As part of the contract, Ormat Technologies’ wholly-owned Puna Geothermal Venture (PGV) agrees to provide an additional eight megawatts (MW) of dispatchable geothermal power at fixed prices for over 20 years, providing a valuable hedge against fluctuating oil prices that benefits Hawaii Island electric customers. PGV, located in the lower Puna district of Hawaii Island, currently provides approximately 30 MW under two contracts.

The PPA is subject to approval by the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission (PUC), with input from the Hawaii Division of Consumer Advocacy. The construction of the power plant is substantially complete and is expected to reach full commercial operation after HELCO completes electric grid modifications by the third quarter of 2011.

“Our continued partnership will help us reach our clean energy goals even sooner,” said Jay Ignacio, Hawaii Electric Light Company president. “With long-term pricing that’s not tied to the price of oil, this contract will help stabilize electricity bills as fuel prices move higher.”

Hawaii Island is a world leader in renewable energy, with more than one-third of the energy supplied to its customers from geothermal, wind, hydro-electric and solar resources. Future renewable energy sources also include biomass as well as the use of sustainable biofuel in existing HELCO generating units.

“This agreement reinforces our commitment to increase our diverse portfolio of renewable energy resources,” Ignacio said.

Puna Geothermal Venture has provided baseload power to the island’s grid since 1993. Ormat, a world leader in geothermal technology, acquired PGV in 2004 and has been continuously investing capital to improve efficiency and environmental controls.

“We have enjoyed a long and successful relationship with HELCO and are grateful for its support of geothermal power. Ormat is committed to providing Hawaii’s market with the best geothermal technology, working with the community and sharing with it the benefits of the new development,” said Yoram Bronicki, president and COO of Ormat Technologies. “The power that the expansion will contribute will be generated from a more efficient utilization of the resource which allows us to reduce the overall cost of power and to provide improved stability to the overall electrical grid of the island.”

The goal of this project is to leverage the resources of both program offices to support state-of-the-art research and development into geothermal power generation technology using co-produced fluids from older oil and gas operations. This hybridization combines traditional fossil energy operations with emerging renewable technologies to evaluate low temperature geothermal power production from oil fields. Leveraging existing oil and gas infrastructure reduces the upfront costs of geothermal development. The potential to produce renewable energy from existing sites extends beyond the work with RMOTC to oil and gas fields worldwide.

DOE’s Geothermal Technologies Program (GTP) is currently funding 17 projects demonstrating low temperature, co-produced and geopressured resources in different geological conditions to help enable online capacity of 3 gigawatts, approximately the capacity to power 2.4 million homes a year from these resources by 2020. RMOTC received funding from GTP in 2009 to develop infrastructure for future geothermal testing at the Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 3 (NPR-3).

NPR-3, located near Midwest, Wyoming, produces oil and 45,000 barrels of 190o F water per day from the Tensleep formation and 28,000 barrels of 210o F water per day from the Madison formation. The Tensleep hot water was previously treated as a waste stream. Then a test conducted with Ormat Technologies, Inc. of Reno, Nev., extracted heat from the water to operate a 250-kilowatt generator. To date, the total produced power from the unit is 1,918 megawatt hours from 10.9 million barrels of co-produced hot water. This on-going test was the first in the world to use the co-produced hot water to generate electricity in an operating oil field and will continue through 2011. There are a large number of oil and gas wells in the United States that produce hot water as well as hydrocarbon products, generally at temperatures below 220° F, which are capable of generating renewable geothermal power.

RMOTC is located within NPR-3, 35 miles north of Casper, Wyoming. NPR-3, known historically as Teapot Dome, is operated by the Department of Energy as a producing oil field and a test site for new energy technologies. The 10,000-acre facility hosts traditional oil and gas testing as well as field research into renewable technologies, including wind, solar, and low-temperature geothermal. It is managed through DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy.

The Department of Energy’s Geothermal Technologies Program works to establish geothermal energy as a significant contributor to the nation’s future electricity generation by partnering with industry, academia, and the national laboratories to discover new geothermal resources, develop innovative discovery and generation methods, and demonstrate high-impact geothermal technologies. For more information on the Rocky Mountain Oilfield Testing Center visit the Rocky Mountain Oilfield Testing Center website. For more information on the Geothermal Technologies Program visit the Geothermal Technologies Program website.

“We are proud with the accomplishments of this project,” said Yoram Bronicki, President and Chief Operating Officer of Ormat. “We were able to implement innovative power plant solutions and complete the construction a short time after all permits were granted.”

Located at the northern end of Dixie Valley, Jersey Valley rests along the Pershing-Lander County, Nevada line. Ormat’s power solutions are utilized in the plant design; this includes the Ormat Energy Converter (“OEC”), a power generation unit that converts low, medium and high temperature heat into electrical energy. The electricity being produced is sold to NV Energy under a 20-year power purchase agreement.

