Ormat Technologies, Inc. announced this week that it has signed a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with NV Energy, Inc. for the purchase 30 megawatts (MW) from the McGinness Hills Geothermal project, which is currently under construction.

The PPA is subject to various approvals including the approval of the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada and is projected to come on line in 2012.

When completed, the McGinness Hills project will increase the total output supplied from Ormat to NV Energy, Inc. to approximately 135 MWs, helping NV Energy to meet its renewable energy requirement. Nevada’s renewable portfolio standard legislation requires 15 percent of all electricity generated in the state to be derived from new renewable energy sources by the end of 2012.

Dita Bronicki, CEO of Ormat said, “We have enjoyed a long and successful relationship with NV Energy and are grateful for its support of geothermal power. This PPA is further evidence that geothermal can supply a significant amount of power and is a preferable choice given its cost effectiveness, reliability and baseload nature.”

Ormat plans to apply for federal stimulus funds to help pay for the project, including investment tax credits or performance tax credits, and an Energy Department loan guarantee to back debt financing.

The McGinness Hills project will consist of Ormat binary energy converters that re-inject the geothermal fluid produced.

Ormat Technologies is the Reno, Nevada-based subsidiary of Israel-based Ormat Industries.

Article appearing courtesy of Cleantech Investing in Israel

[photo credit: Ormat]

Related posts:

• Ormat to build 330 MW geothermal plant in Indonesia
• Ormat Teams With Sunday Energy on $195M Joint Venture for 36 MW of Solar
• World Bank Gives Kenya $110 Million for Power Projects
• Middle East Turning To Alternative Energy
• Low-Cost Solar in Nevada

Israeli solar energy companies such as Solel Solar, Aora, Ormat technologies, and a host of others are now world leaders in the development of sun power to produce electricity. But Israel, a small country of 7 million, with more than half its land area being desert, has been a solar energy pioneer virtually since its beginning in 1948.

What is now fondly known to many Israelis as a “dude shemesh”  or  sun boiler, was invented by a guy named Levi Yissar back in the early 1950’s, when electricity was very expensive due to a severe energy shortage.

His innovation consisted of a modified  electric water boiler that was erected on the roof of a building and attached by pipes to two simple glass faced collector plates that heated water running through them from the boiler, when the sun’s rays struck them during certain hours of the day. The heated water then returned by gravity feed to the insulated boiler, where it was stored for later use in kitchens and bathrooms.

Yissar, an engineer, and entrepreneur, soon opened the first company selling such devices, the Neryah Company, in 1953. The device soon became so popular that people waited for weeks to purchase their own “dude shemesh”; and it wasn’t long before other companies got into the act. By the mid 1960’s, one in every 20 households already had their own sun boiler, and more than 50,000 had been sold.

Israeli companies also began exporting the device, particularly to other Mediterranean countries such as Greece, Turkey and Italy.  More modified versions included an auxiliary electric heating device to heat water at night or on cloudy days. More modern versions have also been developed  for large apartment buildings, where large collecting plates send water to either  individual private water tanks or to large condominium ones where the heated water is shared by tenants in the building.

Nowadays, residents of most private dwellings or smaller apartment buildings in Israel have these sun boilers installed; which reduces electricity consumption considerably – by an estimated two million barrels of oil a year.

And it must be noted that all of this came into being long before the invention of photovoltaic solar energy cells and panels (PV) that are now being used to produce thousands of megawatts of electricity.

The old “dude shemesh” is still very much in use, however, even in many homes in the USA, Australia, and other countries. Middle Eastern countries like Jordan and Egypt, which has more than 500,000 solar collectors, are also availing themselves to this simple, yet efficient way of harnessing the sun’s power.

Egypt uses them in hotels and commercial buildings, as well in apartment blocks and private homes. Jordan has more than 200,000, many of them purchased from Israel. And even North African countries like Tunisia have also gotten into the act (110,000) with the assistance of the Global Environment Facility (GEF)  to which more than 170 countries now belong.

The credit for much of this can be given to Israeli pioneer innovator Levi Yissar, who had the idea that the sun’s power could be harnessed, almost like a genie in a bottle.

Appearing courtesy of Green Prophet.

Related posts:

• Solar Power and Plastic Bottles Come Together on Sustainable Buildings in Africa
• New Stickers Increase Solar Panel Performance By 10 Percent
• New Water Bottles Entirely from Plants
• Seventh Generation Releases Molded Cardboard Container for Products
• Chasing CleanTech in the Glass Bottle Industry

Ormat Technologies is combining with Itochu Corporation to build a 330 megawatt (MW) geothermal power plant in Northern Sumatra, Indonesia.

The project will cost an estimated $800 million, according a report in Reuters. Ormat and Japan’s Itochu Corp. were originally awarded the contract in 2006 and are working in collaboration with Indonesian energy firm PT Medco.

On Wednesday, Indonesia’s energy ministry urged PT Medco to speed up construction. “We want this project to be built quickly because it is very important for Indonesia,” J. Purwono, director general of electricity at the ministry, told reporters, adding, “we badly need more power plants.”

Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country, does not maintain diplomatic relations with Israel. The only OPEC member in Southeast Asia., Indonesia has become a net importer of oil in recent years.

The vast archipelago, with hundreds of active and extinct volcanoes, has the potential to produce an estimated 27,000 MW of electricity from geothermal sources.

Ormat Technologies is the NYSE-listed, U.S.-based subsidiary or Ormat Industries. Ormat Industries, located in Yavne, Israel, is one of the world’s leading vertically integrated companies dedicated to providing solutions for geothermal power, recovered energy generation (REG) and remote power.

This article originally appeared on Cleantech Investing in Israel.

Related posts:

• Ormat and NV Energy Sign 30MW Geothermal Power Contract
• Middle East Turning To Alternative Energy
• World Bank Gives Kenya $110 Million for Power Projects
• Ormat Teams With Sunday Energy on $195M Joint Venture for 36 MW of Solar
• Illegal Logging Undermines Sustainable Market, Report Says