Geothermal plants have been slow to come online over the past few years, but several are under construction with more efficient technologies.
Ormat Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: ORA) has renovated a 20 MW plant near Reno, Nevada to use air for cooling rather than water.
Evaporative cooling from air increases power generation by as much as 30% during the hot hours of the day in moderate to dry climates, especially in desert conditions. It generates more energy per year than water cooled systems using a fraction of the water and chemicals of a traditional water-cooled system, the company says.
Ormat plans to renovate its existing plants and use evaporative cooling in future installations.
Also in Nevada, U.S. Geothermal Inc. (AMEX: HTM) is modifying a geothermal plant with a high efficiency design that’s expected to triple its electricity output from 2.8 MW to 8.6 MW.
The cost of the project, which is already underway, is roughly $30 million.
It’s building a second power plant on the same site, for a total of 17.2 MW.
Ram Power (TSX: RPG) says it has access to a $160 million credit facility to construct Phase II of a 72 MW geothermal project in Nicaragua, the San Jacinto-Tizate power plant.
Loading...