Book Review: Investment Opportunities for a Low Carbon World (Geothermal + Efficiency)
Charles Morand Last Thursday, I reviewed two chapters from the recently published book "Investment Opportunities for a Low Carbon World"*. This post reviews two more. Geothermal Energy Alexander Richter, Glitnir Bank (now Íslandsbanki) Geothermal is one of the most interesting forms of clean power generation there is. As noted by the author, the most convincing argument for geothermal electricity is the fact that it operates at capacity factors in the upper 90s. This makes it the only renewable technology suitable for baseload power with the exception of dam-based (i.e. large-scale) hydro. However, as...
US Geothermal Fizzles
by Debra Fiakas CFA Geothermal power generator US Geothermal (HTM: NYSE) came up short in reporting financial results for the first quarter ending 2017 - at least from the perspective of the four analysts with published sales and earnings expectations for the company. Operating revenue of $8.4 million slipped slightly from the same period a year ago, but produced slightly lower net income of $1.1 million. The company’s share was $260,000 or a penny per share. Not good enough say the analyst’s who were collectively looking for two pennies per share in earnings! Missing earnings expectations has...
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...
Nevada Geothermal Power Inc. Commences Blue Mountain Development Drilling
Nevada Geothermal Power Inc. (NGLPF) announced that it has initiated development drilling at Blue Mountain Nevada. Production test data from the wells will be used to complete a feasibility study for an initial 30 MW geothermal power plant. In the initial program, four 13-inch diameter production wells will be drilled to 4000 feet (1200 metres) into the moderate temperature (300-330 degrees C) geothermal resource intersected in previous test holes. Permits have been obtained and drill pads are under construction. A water well rig will be used to drill the top 800 feet of each well and to...
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...
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...
US Geothermal Begins Construction of Idaho Geothermal Power Plant with the help Of Ormat
US Geothermal Inc. (UGTH) has initiated a contract with Ormat Technologies (ORA) to begin building a binary cycle geothermal power plant that is designed to deliver 10 MW monthly average electrical power to Idaho Power Company under a 20-year term power purchase agreement.
Geothermal Tie-up
Ormat Technologies (ORA: NYSE) is buying U.S. Geothermal (HTM: NYSE) for $5.45 per share in cash. The offer represents a 29% premium to the HTM closing price the day prior to the announcement. The shares had been in a steady decline over the past several months, hitting a 52-week low of $3.11 earlier in January 2018. So while the offer price pales in comparison to the U.S. Geothermal’s all-time high stock price of $28.68 way back in October 2007, shareholders may be feeling a warm breeze coming off Ormat’s cash.
Should Ormat shareholders be as thrilled as the company ponies up $110 million...
Ormat Steams On
Ormat Technologies, Inc. (ORA: NYSE) recently reported financial results for the three-month period ending September 2018 - the first full quarter without the revenue and earnings of the company’s Puna geothermal electricity generation project. In early May 2018, the Kilauea volcano erupted, giving the Hawaiian Islands a grand fire show. For Ormat and its neighbors near its Puna Geothermal Power Project the volcano was more nightmare than entertainment. Within a few days Ormat was forced to shut down the facility on Kilauea by removing surface equipment and plugging the geothermal well holes. Nonetheless, three well sites, the electric substation, an adjacent warehouse and drilling equipment were overtaken...
Improved Wind Energy Tax Credit Extension Passes with Fiscal Cliff Deal
Renewable Energy World Editors Offshore Wind Farm photo via Bigstock. On January 1, 2013, Congress passed legislation that included the long-sought extension of wind energy tax credits in a bill to avert the "fiscal cliff" that now moves to President Obama for his expected signature. The extension of the production tax credit (PTC) and Investment Tax Credit (ITC) is expected to save up to 37,000 jobs and create far more over time, and to revive business at nearly 500 manufacturing facilities across the country....
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...
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. Completed Negotiation of Two New Power Purchase Agreements at Ormesa and...
Ormat Technologies (ORA) announced that it completed negotiations for two new 25 years Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) with Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA) for the purchase of renewable energy from its geothermal projects at the Ormesa Geothermal Facilities Complex and the Heber Geothermal Facilities Complex. Ormat also announced that it celebrated the ground breaking and dedication of a new geothermal power plant within the Heber Geothermal Facilities Complex on Monday May 2, 2005. The new plant is dedicated to Mr. William R. Gould, who served as the Chairman of Southern California Edison (SCE) from 1980 through 1984,...
US Geothermal: Can A Reverse Split Heat Up This Stock?
by Debra Fiakas CFA
US Geothermal (HTM: NYSE) has been on our radar for some time. Despite considerable accomplishment in terms of building electricity output from a portfolio of geothermal power installations, investors seem reluctant to embrace the company and its stock. Earlier this week, US Geothermal management issued its usual quarterly update on its development work, this time detailing progress in expanding capacity and improving well performance on three of its geothermal installations. Altogether an incremental 90 megawatts are under development, which would triple the current power generation capacity of 45 megawatts. The company press release was met by...
Calpine Gets Hammered
Shares of Calpine Corp. (CPN) suffered a greater than 20% loss yesterday and is now down almost another 13% today. All of this was caused by a court ruling stating that they will be unable to use the $395 million in cash they received from the sale of oil and gas fields earlier this year for the purpose of buying natural gas to run its power plants. The dispute stems from the Bank of New York's decision in September when, acting as trustee for Calpine bondholders, it withheld proceeds from Calpine's sale in July of North...
Last-Minute PTC Revision Sparks New Hope for Geothermal Stocks
Meg Cichon Geothermal well photo via Bigstock The renewable energy industry had quite a bit to celebrate this week as 2013 rang in a PTC extension that many had feared would never come to fruition. Though the extension to January 1, 2014 greatly benefits the wind industry, whose PTC was set to expire at the end of 2012, it also included a provision that could be huge for geothermal development. This provision states that projects under construction by January 1, 2014 would quality for the PTC, rather...
