CanGEA | Canadian Geothermal Energy Association

VANCOUVER, Canada, December 4, 2008, TSX Venture Exchange Trading Symbol: WGP – Western GeoPower Corp., a renewable energy development company, today announced that completion testing of the Company’s fourth well (WGP-4) at The Geysers Geothermal Field in California has established an initial power capacity of 9.0 MW (gross) or 8.2 MW (net). This latest well increases the power capacity placed behind pipe to 28.7 MW (gross) or 26 MW (net), representing over 70% of the initial steam resource required to supply the planned 35 MWe Western GeoPower Unit 1 plant.

Flow tests on all four wells were conducted by independent consultants GeothermEx. The initial flow rates for the four wells aggregate 463,000 lbs/hour at a design condition of a minimum flowing wellhead pressure of 87 psia. The power plant specifications call for steam requirements of 16,130 lbs/hour per MW (gross) or 17,743 lbs/hour per MW (net).

“Drilling to date continues to yield outstanding results, with well WGP-4 coming close to matching WGP-1 as the most productive well drilled at the Geysers over the past two decades,” said Dr. Subir Sanyal, President of GeothermEx. “The high well capacity achieved to date reflects the presence of high-flow-capacity areas within the leasehold, and careful targeting and drilling of the wells.”

California-based GeothermEx is a recognized international authority in the evaluation of geothermal resources and has been involved in the development of all the producing geothermal fields in the United States and over 750 projects worldwide.  Their knowledge of The Geysers geothermal field is extensive, having been associated with the development of the field for over 30 years.

“We are especially pleased to report that well WGP-4 has been completed considerably under budget and over one month ahead of schedule,” said Kenneth MacLeod, President & CEO of Western GeoPower. “Significant cost savings may be realized with the drilling program if future wells continue to yield similar high productivity rates.”

Initial projections called for the drilling of a total of eight production wells and one injector. Should the drilling of the additional wells continue to yield higher than anticipated productivity, fewer wells may be required. An existing well is being assessed for re-work and may be used as a second injection well. The drilling program is scheduled for completion in late 2009 and the 35 MWe Western GeoPower Unit 1 plant is projected to start commercial operations in early 2010.