Source: Steve Wilhelm, TechFlash, August 30, 2011. Snohomish Public Utility District will start drilling for hot water next week, hoping to find enough geothermal heat to eventually build a $100 million, 20-megawatt power plant. The 5,000-foot “deep exploratory well” will be the first of its kind in Washington. It follows some much shallower “temperature gradient wells” that were drilled last year.