Ormat Industries Ltd. (TASE: ORMT) US subsidiary Ormat Technologies Inc. (NYSE: ORA) has signed its first photovoltaic (PV) power purchasing agreement with the Imperial Irrigation District in California. Ormat will supply 10 megawatts under a 20-year power purchasing agreement.
The PV project is located near Ormat's Heber geothermal complex in Imperial Valley. The company will begin construction this year and expects to launch commercial operations within 18 months. The project will generate 24,500 annual megawatt-hours of energy production.
Ormat president and COO Yoram Bronicki said, “We are pleased to partner with the Imperial Irrigation District in support of their renewable energy growth plan. While Ormat’s roots in solar energy go back more than 40 years, we have recently reinitiated our development efforts in solar projects as a way to expand our renewable energy portfolio. Developing projects in a cost-effective way and with an acceptable tariff, without the strong dependence on tax incentives, is vital for us to further expand our solar activity in a meaningful way.
"As the project is being built near the Heber geothermal complex area, it allows for reliance upon a portion of the existing infrastructure, such as the operation facilities."
Ormat added that it has also made progress in several PV projects outside the US. The company expects to move from the regulatory process to the project development stage for an additional 10-15 megawatts of PV power generation.
Ormat Industries' share price rose 0.4% by mid-afternoon to NIS 18.52, giving a market cap of NIS 2.2 billion. Ormat Technologies' share price rose 0.2% in New York yesterday to $17.88, giving a market cap of $810 million.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 21, 2011
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2011