electricity conversion technology, which is currently under development.
ThermaSource has received a conditional commitment letter from a major geothermal facility in The Geysers geothermal field in Northern California to test an Encore MPG unit that will be custom-engineered and built for use on one of its geothermal wells, as the first planned project of the new venture.
Encore's new geothermal energy development venture will initially be restricted to exclusive operations in the geothermal-rich territory of California, and be majority owned by Encore and ThermaSource having a minority interest. Under the management of Mr. Capuano, the geothermal venture intends to form subsidiary Limited Partnership Companies with local geothermal resource owners and Investors to fund individual geothermal energy-generating projects, which may earn green energy emissions credits and pass-through tax advantages under various state and federal renewable energy incentive programs. In California, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has committed the state to produce 20% of its electricity needs from clean energy resources by 2010, like geothermal power.
"We are very happy to have someone of Mr Capuano's stature to help validate the MPG and our geothermal business strategy," commented Dan Hunter, Encore CEO. As a co-founder of ThermaSource, Inc. (www.ThermaSource.com), Mr. Capuano is one of the world's leading geothermal pioneers and brings to Encore over 33 years of geothermal and petroleum drilling industry experience.
Mr. Capuano has worked on all forms of geothermal energy development in the domestic U.S. and internationally, including operations in China, Japan, Philippines, Costa Rica, Indonesia, Romania and Canada. A member of the Geothermal Resources Council since 1975, the Board of Directors of the Council since 1991 and of its Executive Committee since 1995, Mr. Capuano was President of the Geothermal Resources Council (www.geothermal.org) from Jan. 1999 to Jan 2001. Mr. Capuano is the Chief Project Engineer and Prime Contractor for the recent San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth (SAFOD), which drilled a well and, on August 3, 2005, penetrated the San Andreas Fault, conducting its earthquake research for the U.S. National Science Foundation's Earthscope project.
Mr. Capuano's vast knowledge of and connections in the geothermal industry are expected to enable Encore to more quickly identify, and be introduced to, the relevant geothermal resource owners and operators of existing geothermal facilities in California, and around the world, who could benefit the most from use of Encore's MPG technology to generate previously untapped geothermal revenues.
"With its ability to harness usable power from even low-temperature bottom-cycle heat, I believe the MPG has the potential to expand the number of places where the World could cost-effectively tap its vast and currently unutilized geothermal and hydrothermal energy resources," said Mr. Capuano. "And by so doing, we could reduce the growing need to import costly fossil fuels to meet our ever-increasing demand for electricity."
The MPG is also predicted to cost-effectively generate zero-emissions power for hotels and communities situated on or near hydrothermal hot springs. It can also benefit the Oil Industry, generating new profits from old wells by harnessing the hydrothermal heat contained in the vast amounts of hot water produced by many of the world's oil and gas wells. Currently this produced hot water is a liability to oil or gas well owners because of the cost to pump and dispose of this wastewater back into injection wells.
About Encore Clean Energy Inc. http://www.encorecleanenergy.com
Encore Clean Energy intends to leverage ownership of its revolutionary low-cost, high-efficiency clean energy technologies to form valuable partnerships with local industrial leaders best positioned to market, sell and profit from the social, economic, environmental and political benefits of its low-cost, high-value, in-demand clean energy-generating products. Encore Clean Energy is currently focusing its corporate efforts on product development of potential breakthrough clean and renewable energy technologies, which the Company has been researching, developing, prototyping and testing.
This release contains forward-looking statements that are based on the beliefs of Encore's management and reflect Encore's current expectations as contemplated under section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. When used in this release, the words "estimate," "project," "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "expect," "plan," "predict," "may," "should," "will," "can," the negative of these words, or such other variations thereon, or comparable terminology, are all intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect the current views of Encore with respect to future events based on currently available information and are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, risks and uncertainties pertaining to development of Encore's technologies, products and services, the actual cost and performance of such technologies and products, the markets for such products and services, the timing and level of customer orders, competitive products and service, changes in economic conditions and other risks, uncertainties and factors, which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievement expressed or implied by such forward looking statements to differ materially from the forward looking statements.