Lava burns 2 buildings at Puna Geothermal plant
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM
An aerial view of the Puna Geothermal Venture plant on May 9. A substation and adjacent warehouse that stored a drilling rig at the plant were covered by lava on Wednesday, according to a Thursday statement from Ormat Technologies,
Lava has burned down two buildings at the Puna Geothermal Venture plant.
A substation and adjacent warehouse that stored a drilling rig at the plant were covered by lava on Wednesday, according to a Thursday statement from Ormat Technologies, the Nevada company that owns the plant.
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The main access road to the plant has also been covered and blocked by lava. An alternative access road remains open. Two geothermal wellheads were destroyed on May 28.
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The Puna geothermal plant was taken offline and evacuated soon after the Kilauea volcano began erupting on May 3.
Officials removed roughly 50,000 gallons of pentane, a flammable gas similar to lighter fluid used in power generation at the plant, to an off-site industrial park. The geothermal wells were also plugged to prevent the accidental release of toxic gases from the lava flow.
