Northern Nevada&'s geothermal cache and a strong pitch from a former governor helped make the Silver State the perfect home base in the U.S. for ORMAT.

As a major player in the world of geothermal power, the energy company has installed power plants in 21 countries. The Nevada connection began 22 years ago when the welcoming demeanor of then-Gov.Richard Bryan helped seal the deal on locating headquarters in Nevada.

“When you get a personal invitation like that from the governor, you know right away you should be here,” says Dan Schochet, ORMAT vice president. Equally important: “Nevada has a great business climate for a company like ours that’s growing,” Schochet adds.

ORMAT began developing solar energy in Israel in 1965. The power-generating technology used for solar was easily adapted to other power sources. By 1975, the company’s main focus became geothermal power. Since then, ORMAT geothermal combined cycle steam/binary plants have logged over 19 million turbine hours of operation at very high levels of availability.

While much of the company’s dealings are in other countries including Thailand, Japan, New Zealand, and Mexico, ORMAT operates three plants in Nevada. In addition to employing about 75 Nevadans, the company is helping the state meet its renewable energy target.

“ORMAT is great on so many fronts,” says Carl Linvill, Gov. Kenny Guinn’s energy advisor. In 2001, the Legislature adopted a renewable energy policy mandating that 15 percent of the state’s energy come from renewable sources by the year 2013. Linvill says ORMAT’s operations are contributing about 10 percent of the energy Sierra Pacific distributes.

Expansion plans

According to Schochet, ORMAT has signed three long-term contracts for new plants in the state to generate even more power. The company will expand operations at Steamboat and build a plant near the Fallon Naval Air Station and another near the Pershing/ Lander county line. This expansion is estimated at $200 million during the next two years.

With local economic development boosters targeting clean energy as a growth industry for Northern Nevada, the company fits perfectly in the plan. “ORMAT is a big developer of clean energy in this area,” says Jason Geddes, government affairs manager EDAWN. “They are using Nevada resources to power Nevada, and you just can’t beat that.”

Even now, Schochet says that the company is refocusing again for the future. Its next horizon: The company has a technology developed to turn industrial waste heat from manufacturing plants into energy.

“We can capture it and run it through the same technology we use for geothermal and turn it into power,” says Schochet. “That’s going to be our next big move.”