Puna Geothermal Venture

Equipment & Technology

Plant technician Ron Quesada monitoring plant operations.

Since Ormat Technologies, Inc. acquired Puna Geothermal Venture (PGV) in 2004, the facility has undergone a $32 million enhancement, returning the plant’s generating capacity to 30 megawatts (MW) and getting it ready for additional production. PGV saves the Hawaii Electric Light Company (HELCO) more than 144,000 barrels of imported oil a year, providing electricity for about 30,000 Big Island residents and visitors.

PGV, the only commercial geothermal power plant in the state, is in the Puna District of Hawai‘i Island. It’s located about 21 miles south of Hilo. The facility is situated on about 30 acres of a 500-acre plot along the Lower East Rift Zone (LERZ) of the Kilauea Volcano.

Powered by natural heat from the earth, PGV’s power plant has provided stable, sustainable electricity for the Big Island of Hawaii for more than a decade. The plant generates about 20 percent of the electrical energy—and energy diversification—to that market under a Power Purchase Agreement with HELCO.

The underground geothermal resource at PGV has the capacity to generate considerably more. Geothermal has the potential to provide 100 percent of the Big Island’s electrical power needs. However, it is unlikely that the public utility would have all its generation depend on one resource.

PGV is poised to increase its electrical output another 8 megawatts, to 38 MW, providing greater stability and the potential for other uses. And, there’s still room to grow. Because PGV’s underground resource holds potentially 200 MW of renewable geothermal energy, PGV has the ability to expand its production to help meet the Big Island’s emerging energy needs.

The economic and social benefits could include: