An Australian company hopes to build a massive geothermal power plant by the Salton Sea, in a development that could raise hopes for clean energy advocates and supporters of Salton Sea restoration.

The Imperial Irrigation District’s board of directors voted Monday to approve a 1,900-acre lease agreement with Controlled Thermal Resources, which has proposed a 250-megawatt geothermal plant along the lake’s southern shore, near Calipatria. The facility would generate five times as much electricity as any of the 11 existing geothermal plants in the area.