Ormat Breaks Ground on New Geothermal Plant in California

May 11, 2005

Photo of the Heber geothermal complex, which consists of a complex network of pipes and equipment with cooling towers in the background

Ormat is adding to its Heber geothermal complex in California's Imperial Valley.
Credit: Warren Gretz

Ormat Technologies, Inc. broke ground on May 2nd on a new 10-megawatt geothermal power plant at its 40-megawatt Heber Geothermal Facilities Complex in southern California's Imperial Valley. Ormat, a leader in geothermal power production, is also modifying its existing Heber facilities to generate an additional 8 megawatts of power. Ormat helped to cement its position in southern California on May 6th, when the Southern California Power Purchase Authority agreed to purchase power from the Heber facility and Ormat's 73.2-megawatt Ormesa Geothermal Facilities Complex (also in the Imperial Valley) for the next 25 years. Ormat plans to add an additional 125 megawatts of generating capacity over the next two to three years. See the Ormat press release and Ormat's descriptions of its Heber and Ormesa facilities.

Geothermal power plants have a number of environmental benefits, as spelled out in a new 87-page publication, "A Guide to Geothermal Energy and the Environment," produced by the Geothermal Energy Association. The new guide updates information on geothermal energy use—particularly electric power production—for a wide range of environmental issues and offers pictures, graphs, and charts that help to place the potential benefits of expanded geothermal energy use in perspective. See the guide (PDF 1.1 MB). Download Acrobat Reader.