Ormat Buys Added Stake in Geothermal Guatemala Plant
Ormat Technologies (ORA) said it has agreed to buy a 50.8 percent partnership interest in Orzunil I de Electricidad Ltd., owner of a geothermal plant in Guatemala, for $14.8 million. The Zunil project includes one power plant with a capacity of 24 megawatts that is expected to generate $12.5 million in revenue next year and boost Ormat's net income by $1.9 million in 2006.
Geothermal Stocks Overview
Tom Konrad CFA Geothermal power generation has several advantages over higher profile alternative energy such as wind and solar, but gets much less attention. Part of the lack of recognition for Geothermal power arises from a confusion with the technology variously called Geoexchange, Ground Source Heat Pump, or Geothermal Heat Pumps. Geoexchange uses the near constant temperature of the soil a few feet to a few hundred feet below the ground to heat and cool a building. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Geoexchange is the most efficient way to heat and cool a building, and...
Ram Power Negotiates for Higher Revenue
Tom Konrad CFA Geothermal well photo via Bigstock Ram Power (OTC:RAMPF, TSX:RPG) recently provided an update on progress at its flagship San Jacinto project in Nicaragua. This was the project where cost overruns and construction delays last year sent the stock plummeting from over C$2 a share to around C$0.50 a share at the start of the year. The decline has continued, despite the fact that the project seems back on track with the hiring of a new subcontractor, and the stock now trades...
$3 Billion For Cleantech & Alt Energy
Charles Morand The DOE made public earlier today the amount of money that will awarded to clean power projects in lieu of the usual tax breaks: $3 billion. This will allow project proponents to receive a direct cash grant now instead of a Production Tax Credit or an Investment Tax Credit later on. The guidance document notes the following: "Section 1603 of the Act’s tax title, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Tax Act, appropriates funds for payments to persons who place in service specified energy property during 2009 or 2010 or after 2010 if construction began...
Geothermal Power: Business in a Tough Neighborhood
Geothermal power producers use Earth’s internal heat to power electrical generators. It is the quintessential renewable energy source. Most geothermal plants are located adjacent to underground pockets of super hot water. Developers look for locations where these thermal reservoirs are near the earth’s surface, providing availability of the super hot water at a reasonable cost. Unfortunately, those locations are often in tough neighborhoods.
Ring of Fire
The overwhelming majority (85%) of current geothermal power installations in the world are located along the Ring of Fire that circumvents the Pacific Ocean. More a horseshoe than a circle, the Ring of Fire is a geographic anomaly that is...
Is Fracking for Enhanced Geothermal Systems the Same as Fracking for Natural Gas?
Meg Cichon Advocates for both natural gas and geothermal are up in arms over whether fracking for enhanced geothermal systems should be scrutinized with the same parameters as natural gas. Ormat sucessfully used EGS technology to increase the capacity of its Desert Peak 2 plant in Nevada by 1.2MW. Photo Source: Ormat The U.S. geothermal industry recently scored a big win when its first enhanced geothermal system (EGS) project went online in April. ORMAT (NYSE:ORA) was able to stimulate a previously unproductive well at its Desert Peak project with EGS...
Geothermal Transmission 101
Paul Schwabe Among renewable resources, one of the most valuable attributes of geothermal electricity is the baseload characteristic of the energy resource. That is, geothermal electricity generators are able to deliver a stable level of power production over time. Yet for better or worse, this baseload characteristicalong with other notable factors such as size constraints and varying market segmentsreveals that interconnecting a geothermal plant to a transmission or distribution system poses unique challenges compared to other renewable energy technologies . A recent report by NREL, "Geothermal Power and Interconnection: The Economics of Getting to the Market," delves...
Geothermal: The Other Base Load Power
Last Thursday and Friday I attended the Geopowering the West Investors' Forum in Montrose, CO (hosted by the Delta-Montrose Electric Association, Colorado's most progressive Rural Electric Cooperative.) I've long been interested in geothermal stocks, and I first started adding them to managed portfolios in 2003. As a whole, those stocks have more than doubled in the 1-4 years since they were purchased. Fundamental Advantages of Geothermal Electricity Why did I make those first purchases? Geothermal power has some unique advantages over other forms of renewable energy. Geothermal is base load power. Utilities have a strong preference towards...
Waterfurnace 7 Series vs. Climatemaster Trilogy Geothermal Heat Pumps: The Best of the Best
UPDATE: I just looked into the 7 Series vs the Trilogy 40 in more detail here and came to a slightly different conclusion. Tom Konrad CFA Geothermal heat pump diagram via Bigstock Waterfurnace Renewable Energy (TSX:WFI, OTC:WFIFF) launched its new highly efficient 7 Series geothermal heat pumps (GHP) today. The 7 Series commercial release beats Climatemaster’s (a division of LSB Industries (NYSE:LXU)) Trilogy 40 as the first commercially available GHP with a variable speed compressor. The Trilogy 40 is currently available as part of a pilot program, and is expected to be commercially available...
