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...
Ormat Technologies: Shame About the Price
Tom Konrad CFA Ormat Heat exchanger at GKW Landau. Geothermal water evaporates the carrier medium. Preheater and the evaporator. The steam line above connects to the turbine. Photo by Claus Ableiter via Wikimedia Commons Last Wednesday, Ormat Technologies (NYSE:ORA) reported a great quarter, beating analyst expectations for both earnings and revenues. Investors loved it: ORA was up 8% on the day to $20.69, and are up 14% at $21.85 as I write. I’m a big fan of geothermal power, and would love to own Ormat at the right...
“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...
Just Sold: Raser Technologies (RZ)
Raser Technologies (NYSE:RZ) did not get the hoped-for DOE loan guarantee. The company still has good long term prospects, but the short term upside chances are much weaker, prompting me to sell in the hope of buying back in after a general market sell-off. Raser Technologies (NYSE:RZ) dropped from $2.10 to $1.95 on September 1st, prompting a regular reader to leave a comment asking me if it was time to sell on the original Raser article. (Because he's a regular, he knows my policy of preferring to answer questions posed as comments on the blog to email comments: At...
Three Top Geothermal E&P Companies
Tom Konrad CFA
Last week, I was on a panel at the Inside Commodities Conference, and spent some time talking with Tyler Mordy, director of research at Hahn Investment. He's a top-down analyst (and CFA Charter holder) who had recently grown enthusiastic about Alternative Energy in general because the sector is so beaten down.
We agreed that the most-beaten down sector of alternative is geothermal power stocks, which Tyler finds frustrating because Hahn works with managed ETF portfolios, and there simply is no geothermal ETF. Nor is there likely to be, since one publicly traded company dominates the industry (Ormat Technologies...
Geothermal & The ARRA: Some Steamy Details
Charles Morand In October 2007, Tom wrote an excellent overview of the geothermal power sector. By way of recap, geothermal power produces electricity by using steam from naturally-occurring Earth heat that travels up from the planet`s mantle and core by conduction. Conventional geothermal harnesses hot water and fluids already present in the rock while enhanced geothermal systems (ESG) - or next-gen geothermal - works by injecting cold water into hot dry rock (HDR) and pumping out resultant hot water and steam. In terms of business risks, geothermal stands at the confluence of mining and utility/independent power...
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...
When Will the Geothermal Power Slump End?
By Dana Blankenhorn Of all the energy harvesting technologies out there, geothermal remains the most maddening. In theory, there should be more than enough energy below our feet to power our world, and it should be cost-competitive for a fraction of the investment needed in wind or solar. In theory. Right now, the extraction of geothermal energy in the U.S. remains tied to Nevada and California, where the heat is close enough to the surface and in stable enough formations that a drill can reach it without the heat dissipating quickly. This has caused investors to sour on...
FPL Group in Talks to Buy Constellation Energy Group
FPL Group Inc (FPL) is currently in the advanced stages of negotiations to acquire Constellation Energy Group (CEG). An FPL-Constellation merger would create a giant East Coast-based utility with a market capitalization, based on Tuesday's closing stock prices, of $26.97 billion - $16.93 billion for FPL and $10.04 billion for Constellation. Constellation Energy Group is based out of Baltimore Maryland and is the holding company for Baltimore Gas and Electric. They also have an extensive presence in the wholesale power supply and generation business. The Power Generation Division currently uses 4.6% alternative sources for power generation. ...
Drill for Geothermal Power in Developing Countries and on King Street
Tom Konrad CFA Hezy Ram Geothermal industry veteran Hezy Ram has worked in the industry for over three decades. His career began with 28 years of experience at Ormat (ORA), where he was Executive Vice President of Business Development, after which he founded Ram Power Corp. (RPG.TO/RAMPF.PK) in 2009. In February, he resigned as CEO of Ram Power shortly after the company warned of significant delays and cost overruns at a key Nicaraguan project, a move he says was motivated by irreconcilable differences with other board members and major shareholders regarding the company's strategy. Today,...
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...
Geothermal Heat Pumps: The Next Generation
Tom Konrad CFA The most efficient way to heat and cool a building just got more efficient. Geothermal heat pump diagram via Bigstock Climatemaster, a division of LSB Industries (NYSE:LXU), recently announced that their new Trilogy 40 geothermal heat pump (GHP) had been certified by the Air Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) to exceed 40 Energy Efficiency Ratio (EER) under ground loop conditions. EER is the ratio of effective cooling (heat removed) to the energy used, at maximal load, and is the standard...
Ormat Technologies Enters Into Power Purchase Agreement for the Supply of 22 MW from...
Ormat Technologies (ORA) announced that through a newly established project subsidiary, it has entered into a 25-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with an electric utility according to which ORMAT will supply approximately 22 MW from recovered energy generation power plants. The power plants are to be constructed by ORMAT between 12 and 18 months from the effectiveness of the PPA. The power plants will be constructed on gas compressor stations along a Natural Gas pipeline in the Midwestern United States.
Raser Technologies (RZ): A Bargain, or Just Cheap?
Tom Konrad, Ph.D., CFA Raser Technologies (NYSE:RZ) stock has fallen almost 50% since the company announce an offering of shares on June 30. Although the round quickly filled, the stock continued falling, and it seems like a screaming deal. Is it? On July 7, Raser Technologies sold $25.5M of stock and warrants in a secondary offering. According to press reports, this amounted to 13% of Raser's stock, thereby valuing the company at (very approximately) $200M, or $175M pre-money. The units, each consisting of 1 share and 1/2 a warrant exercisable at $4.62 was offered at $2.98. ...
List of Geothermal Stocks
Geothermal stocks are publicly traded companies whose business involves using the earth's heat energy for productive use, such as generating electricity and space and process heat.
This list was last updated on 10/27/2020.
Calpine Corp. (CPN) Bought out. No longer publicly traded.
Climeon AB (CLIME-B.ST)
Contact Energy Limited (CEN.NZ, COENF)
Enel SpA (ENEL.MI, ESOCF)
Energy Development Corporation (EGDCY)
Innergex Renewable Energy Inc. (INE.TO, INGXF)
Mercury NZ Limited (MCY.NZ)
NIBE Industrier AB (NIBE-B.ST, NDRBF)
Ormat (ORA)
Ormat Industries (ORMT.TA)
Polaris Infrastructure Inc. (PIF.TO, RAMPF)
If you know of any geothermal stock that is not listed here and should be, please let us know by leaving a comment. Also for stocks in the...
Ormat Technologies, Inc. Completes Well Re-drilling at Puna Geothermal Project in Hawaii
Ormat Technologies (ORA) announced that Ormat subsidiary, Puna Geothermal Venture ("PGV"), completed the re-drilling of an existing production well at the Puna Geothermal Project (the "Puna Project") located on the Big Island, Hawaii. The well re-drilling increased net generating capacity of the power plant by approximately 4 MW, bringing total net generating capacity to approximately 29 MW.
