On Friday, September 12, 2008, Raser held a groundbreaking ceremony for the first commercial geothermal power plant to be built in New Mexico.  The event was held at the development site of the power plant near Animas, New Mexico.  News on the event was published in the U.S. Department of Energy EERE News.  Raser’s Director of Geothermal Development, Micheal Hayter conducted the event and also acted as master of ceremonies.  The event was attended by local and state government representatives, including Dara Parker from Senator Bingaman’s office, state representative Rudy Martinez, the county commissioner chairwoman and four representatives from SRP (The Salt River Project) who have contracted to purchase the power for use in the City of Phoenix, AZ.

 

The event featured energy and environment experts as well as representatives from the automotive and airline industries.

Dara Parker, from U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman’s office read a statement from the Senator. Senator Bingaman from New Mexico is Chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. The said he regrets he was not personally able to attend the groundbreaking ceremony because on that same day he chaired a “summit” to discuss how the Senate can move forward to address energy issues. All 100 senators were invited to attend.

The purpose of the Energy Summit chaired by Senator Bingaman was to foster a bipartisan dialogue on how we achieve a more secure, reliable, sustainable and affordable energy future for the American people.

Directly behind the podium, attendees to the event were able to view one of the new modular power generation units that had been delivered to the site for installation into Raser’s proprietary Power Generation Network.  Several more of the units were also visible on site, ready to be installed upon completion of the site preparation.

The VIP participants were given a plaque commemorating their participation in the first commercial geothermal power plant to be built in New Mexico.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including, but not limited to, statements regarding: our beliefs about preliminary drilling results; our beliefs about the potential for geothermal power generation on our leased properties; our belief about our ability to exploit the available geothermal resources; our beliefs about the strength and enforceability of our agreements; our beliefs about our ability to successfully negotiate power purchase agreements; our beliefs about our ability to obtain project financing for the geothermal power plants we intend to develop; our belief in the ongoing financial stability of our financing partners; our understanding of accounting treatments for financial reporting of tax treatment of our geothermal projects; and our beliefs about the geothermal market generally. These forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ, including, without limitation, the competitive environment and our ability to compete in the industry; our ability to adapt our technology for geothermal applications; our ability to secure necessary permits; the strength of our intellectual property; our ability to attract, train and retain key personnel; and such other risks as identified in our quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2008, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and all subsequent filings.

All forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to us as of the date hereof, and we undertake no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this press release.