“An opportunity to ‘back up the truck’ on this new HOT stock at a...
by Travis Johnson Stockgumshoe.com teases out the geothermal stock that is the current come-on for Casey's Energy Report. AltEnergyStocks.com reviewed a sister publication, Casey Energy Opportunities, last year. Today we’re looking at a newsletter from Doug Casey’s stable, the first one of his teasers that I’ve looked at in quite a while. The pitch is that Marin Katusa has picked 19 consecutive winning stocks for his Casey’s Energy Report, and that you can subscribe now to get in on pick number 20, which is apparently getting close to their buy price. As they put it … “Marin’s just...
Nevada Geothermal Power Inc.: Drilling Resumes at Blue Mountain Geothermal Site
Nevada Geothermal Power Inc. (NGLPF) reported that the next phase of development is underway at its Blue Mountain Geothermal site, with drilling to deepen the Deep Blue 2 (DB2) well by an additional 700 metres (2,300 feet). "We are investigating a potential deep - hotter production zone that would make Blue Mountain's economics extremely robust," said Brian Fairbank President and CEO. "A deep high temperature resource would allow us to use more efficient and cost effective 'dual-flash' technology similar to the 60MW power plant at the Dixie Valley high temperature field in Nevada. A Monte Carlo simulation...
Polaris Infrastructure: Deleveraged, Derisked
By Tom Konrad, Ph.D., CFA
Geothermal power is a type of renewable electricity that even the most conservative electric utilities find it easy to get behind. Like conventional coal and gas plants, it uses heat to drive a turbine which in turn creates electricity. The main difference is that the heat comes from natural geologic processes, rather than burning fossil fuels, making it renewable and free of greenhouse gas emissions, giving it considerable environmental appeal as well.
Where Geothermal Developers Stumble
The problem lies in the resource. The potential for producing power from solar, wind, and hydropower at any location can be...
Ormat: A Bargain Green Stock?
by Debra Fiakas CFA Everybody likes a bargain. Investors really like a good cheap buy. A review of our four alternative energy industries revealed several stocks trading below industry average multiples of forecasted earnings. Tracking the geothermal power generators has frequently taken us to the door of Ormat Technologies, Inc. (ORA: NYSE). Ormat has two revenue segments: power generation through geothermal generators and energy recovery and equipment sales to utility and industrial customers installing geothermal power plants. The company owns and operates plants with 626 megawatts generating power and has supplied equipment around the world for another...
Nevada Geothermal Power Inc.: Geophysical Survey completed at Pumpernickel Geothermal Project, Nevada
Nevada Geothermal Power Inc. (NGLPF) reported the completion of a geophysical survey at the Pumpernickel geothermal project in Nevada. The project is managed by Nevada Geothermal Power Company (a subsidiary of NGP), as Exploration Manager. The final report is pending, however a preliminary assessment of the data shows that the survey successfully defined the contact between the valley fill and the basement rocks, and most importantly it established the positions of valley faults and their relationship to the geothermal system. The data showed a good correlation with the 2005 resistivity data. The combined data will aid significantly...
How Geothermal Heat Pumps Can Soar Like Solar
Tom Konrad CFA Geothermal Heat Pumps (GHP) are a niche market. They shouldn’t be. Disclosure: Long WFIFF, short LXU puts (a net long position.) A Better Mousetrap? Ralph Waldo Emerson never said “Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door.” The mousetrap that likely inspired the misquote was invented seven years after his death. Unfortunately, many people take it literally. GHPs have all the hallmarks of a better mousetrap: They do the job of heating and cooling a building more efficiently than any other option. Despite...
Blindsided with Advance Warning
Holders of Ormat Technologies (ORA: NYSE) shares may feel somewhat blindsided by the cessation of operations at the Puna geothermal power plant on the Hawaii Island. Lava flowing from neighboring Kilauea volcano has overrun two of the geothermal wells as well as a warehouse and an electricity substation.
Shareholders cannot claim they were not forewarned. Ormat’s annual report for 2017 mentions the risk of volcanic eruptions seventeen times. However, since no geothermal power company has ever experienced an interruption in operations due to a volcanic eruption, investors most likely overlooked the real dangers of locating a business on top of geological ‘hot spot.’
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Hawaii_Mount_Kilauea%27s_eruption_opens_new_lava_vent.webm
Ormat is not the...
