Ormat Industries Ltd. (TASE: ORMT) unit Ormat Technologies, Inc. (ORA) has entered into a 10-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA) to deliver electricity from its Heber 1 geothermal power plant at the Heber complex in Imperial Valley, California beginning December 16, 2015. The current PPA with Southern California Edison will expire December 15, 2015.
"This new contract with SCPPA aligns with our overall strategy to replace the more volatile Standard Offer Contract No. 4 (SO#4), which is tied to natural gas prices, with fixed-price contracts," said Dita Bronicki, chief executive officer of Ormat. "Signing this 46 MW contract will reduce our portfolio's exposure to California SO#4 PPAs to 100 MW."
With an expected net generating capacity of 46 MW, Ormat will sell the power to SCPPA at an average price of approximately $85.62 per megawatt hour over the lifetime of the contract. The new pricing will increase Heber 1 revenues in 2016 by more than $7 million. SCPPA members that will receive power from Heber 1 are the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) and the Imperial Irrigation District (IID).
"In our effort to replace all coal generation by 2025, LADWP sees the value in geothermal as an ideal coal replacer as a renewable, baseload solution with no integration costs," explained Aram Benyamin, senior assistant general manager -- power at LADWP. "As we continue to incorporate more renewable assets into our portfolio, we will benefit from contracts like the Heber 1 PPA because it's a risk-free project with a credible owner-operator at an attractive price."
In addition to the new PPA, Ormat is in the midst of enhancing the Heber 1 geothermal power plant. In 2014, the company plans to refurbish the main steam turbine and replace the existing main generator.
"This new PPA marks our second contract with LADWP as well as IID. We are delighted to strengthen our relationship with these two large publicly owned utilities and to help them meet their RPS goals with clean, reliable and cost-effective geothermal resources," Bronicki concluded.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 8, 2013
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