Ormat starts operation of 24 MW Tungsten Mountain geothermal plant, Nevada
McGinness Hills plant in Nevada (Source: Ormat)
Alexander Richter
21 Dec 2017
Ormat has started operation of its new 24 MW Tungsten Mountain geothermal power plant in Churchill County, Nevada in the United States.
In a release today, Ormat Technologies Inc. announced that the 24 MW Tungsten Mountain geothermal power plant located in Churchill County, Nevada, began commercial operation on December 1, 2017. Tungsten Mountain will sell its power under the 26-year Ormat Northern Nevada Geothermal Portfolio Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA), which was announced in June 2017. SCPPA resells the entire output of the plant to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP). The power plant is expected to generate approximately $15 million in average annual revenue.
The Tungsten Mountain geothermal power plant utilizes Ormat’s latest turbine design, and is the largest Ormat Energy Converter (OEC) ever installed. Utilizing the new generation of Ormat turbines will allow the Tungsten Mountain project to generate an average net output of 24 MW from a single OEC instead of two OECs, as would have been required before this new design became available. This reduced the CapEx invested in manufacturing and constructing the power plant, and is expected to significantly reduce the power plant’s operating costs. The new and innovative turbine design will increase the OEC efficiency, capacity, and availability.
Isaac Angel, CEO of Ormat Technologies said, “Commercial operation of the Tungsten Mountain project brings our operating portfolio to a total of 800 MW, demonstrating double-digit growth of our portfolio since the beginning of the year. This growth will provide a meaningful contribution to our results in 2018 and beyond. The innovative Tungsten Mountain geothermal power plant is the first power plant to sell power under the portfolio PPA with SCPPA that we announced earlier this year. The Tungsten Mountain power plant is a greenfield project that was built at a record pace, demonstrating again Ormat’s competitive advantage as the only vertically integrated company in the geothermal industry. Our unique capabilities of both developing resources and utilizing proprietary technology enables us to deliver on time and on budget, while constantly improving our technology to maximize efficiencies.”
“We are very pleased that Ormat Technologies has begun commercial operation of the first of multiple geothermal facilities that will bring renewable power to Los Angeles, helping to create a clean energy future for our city,” said Reiko Kerr, Senior Assistant General Manager – Power System Engineering, Planning, and Technical Services. “Since geothermal energy is a renewable resource that is available all the time—unlike variable wind and solar energy—it offers flexibility and the ability to dispatch for use whenever it’s needed. That helps LADWP to make the transition away from coal power while maintaining a reliable power supply for Los Angeles.”
Source: Company release
