Western GeoPower Project Moves Ahead
Western GeoPower Corp (WGPWF) has received approval to start drilling on their new Geothermal energy operation facility at South Meager in Canada. This new facility could amount to over 100 MW capacity. GeoPower expects to have the South Meager plant ready for commercial generation by mid-2007.
US Geothermal: Can A Reverse Split Heat Up This Stock?
by Debra Fiakas CFA
US Geothermal (HTM: NYSE) has been on our radar for some time. Despite considerable accomplishment in terms of building electricity output from a portfolio of geothermal power installations, investors seem reluctant to embrace the company and its stock. Earlier this week, US Geothermal management issued its usual quarterly update on its development work, this time detailing progress in expanding capacity and improving well performance on three of its geothermal installations. Altogether an incremental 90 megawatts are under development, which would triple the current power generation capacity of 45 megawatts. The company press release was met by...
Clean Energy Stocks Shopping List: Landfill Gas and Geothermal
Stocks seem expensive now, but that may not last. Here are two Landfill Gas stocks and three Geothermal stocks I'm hoping to buy if the market falters. Tom Konrad, Ph.D., CFA This article continues my Clean Energy Stocks Shopping List series. So far I've brought you: Five clean transport stocks, I looked at why it makes sense to wait for better prices, Five Energy Efficiency stocks (always my favorite sector), and Five Electric Transmission Stocks. This article takes a look at two of the most economical clean electricity generation technologies, landfill gas and geothermal. Kilowatts from...
Blindsided with Advance Warning
Holders of Ormat Technologies (ORA: NYSE) shares may feel somewhat blindsided by the cessation of operations at the Puna geothermal power plant on the Hawaii Island. Lava flowing from neighboring Kilauea volcano has overrun two of the geothermal wells as well as a warehouse and an electricity substation.
Shareholders cannot claim they were not forewarned. Ormat’s annual report for 2017 mentions the risk of volcanic eruptions seventeen times. However, since no geothermal power company has ever experienced an interruption in operations due to a volcanic eruption, investors most likely overlooked the real dangers of locating a business on top of geological ‘hot spot.’
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Hawaii_Mount_Kilauea%27s_eruption_opens_new_lava_vent.webm
Ormat is not the...
Raser to Acquire Power Generation Technology Company
Raser Technologies (RZ) announced a definitive agreement to acquire Amp Resources ("Amp"), a private company with technologies focused on geothermal heat and power generation. The deal is for about $260 million in cash and stock. Raser will acquire Amp and its portfolio of technologies for heat transfer and renewable power generation. Raser will also assume ownership of multiple, long-term geothermal energy sales contracts with public and private utilities. These contracts call for an aggregate of $966 million from gross energy sales over 20 years. It is anticipated that these power generation projects will be developed and placed...
Just Sold: Raser Technologies (RZ)
Raser Technologies (NYSE:RZ) did not get the hoped-for DOE loan guarantee. The company still has good long term prospects, but the short term upside chances are much weaker, prompting me to sell in the hope of buying back in after a general market sell-off. Raser Technologies (NYSE:RZ) dropped from $2.10 to $1.95 on September 1st, prompting a regular reader to leave a comment asking me if it was time to sell on the original Raser article. (Because he's a regular, he knows my policy of preferring to answer questions posed as comments on the blog to email comments: At...
Holiday Shopping Deal On Ram Power Shares
Tom Konrad CFA Holders of Ram Power Corp. (TSX:RPG, OTC:RAMPF) on November 26 (the “record date”) will be receiving valuable coupons as the result of the company’s rights offering, announced November 18th. Just in time for the holidays, these coupons, or “rights” can be used to buy additional shares of Ram Power for 8¢ Canadian per share any time before 5pm on December 23rd. (Disclosure: I am long Ram Power stock.) Holiday shoppers looking for more traditional gifts will be able to raise a little cash by selling the rights on the Toronto Stock Exchange,...
Closing the Geothermal Loop
by Debra Fiakas CFA Calpine Plant at The Geysers. Photo Source: Calpine In the article “Is Ormat Technologies Misunderstood?”, I outlined a few performance measurement issues, but left out of the story Ormat’s position in the relative position in the geothermal industry. Naturally I received comments from readers about why I made no comparison of Ormat to Calpine Corporation (CPN: NYSE), the largest U.S. generator of electrical power using geothermal sources. On a go-forward basis Calpine shares are valued about the same as Ormat Technologies,...
