Hot water deep under the ground in southwest New Mexico will soon start making clean, green electricity in what is being called the first geothermal power plant in the state.

Raser Technologies and Gov. Bill Richardson announced Friday that the Provo, Utah, company will begin construction near Lordsburg of a 10-megawatt plant — enough to power about 8,000 homes with virtually no emissions of greenhouse gases. A second construction phase eventually will expand power output to 20 to 25 megawatts, or enough power for as many as 20,000 homes, the company said.

Richardson praised Raser’s decision to build the Lordsburg plant, which will be the company’s eighth.

“Our state has already shown leadership in developing wind and solar energy technology," Richardson said in a news release. "Now we are proud to be one of the first states to deploy new technology by Raser that will help unlock our geothermal resources for power production without damaging our environment.”

Raser has developed proprietary technology that it says allows it to derive power using lower-than-normal geothermal heat sources. The company says the Lightning Dock Geothermal project near Lordsburg will be completed in six months. Most geothermal plants take several years to build, said Raser Executive Vice President Dick Clayton.

“We believe that the completion of this renewable energy plant over the next several months will mark the beginning of an expanding role for geothermal power in our nation’s energy future,” Clayton said in the release.

The geology of the western United States holds promise for expanding the use of geothermal energy, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, and the agency is conducting research to get the price of geothermal down to or below that of coal-fired plants by 2010.

The Lightning Dock project is helping New Mexico reach goals set in recent years by Richardson and the Legislature of reducing the state’s carbon footprint. Part of the strategy for reaching these goals is to increase the percentage of electricity generated by renewable energy sources.