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Sierra Geothermal Power Corp.: Sierra Geothermal Power Receives Environmental Approval and Drill Permits for Its Alum Project

^{Published on 2009-07-22 13:10:52, Last Modified on 2009-07-22 13:11:00 - Market Wire}
 

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - July 22, 2009) - Sierra Geothermal Power Corp. (SGP) (TSX VENTURE:SRA) today announced that on July 21, 2009 it received an Environmental Assessment (EA) decision with a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) from the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for its Alum geothermal power project located in Nevada, USA.

The FONSI was reached following the BLM's review of SGP's proposed project plans for Alum and the anticipated environmental impact was determined to be non-significant. The FONSI represents the final stage in the federal environmental review process.

Along with this favorable decision on the EA, the BLM has approved drill permits for deep temperature gradient holes and production assessment wells at Alum.

SGP's President and CEO, Gary R. Thompson said, "We are pleased that permitting for the Alum project is behind us and we can now focus on drilling activities to move the project to bankable feasibility. Today SGP submitted several applications for grant funding under President Obama's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. One of these applications, under the Geothermal Technologies Program, Validation of Innovative Exploration Technologies DE-FOA-0000109, is for grant funding of up to US$5 million for the Alum project. With the Alum project being drill-ready and having a positive EA, we are hopeful that the US Department of Energy will approve stimulus funding that would contribute toward the capital required for the next stage of the project's development."

About The Alum Project

The Alum geothermal project is comprised of 7,198 acres in Esmeralda County, Nevada, between Reno and Las Vegas. The project is one of three within SGP's Paymaster Geothermal District. SGP recognized and determined this area as a district play for geothermal power in 2006 and coined the "Paymaster District" name. Exploration to date at Alum includes 48 temperature gradient wells drilled to a maximum depth of 600 meters with bottom-hole temperatures of 120 degrees Celsius. Recent gravity geophysics and detailed structural mapping combined with the gradient drilling data have identified many favorable drilling targets on the Alum property. Chemical geothermometry analysis of boiling water samples on the project indicates commercial resource temperatures of 150 to 225 degrees Celsius. On June 10, 2009, the BLM approved SGP for the development and operation of the Alum Unit Area. GeothermEx's 2008 independent report on the Alum anomaly as a whole provided a ninety percent probability of generating 73 MW and a fifty percent probability of generating 150 MW. A 70 MW geothermal resource can generate enough power to supply 56,000 homes.

About Sierra Geothermal Power Corp.

Sierra Geothermal Power Corp. is a renewable energy company focused on the exploration and development of clean, sustainable geothermal power. It is based in Vancouver, British Columbia and listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol SRA. Its portfolio of geothermal projects located in Nevada and California exceeds 365 square kilometres (90,000 acres) and has a combined total estimated capacity of greater than 500 MW. SGP intends to finance development by utilizing a combination of corporate equity, joint venture partnerships and project debt, with the support of US government grants and loan guarantees. To find out more about Sierra Geothermal Power Corp. (TSX VENTURE:SRA) visit our website at [ www.sierrageopower.com ].

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Gary Thompson, P.Geo, President, Chief Executive Officer and Director

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are projections of events, revenues, income, future economic performance or management's plans and objectives for future operations. In some cases you can identify forward-looking statements by the use of terminology such as "may", "should", "anticipates", "believes", "expects", "intends", "forecasts", "plans", "future", "strategy", or words of similar meaning. Forward-looking statements in this press release include statements about the Company being hopeful that the US Department of Energy will approve stimulus funding that would contribute toward the capital required for the next stage of the Alum project's development, recent gravity geophysics and detailed structural mapping combined with the gradient drilling data have identified many favorable drilling targets on the Alum property, and the Company's intent to finance the development of its projects through a combination of corporate equity, joint venture partnerships and project debt with the support of U.S. government grants and loan guarantees. These statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including the risks inherent in our industry, the challenging capital markets and other risks identified by us in our periodic filings on SEDAR (which can be viewed at [ www.sedar.com ]). Any of these risks could cause our or our industry's actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.

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