Ormat reaches commercial operation of refurbished Mammoth G1 plant
Mammoth Pacific geothermal power plant, Ormat/ Constellation (source: Mammoth Pacific)
Alexander Richter
23 Jan 2014
Ormat Technologies successfully reaches commercial operation of newly refurbished Mammoth G1 Geothermal Power plant in Mono County, California to full capacity at 6 MW.
In a release today, Ormat Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:ORA) announced “that it successfully completed the scope of work needed to bring the Mammoth G1 geothermal power plant in Mono County, California to full capacity. The 6 MW plant reached commercial operation under the new power purchase agreement (PPA) with Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) that allows for hourly energy deliveries of up to 7.5 MW and now receives the full commercial rate defined in the PPA.
The Mammoth G1 plant commenced operation in 1984 under a Standard Offer Contract No. 4 PPA with Southern California Edison Company (SCE). In March 2013, Ormat announced the termination of its PPA with SCE and the signing of a new 20-year PPA — not tied to natural gas – with PG&E for the full output of the facility. Refurbishing of the power plant took place in 2013 and was completed less than eight months from the start of mechanical construction with the plant reaching full power in less than a month from the end of construction.
“Constructing the Mammoth G1 geothermal power plant and reaching commercial operation under the new PPA with PG&E is another example of Ormat’s ability to add value to existing operating assets,” said Yoram Bronicki, president and chief operating officer at Ormat. “By replacing the original equipment with Ormat Energy Converters, we already see an increase in the power plant’s efficiency and expect increased availability, lower operation and maintenance costs, and improved EBITDA.”
This refurbishing project is the latest in a series of successful projects where third-party generating equipment was replaced with Ormat Energy Converters. Other recent examples include the 2013 repowering of Cyrq Energy’s Thermo 1 power plant in Utah and Ormat’s Steamboat 2 and Steamboat 3 power plants in Nevada in 2008.”
Source: Company release via Wall Street Journal
