A federal geothermal parcel in New Mexico sold for a record $701 per acre ahead of Utah’s August lease sale.

A federal geothermal parcel in New Mexico sold in June for $701 per acre. Utility Dive described the result as a record-setting bid for a federal geothermal lease.

Analysts cited stronger competition among bidders as the Bureau of Land Management prepared another geothermal lease sale in Utah. That Utah sale was scheduled for Aug. 18.

The $701-per-acre figure is a lease-sale bid, not the construction cost, electricity price, or value of an operating geothermal power plant. The supplied source does not state the parcel’s acreage, bidder identity, expected generating capacity, exploration schedule, or development commitments.