Every minute, geothermal plants near California\u2019s Salton Sea pull vast amounts of hot, mineral-heavy brine from deep underground. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that the region\u2019s existing 400-megawatt geothermal fleet brings about 21,500 tons of lithium-in-brine to the surface each year, yet that lithium is not being recovered commercially at scale. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
After the heat is used to make electricity, most of the brine is cooled and sent back below ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That sounds like a missed opportunity, and to a large extent it is. The same system could deliver round-the-clock renewable power<\/a> and a domestic battery material, but the real challenge is proving that direct lithium extraction can work reliably, economically, and safely against an unusually hot and salty fluid. The latest tests are promising, but they are not the finish line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The geothermal plants were built to generate electricity, not to operate as mines. Wells bring naturally heated brine from more than a mile underground; the plant captures its thermal energy, and lithium and other dissolved minerals simply come along for the ride. <\/p>\n\n\n\n BHE Renewables says its 10 Imperial Valley facilities alone process roughly 50,000 gallons of lithium-rich brine each minute while producing 345 megawatts of electricity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Direct lithium extraction, often called DLE, adds another step before reinjection. A treatment system selectively captures lithium from the processed brine, while the remaining fluid continues through the established geothermal loop. Unlike open-pit mining or giant evaporation ponds, this approach uses infrastructure that is already moving brine to the surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sending the fluid underground is not throwing useful water away. Reinjection helps maintain reservoir pressure, supports continued electricity generation, and completes the geothermal circulation system. Researchers expect deeper lithium-rich fluid and brine from less-developed parts of the reservoir to provide some replenishment over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the underground supply does not reset overnight. In one preliminary 30-year forecast<\/a> that assumed 95% of the lithium was removed from produced brine, modeled recovery fell from about 1.8 pounds per second to roughly 0.7 pounds per second. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Strategic reinjection farther from production wells may slow that decline, although the shared reservoir crosses company boundaries and will require coordinated management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The numbers explain the excitement around \u201cLithium Valley.\u201d California\u2019s energy commission says full regional development could supply enough lithium for about 5 million electric vehicle batteries each year, while the Department of Energy says the broader resource could support more than 375 million battery packs<\/a> over time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Those are resource estimates, not current production figures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why does this matter beyond California? Federal agencies treat lithium as a critical mineral because rechargeable batteries support electric vehicles, grid storage<\/a>, consumer electronics, and national supply chain security. Geothermal lithium could allow one well system to deliver two valuable products instead of one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That distinction between potential and production matters. The region already generates geothermal power and processes lithium-bearing brine, but commercial recovery has moved much more slowly than early projections suggested. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Technology setbacks, financing, permitting, market economics, and the chemistry of the brine have all turned a simple-sounding idea into a difficult engineering project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Department of Energy says DLE can use 99% less water per ton of lithium than conventional lithium mining processes. Even so, a complete geothermal and lithium project still needs freshwater<\/a> for cooling, brine pretreatment, chemical dilution, and refining. <\/p>\n\n\n\n An earlier assessment placed proposed operations near 3% of the region\u2019s historical water supply, while a peer-reviewed 2024 update put the estimate at about 4% and warned that future Colorado River cuts may have a larger regional effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are other tradeoffs. Existing Salton Sea geothermal plants produce about 88,000 U.S. tons of solid waste per year, much of it iron-silicate filter cake and other mineral residue. <\/p>\n\n\n\nHow lithium rides up with geothermal heat<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Also Read: California’s geothermal plants bring 21,500 tonnes of lithium to the surface every year, then pump the brine back down<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Why the brine goes back down<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The resource is huge, but the industry is not yet<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Also Read: Sea King helicopters handed to Ukraine years ago now sit beside interceptor drones, and the job they ended up doing was never planned<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
The environmental equation is not simple<\/h2>\n\n\n\n