Polaris Infrastructure: Deleveraged, Derisked
By Tom Konrad, Ph.D., CFA
Geothermal power is a type of renewable electricity that even the most conservative electric utilities find it easy to get behind. Like conventional coal and gas plants, it uses heat to drive a turbine which in turn creates electricity. The main difference is that the heat comes from natural geologic processes, rather than burning fossil fuels, making it renewable and free of greenhouse gas emissions, giving it considerable environmental appeal as well.
Where Geothermal Developers Stumble
The problem lies in the resource. The potential for producing power from solar, wind, and hydropower at any location can be...
Kerry’s High-Wattage Energy Plan
BusinessWeek.com discusses John Kerry's plan to increase alternative energy usage for the country. John Kerry's blueprint for energy independence doesn't suffer from lack of ambition. In early August, he'll unveil an energy plan that he says can break America's addiction to foreign oil, revitalize the U.S. auto industry, help farmers and coal miners, fight global warming, and create jobs all for just $2 billion per year. "We can live in an America that is energy independent," Kerry promises.
Alterra Power: Deep Geothermal
by Debra Fiakas CFA Last week, one of the leaders in a development consortium, Iceland’s largest privately owned energy generator HS Orka hf, announced the completion of a project to prove the merits of deeper geothermal wells. The project in the Reykjanes Peninsula in southern Iceland reached 4,659 meters depth in January 2017, where temperatures measured 427 degrees Centigrade and fluid pressure was 340 bars. By all accounts the project was successful, suggesting that deep wells could a cost effective approach to geothermal energy. The drilling program was mentioned in early December 2015 a recent post “Hot...
Ormat Technologies Receives the End Customer Final Approval for $16.9 Million Purchase Order for...
Ormat Technologies (ORA) announced that the customer rendered final approval of the Purchase Order valued at approximately $16.9 million, for the supply of 102 remote power units for Communications and Cathodic Protection along a pipeline on the Sakhalin Island in the Russian Federation, as described in the press release dated December 9, 2004, and the Purchase Order became a definitive agreement.
Is Ormat Technologies Misunderstood?
by Debra Fiakas CFA Olkaria III Geothermal Power Plant, Kenya Shares of geothermal power developer and utility Ormat Technologies (ORA: NYSE) are trading at 24.7 times the consensus estimate for 2013. That seems pricey on the surface, but the stock is down from a 52-week high of $22.24. The stock gaps up and down with regularity, suggesting ORA is a battle ground for bulls and bears. The fact that the 50-day moving average price continues to descend toward the longer-term 200-day average, hints that maybe the bears are...
US Geothermal shares to begin trading on the Over-The-Counter Bulletin Board of the NASD
US Geothermal Inc. (UGTH) announced today that the company has met requirements for a listing on the OTC Bulletin Board, as confirmed by J Giordano Securities Group of New York City, market maker for the company's securities. US Geothermal holds the rights to approximately six and one-half square miles, which comprise the Raft River project development in Southeastern Idaho, a geothermal reservoir that was a former US Department of Energy geothermal research facility.
Raser Technologies (RZ): A Bargain, or Just Cheap?
Tom Konrad, Ph.D., CFA Raser Technologies (NYSE:RZ) stock has fallen almost 50% since the company announce an offering of shares on June 30. Although the round quickly filled, the stock continued falling, and it seems like a screaming deal. Is it? On July 7, Raser Technologies sold $25.5M of stock and warrants in a secondary offering. According to press reports, this amounted to 13% of Raser's stock, thereby valuing the company at (very approximately) $200M, or $175M pre-money. The units, each consisting of 1 share and 1/2 a warrant exercisable at $4.62 was offered at $2.98. ...
Outlook for Geothermal Energy Stocks in 2011
Tom Konrad CFA My take-aways from the GEA Finance Forum After a long time lost in the proverbial desert of high capital costs and few financiers willing to step up, a number of geothermal companies made breakthroughs last fall. The Department of Energy (DOE) loan guarantees for geothermal power development began to come through, and financiers were beginning to step up. Nevada Geothermal Power (NGLPF.OB) announced a deal with Ormat (ORA) in which Ormat will earn a share of Nevada Geothermal's Crump Geyser property by paying for and financing most of the development costs,...
