Geothermal Power and Lithium at the Salton Sea: What Those Facilities Do

What are those facilities beside the Salton Sea?

The plants around the southeastern Salton Sea sit above a geothermal resource: very hot, mineral-rich fluids deep underground. Production wells bring that fluid to the surface, and the facilities use its heat to generate electricity.

This is a long-running part of the Imperial Valley economy. BHE Renewables says its CalEnergy operations began in 1982 and now include 10 geothermal facilities with 345 megawatts of combined net capacity. EnergySource’s team brought the separate, approximately 50-megawatt Featherstone geothermal plant into operation in 2012.

Those figures describe electricity-generating capacity. They do not measure lithium production, and they should not be read as the exact power output at the moment a photograph was taken.

My photographs show geothermal infrastructure, cultivated fields, and the sea sharing the same view. I have not confirmed the individual plant names in these frames, so the company descriptions below explain the regional industry rather than identify a particular photographed building.

What is rising into the air?

The white clouds are what first catch my eye. Around geothermal equipment and cooling systems, a visible plume can form when moisture condenses into tiny water droplets as warm, moist air meets cooler air. Water vapor itself is invisible; the droplets make the cloud visible.

That makes “smoke” an imprecise description of what we see. The geothermal generating process uses heat from underground, rather than burning lithium for fuel. A white plume also cannot tell us whether lithium extraction is taking place.

On my winter visits, the air has often felt fresh and the view wonderfully clear. That is my experience of being there, not an air-quality measurement. The appearance of a plume does not establish the complete composition of a facility’s emissions.

Explore the photograph

Tap a number in Mark’s photograph, or choose a label below. Tap the photograph itself to open the unmarked original full screen.

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1. Cooling structures2. Above-ground pipework3. Cultivated fields4. The Salton Sea

Cooling structures

The repeated round openings sit above a bank of cooling structures. Cooling equipment removes waste heat from the generating cycle; these visible structures do not identify where lithium would be separated.

Labels describe visible features, not a verified plant layout. No marker identifies a turbine, lithium extraction unit, or company.

How geothermal heat becomes electricity

In a flash-steam system, hot brine arrives under pressure. Lowering that pressure causes some of the liquid to become steam. The steam spins a turbine connected to a generator, turning the energy carried up from underground into electrical energy.

After heat is extracted and fluids are handled through the plant’s treatment and cooling systems, remaining geothermal brine is returned underground through injection wells. Production and reinjection are central to managing the resource.

One reason utilities value geothermal power is that its heat source is available day and night. It can support steady electricity production when the sun is down or the wind is calm, although individual plants still need maintenance and can experience outages.

This is the first product of the resource: electricity that can be sold into the power system. Lithium recovery adds a different product further along the brine-processing pathway.

Where lithium extraction fits in

The brine carries dissolved minerals as well as heat. Lithium is one of them. Direct lithium extraction, or DLE, separates lithium from that liquid rather than digging lithium-bearing rock out of an open pit or concentrating it in enormous evaporation ponds.

Think of it as two linked jobs. The power plant uses the brine’s heat. A mineral-processing facility then works on its chemistry. Depending on the technology, selective materials and other separation processes recover lithium from a mixture containing many substances. Additional purification and conversion are needed to make a saleable lithium chemical.

Companies may discuss lithium chloride, lithium carbonate, or lithium hydroxide. These are different compounds and stages of processing, not interchangeable names for a finished battery. Producing battery-grade material also requires meeting demanding purity specifications.

The intended markets include electric-vehicle batteries and stationary energy storage. A lithium chemical producer supplies part of that manufacturing chain; it does not necessarily manufacture the battery cells or assemble the vehicles.

The Salton Sea name can cause confusion. The mineral resource being targeted is deep geothermal brine, not the lake water visible behind the facilities. Returning brine underground is also different from discharging it into the sea.

Who is involved, and what is operating?

Status checked September 24, 2026. The table separates existing power generation, demonstrated lithium processing, and planned commercial production. Company targets are identified as targets; they are not production records.

BHE Renewables and TerraLithium

TerraLithium is an Occidental subsidiary. Its joint venture with BHE combines extraction technology with access to operating geothermal facilities. The June 2026 milestones are meaningful evidence of processing progress, but a successful test and sustained commercial output are different achievements.

EnergySource Minerals and ATLiS

ATLiS would process brine associated with Featherstone. The current developer page describes an approximately 22,000-metric-tonne lithium hydroxide project and a future delivery schedule. Older forecasts of a 2026 start should not be treated as confirmation that production began. DOE also published a final environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact for ATLiS in March 2025; environmental review is not an operating certificate or a record of shipments.

Controlled Thermal Resources and Hell’s Kitchen

CTR’s March 9, 2026 plan describes Stage 1 as a 50-megawatt power facility with capacity for up to 25,000 metric tons of lithium carbonate per year. Those are proposed capacities. The federal dashboard’s November 20, 2026 estimated permitting-completion date is a review milestone, not an opening date.

A useful question when reading any update is: Does this report a test, a permit, financing, construction, commissioning, or actual commercial production? Each tells us something different.

Why this resource draws so much attention

A 2023 Department of Energy analysis by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that, with technological advances and more geothermal development, the region’s lithium resource could support more than 375 million electric-vehicle batteries. That is a way of illustrating the potential scale of an underground resource, not a count of batteries already made or a yearly production forecast.

The opportunity is compelling: generate useful electricity while recovering a material that battery manufacturers need. Existing wells, industrial knowledge, and power operations give the region a starting point.

But a large resource does not automatically become a reliable business. Projects still have to demonstrate consistent recovery, product quality, manageable operating costs, financing, and sustained performance at their intended scale. The distinction between “there is lithium here” and “this facility produces it commercially” is the heart of this story.

What development means for the surrounding landscape

It is easy to see these facilities as an energy story alone. From the roads, they are part of a place that also includes farms, communities, and bird habitat.

DLE can avoid the extensive pits and evaporation ponds associated with other extraction methods. It still requires an industrial facility. Water demand, brine treatment, waste handling, air emissions, and the effects of construction deserve project-specific scrutiny. DOE notes that some geothermal operations produce solids requiring disposal at approved sites.

The California Energy Commission identifies IID as the anticipated water supplier for proposed Imperial County lithium recovery facilities. That freshwater demand is distinct from the deep brine used to carry heat and lithium. Reinjection does not mean a project has no freshwater needs.

For me, the useful questions extend beyond how much material could be produced. What jobs will actually be created locally? How will residents and Tribes participate in decisions? How will water use and environmental performance be reported? And how will development fit into a place where agriculture and wildlife are already important?

Understanding the industry does not diminish what I enjoy about this area. It adds another reason to pay attention. The plume above a green field is the visible part of a much larger story happening underground.

More from this part of the Salton Sea

• Why I Love Winter Around the Salton Sea — the quiet mornings, curiosity, and bird encounters that bring me back.
• What’s Growing Around the Salton Sea? — the crops, growers, seasons, and irrigation behind the green fields.
• Salton Sea Bird Watching: Where to Go & What to See — a separate guide for exploring the area’s birdlife.