What's happening at PGV
Wednesday October 28, 2009
Geothermal technolgies on the rise: Ormat is industry pioneer
Ormat Technologies, Inc., parent company of Puna Geothermal Venture, made news at the Geothermal Resources Council meeting in Nevada last month. The gathering is the largest annual conference for the geothermal industry. More than 2,000 experts around the world attended, among them Puna Geothermal Venture plant manager Michael Kaleikini.
Geothermal operators from around the globe visited Ormat's Pacific Mammoth facility this month. PGV's Bill Wiebe (front right) was among them.
The U.S. Department of Energy announced that it has purchased from Ormat a low-temperature geothermal power unit capable of using low water temperatures to produce electricity. The unit, which for a year has used hot water from an oil and gas well to generate power, will be part of a cooperative project to evaluate the capabilities of this low-temperature geothermal technology.
While the system is not applicable to Hawaii, where heat from the Earth’s depths drives turbines that generate electricity, it has the potential to enhance existing power generation systems on the mainland and elsewhere.
“There’s a lot of interest in geothermal energy these days,” says Kaleikini. “It’s clean and stable, available 24/7, making it an ideal source of baseload electricity. There is a push to develop more geothermal technologies, which is the same technology that oil companies use to prospect for oil.
Here Ormat is in the forefront, Kaleikini says, adapting drilling technologies designed originally for oil and gas fields to produce clean renewable energy.
Reno-based Ormat Technologies has been recognized at home and abroad for its achievements in designing and developing environmentally friendly power generation worldwide. In August Ormat received its second consecutive environmental award from the state of California for its Mammoth Pacific geothermal power facility. The state awards operators for their ongoing commitment to environmental safety.
In 2006 iOrmat was received the Advanced Geothermal Energy Technologies Technology Leadership of the Year Award. In 2005 it was honored by the Italian Geothermal Union at a program celebrating the first century of geothermal power.
Ormat operates facilities in The Philippines, Kenya, Guatemala, Nicaragua and the U.S. including Hawai’i. It also supplies the equipment for geothermal plants around the world.