Today’s big news in the geothermal space is that energy technology company Raser Technologies (NYSE:RZ) has obtained $15.3 million in preliminary financing for its New Mexico Lightning Dock project from FE Clean Energy Group and Evergreen Clean Energy.

When completed, the project is expected to deliver up to 15 megawatts of geothermal power. The investors are to take a 51 percent interest in the project, with Raser developing and managing it.

Why it matters? The announcement demonstrates there’s continued investor interest in making sure the project progresses as planned, despite a long history of stops and starts in the geothermal hot spot.

Raser has re-entered a well at the southwestern New Mexico-based location, originally drilled in 1983-4 revealing temperatures of greater than 300 degrees Fahrenheit that was later shut down in 1997 due to design problems. It marks one of the most heavily studied, underdeveloped geothermal resources in the United States because of its near-term electric potential, according to a 2006 publication by the Geothermal Energy Association for the U.S. Department of Energy.

The so-called Lightning Dock Geothermal Anomaly in Animas Valley was first discovered in 1948 when boiling water in a hot rhyolite (volcanic rock) was found in a water well, according to an article from New Mexico State University’s Water Resources Research Institute. This is Raser’s second geothermal project in the Animas basin.

Raser has a 20-year power purchase agreement to sell renewable energy from the project into the city of Phoenix, Ariz. More details about the announcement can be found here.