Ormat and why a geothermal company enters demand response and storage market
Germencik 2 (Effe 3) Geothermal Power Plant, Turkey (source: Ormat Technologies)
Alexander Richter
25 Jan 2017
A recent article by Forbes, discusses in detail the rational behind the step of geothermal company Ormat into the demand response and energy storage market, with the acquisition of Viridity Energy in the U.S.
In a recent article on Forbes, the recent deal of Ormat buying into a response and storage company is given a thorough analysis.
The acquisition of Viridity Energy for $35 million marks “Ormat’s entry into the growing energy storage and demand response markets, with an established North American presence.”, so the official Ormat release at the time. We reported early this month on the deal.
In the analysis in Forbes, the demand response business is described as “some what different than developing and managing geothermal energy resources – the core competencies Ormat is known for.”, so the author, who had the chance to speak with the CEO of Ormat, Isaac Angel, to discuss the transaction and the logic behind the transaction.
Ormat, so far is clear has been looking into growing the company beyond geothermal, which means also expanding into other geographics but also acquisitions that add to the current technology and helps leverage existing assets.
“With the addition of so many intermittent resources coming onto the grid in the U.S. as well as other parts of the world (and particularly northern Europe), Angel sees the need for the types of solutions offered by Viridity. These include demand response and ancillary services like frequency regulation and voltage stabilization solutions for the grid (that can also be combined with storage solutions).”
The article in Forbes goes into good depths and background, which should be interesting for those wanting to understand more about the strategic decision by Ormat.