The Company’s financial position and financing capabilities enabled Ormat to build this project with equity and corporate debt and plan to refinance it upon completion with DOE guarantee funds. This funding strategy shortened the development time and provided flexibility during construction.

“Advanced techniques and plentiful amounts of data, combined with a motivated team of skilled individuals and proven equipment brought this project to fruition,” Bronicki said. “In addition to providing a new source of renewable energy, the completion of the Jersey Valley project contributes to the success of the geothermal industry as a whole and will provide essential insights for future exploration and development efforts.”

Press Release

“We are excited to work with a veteran in the geothermal business,” said Project Manager Mike Hayter. “Ormat is a known leader in manufacturing binary-cycle geothermal equipment and we recognize the benefits Ormat would bring to the Lightning Dock project. We are also pleased to announce that, in conjunction with Evergreen and FE Clean Energy, we found a solution that will provide the financing needed for this project.”

The term sheet names Ormat the provider of equipment for the project. The broad scope of work includes the installation of two large Ormat binary turbo generators and all associated above-ground plant equipment including, but not limited to, well field pumps, pipelines, cooling towers, electric interconnection equipment and transmission equipment.

Ormat President and COO Yoram Bronicki said, “We are pleased to work with Raser Technologies on their Lightning Dock geothermal development and we look forward to contributing to the success of this project with our best-in-class, bankable power plant technology and proven execution skills.”

The current project schedule slates the above ground construction to be completed within 24 months from the issuance of the notice to proceed.

Press Release

“Our support for the Blue Mountain project is part of the Administration’s commitment to reducing carbon emissions while creating clean energy jobs,” said Secretary Chu.

“Thanks to the leadership of Senator Reid and others in the Nevada delegation, Nevada continues to be a leader when it comes to generating clean, renewable sources of energy,” said the Secretary.

“As I led passage of the stimulus bill, I worked to include the loan guarantee program to help finance clean energy projects like Blue Mountain geothermal that will put Nevadans back to work and bring us closer to energy independence,” said Nevada Senator Harry Reid. “Secretary Chu has been to Nevada many times and I thank him for recognizing the Silver State as a leader in developing these clean energy resources.”

The Blue Mountain project consists of a geothermal well field and fluid collection and injection systems that enable energy to be extracted from rock and fluid below the Earth’s surface, and a power plant that converts geothermal energy into electricity. The energy produced by the power plant is free of greenhouse gas emissions and other air pollutants. The project has a 20-year power purchase agreement to sell electricity and renewable energy credits to the Nevada Power Company.

The loan guarantee was issued under the Financial Institution Partnership Program (FIPP), a Department of Energy program supported by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. FIPP is designed to expedite the loan guarantee process for renewable energy generation projects that use commercial technologies and to expand credit capacity for financing of U.S. renewable energy projects. In a FIPP financing, DOE provides a partial guarantee for up to 80 percent of a loan provided to a renewable energy project by qualified financial institutions.

Including today’s announcement, the Department of Energy has issued loan guarantees or offered conditional commitments for loan guarantees to support 14 clean energy projects.

Press Release

The Special Use Permit allows for the replacement and relocation of the existing power plant, and is subject to the issuance of any other necessary permits from the Washoe County Building and Safety Department. Construction on the project is anticipated to begin during the 3rd quarter of 2010 which will qualify the San Emidio project for the Federal ITC cash grant. Final completion of the new plant is scheduled for the 4th quarter of 2011.

The full development of, San Emidio is planned as a two phase program that will result in a total of 35 megawatts of net generation capacity from four binary cycle power plant modules. Phase 2 will require additional drilling and resource development. Resource expansion efforts are underway with funding assistance from the $3.77 million dollar Department of Energy Innovative Exploration Grant that was awarded to U.S. Geothermal in 2009. To date, approximately 80% of the geologic mapping is complete. PSInSAR data acquisition and processing, and permitting for the seismic refraction survey are nearly complete. The seismic survey is scheduled to start in mid-September.

Press Release

The Mammoth complex is located near Mammoth Lakes, California and includes three plants, which were completed in 1985 and 1990 and have a generating capacity of approximately 29 MW.

“The Mammoth complex has many strong assets, including an experienced operating team running the facility and a high quality geothermal reservoir. As the sole owner of the complex, we plan to move quickly to expand the facility with a goal to double generation capacity” said Dita Bronicki, the Chief Executive Officer of Ormat. “Mammoth offers the same development opportunities that we have exploited in our Steamboat complex, and expect to dramatically increase the capacity of the existing plant through modernization of the equipment and the addition of new equipment with very little resource risk”.

Press Release

The Hudson Ranch I project, located in Imperial County, is the first stand-alone flash geothermal plant to be built at the Salton Sea geothermal site in recent years. Work on the project has begun and is expected to be complete by 2012. AMEC will be responsible for design, engineering, training and assistance during the construction and start-up phase.

The geothermal power plant will produce electricity from naturally occurring geothermal steam stored in superheated water reservoirs thousands of feet beneath the earth’s surface. The facility will be a triple-flash plant using high-temperature Crystallizer Reactor Clarifier (CRC) technology to process the geothermal brine and steam from the Salton Sea production wells. The plant will include a turbine-generator, cooling tower, wellhead separators, crystallizer, water tanks, primary and secondary clarifier tanks, control building, office buildings, substation, pipelines and supports, various ancillary structures and associated internal roadways.

“Our respective teams have been working closely for two years on Hudson Ranch I, so we are pleased to kick off final plant design with AMEC and look forward to a successful project outcome,” said Dave Watson, President of EnergySource.

“This project is one of a new generation of high-temperature flash technology geothermal plants and another great addition to AMEC’s portfolio of sustainable energy projects,” said Tim Gelbar, President of AMEC’s Power & Process Americas business. “We have been involved with this project for several years and it fully aligns with our Vision 2015 strategy, which further defines our key market sectors and strengthens the focus on renewable and clean energy.”

The project has been under development since 2006 by Catalyst Renewables and Hannon Armstrong, the majority owners of EnergySource (formerly known as CHAR); recently, GeoGlobal Energy joined the ownership group. EnergySource specializes in the development, construction and operation of grid-connected geothermal and solar power generating stations, selling “green” energy and capacity to utility companies.

The plant will take 21 months to build and will employ 35 full-time employees when complete. Once the project becomes operational, Salt River Project (SRP), a major southwestern utility will purchase the power. SRP provides electricity to more than 935,000 retail customers in the Phoenix area.

The project will benefit from US Federal tax incentives contained in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), a US$787 billion economic stimulus package passed by Congress in February 2009.

Press Release

Washington, D.C. — Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced the offer of a $102.2 million conditional commitment for a loan guarantee to U.S. Geothermal, Inc. to construct a 22 megawatt geothermal power project in Malheur County, in southeastern Oregon. U.S. Geothermal estimates that the planned project will create 150 jobs during the 20-month construction period and employ 10 skilled full-time workers when it begins operating in 2012.

The project will use an improved technology to extract energy from rock and fluids in the earth’s crust more efficiently. The technology, referred to as a supercritical binary geothermal cycle, is estimated to be more efficient than traditional geothermal binary systems, allowing lower-temperature geothermal resources to be used for power generation.

“Our nation needs to transition to cleaner energy sources, and supporting innovative projects and new technologies like this is an important part of the equation,” said Secretary Chu. “This project will create jobs while providing clean, baseload energy to help power America’s homes,” said Chu.

“With U.S. Geothermal, Inc., Oregon will be home to another renewable energy company that is not only producing green power to meet current and future energy demands but it is also an innovator within the geothermal industry,” said Governor Kulongoski. “We welcome Geothermal, Inc. to Malheur County as a part of eastern Oregon’s growing renewable energy economy.”

“There is tremendous potential for renewable geothermal energy and the jobs for Oregon that come with it,” said Senator Ron Wyden. “The announcement today helps make commercial development of geothermal energy in Malheur County a reality. This is good news for Oregon and the environment.”

In typical binary geothermal power projects, hot water is drawn from wells as deep as 4,500-6,000 feet below the Earth’s surface. The water’s thermal energy is used to heat a secondary fluid that is vaporized and then forced through a turbine to generate electricity. U.S. Geothermal’s supercritical binary geothermal cycle is more efficient than other systems in extracting heat from the hot water which directly increases the output of the power plant. As a result, more energy can be extracted from existing sites in addition to new sites that previously would not have been considered for geothermal projects.

One hundred percent of the project’s output will be sold to Idaho Power Company under a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA). With the 25-year PPA in place, the project is well-positioned to accommodate anticipated population growth and renewable energy demand in the region. About 95 percent of the power plant’s infrastructure and parts are expected to be supplied by U.S.-based manufacturers, according to the company.

Including the conditional commitment announced today, the Department has issued conditional commitments for loan guarantees to support ten clean energy projects. This conditional commitment is another step toward making the United States a worldwide leader in the manufacture and deployment of clean-energy technology. For more information, please visit the Loan Guarantee Program website.

“Japan could make geothermal energy the centre of its new energy
economy just as the US or China will make wind the centre of theirs,” Lester Brown, president of the US-based Earth Policy Institute, told a news conference.

“There are no leaders in the world today in this field. There is no industrial country in the world that now has a well established geothermal industry” Brown said at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan.

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