Book Review: Investment Opportunities for a Low Carbon World (Geothermal + Efficiency)
Charles Morand Last Thursday, I reviewed two chapters from the recently published book "Investment Opportunities for a Low Carbon World"*. This post reviews two more. Geothermal Energy Alexander Richter, Glitnir Bank (now Íslandsbanki) Geothermal is one of the most interesting forms of clean power generation there is. As noted by the author, the most convincing argument for geothermal electricity is the fact that it operates at capacity factors in the upper 90s. This makes it the only renewable technology suitable for baseload power with the exception of dam-based (i.e. large-scale) hydro. However, as...
How Geothermal Heat Pumps Can Soar Like Solar
Tom Konrad CFA Geothermal Heat Pumps (GHP) are a niche market. They shouldn’t be. Disclosure: Long WFIFF, short LXU puts (a net long position.) A Better Mousetrap? Ralph Waldo Emerson never said “Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door.” The mousetrap that likely inspired the misquote was invented seven years after his death. Unfortunately, many people take it literally. GHPs have all the hallmarks of a better mousetrap: They do the job of heating and cooling a building more efficiently than any other option. Despite...
Raser Technologies (RZ): A Bargain, or Just Cheap?
Tom Konrad, Ph.D., CFA Raser Technologies (NYSE:RZ) stock has fallen almost 50% since the company announce an offering of shares on June 30. Although the round quickly filled, the stock continued falling, and it seems like a screaming deal. Is it? On July 7, Raser Technologies sold $25.5M of stock and warrants in a secondary offering. According to press reports, this amounted to 13% of Raser's stock, thereby valuing the company at (very approximately) $200M, or $175M pre-money. The units, each consisting of 1 share and 1/2 a warrant exercisable at $4.62 was offered at $2.98. ...
Calpine Gets Hammered
Shares of Calpine Corp. (CPN) suffered a greater than 20% loss yesterday and is now down almost another 13% today. All of this was caused by a court ruling stating that they will be unable to use the $395 million in cash they received from the sale of oil and gas fields earlier this year for the purpose of buying natural gas to run its power plants. The dispute stems from the Bank of New York's decision in September when, acting as trustee for Calpine bondholders, it withheld proceeds from Calpine's sale in July of North...
Geothermal & The ARRA: Some Steamy Details
Charles Morand In October 2007, Tom wrote an excellent overview of the geothermal power sector. By way of recap, geothermal power produces electricity by using steam from naturally-occurring Earth heat that travels up from the planet`s mantle and core by conduction. Conventional geothermal harnesses hot water and fluids already present in the rock while enhanced geothermal systems (ESG) - or next-gen geothermal - works by injecting cold water into hot dry rock (HDR) and pumping out resultant hot water and steam. In terms of business risks, geothermal stands at the confluence of mining and utility/independent power...
Last-Minute PTC Revision Sparks New Hope for Geothermal Stocks
Meg Cichon Geothermal well photo via Bigstock The renewable energy industry had quite a bit to celebrate this week as 2013 rang in a PTC extension that many had feared would never come to fruition. Though the extension to January 1, 2014 greatly benefits the wind industry, whose PTC was set to expire at the end of 2012, it also included a provision that could be huge for geothermal development. This provision states that projects under construction by January 1, 2014 would quality for the PTC, rather...
Just Sold: Raser Technologies (RZ)
Raser Technologies (NYSE:RZ) did not get the hoped-for DOE loan guarantee. The company still has good long term prospects, but the short term upside chances are much weaker, prompting me to sell in the hope of buying back in after a general market sell-off. Raser Technologies (NYSE:RZ) dropped from $2.10 to $1.95 on September 1st, prompting a regular reader to leave a comment asking me if it was time to sell on the original Raser article. (Because he's a regular, he knows my policy of preferring to answer questions posed as comments on the blog to email comments: At...
Oil Money Needed for Geothermal Projects
By Dana Blankenhorn Despite America's leadership in geothermal the industry remains in the “and” category. As in, “solar, wind, tidal, biofuels AND geothermal.” It's an afterthought. (Picture from Evergreen State University.) Why are geothermal companies having to organize politically to gain crumbs from the capital table? The answer is pretty obvious, but no one seems willing to state it plainly. The oil industry is holding back. A recent Time Magazine article on renewables and oil investment makes it pretty plain. Total's bought into solar, Shell and BP into biofuels. Chile's state oil-and-gas company sold-out its geothermal interests...
Nevada Geothermal Power Inc.: Blue Mountain Drilling Results DB-2 Test Indicate Potential Shallow Geothermal...
Nevada Geothermal Power Inc. (NGLPF) is pleased to report on recent flow and injection testing of Deep Blue No.2 (DB-2) which penetrated the upper reaches of the geothermal resource, and an eight-hole temperature gradient drilling program at the Blue Mountain project in Nevada. The program has provided positive information on production capability of the inferred resource and expanded the known extent of the thermal anomaly.
Nevada Geothermal Power Inc. Acquires Third Nevada Geothermal Project In Prolific ‘Corridor Of Heat’
Nevada Geothermal Power Inc. (NGLPF) announced today that it has acquired 7 square miles of private land and has applied for a one section federal geothermal lease for a total land area of 8 square miles (22 square kilometers) south and east of Black Warrior Peak, Washoe County, Nevada. The leases are on private land and are subject to a 3.5% royalty on gross revenue from electricity sales, however, NGP can purchase the royalty for US$1,000,000. Leases include surface and water rights.
Colorado Voters Approve Amendment 37
Colorado voters have approved an amendment requiring utilities to get part of their electricity from the sun, wind or plant and animal waste. The amendment requires the state's seven largest utilities to get a portion of their retail electricity sales from renewables, beginning with 3 percent in 2007 and climbing to 10 percent by 2015. Four percent of the renewables should be solar sources.
Western GeoPower Project Moves Ahead
Western GeoPower Corp (WGPWF) has received approval to start drilling on their new Geothermal energy operation facility at South Meager in Canada. This new facility could amount to over 100 MW capacity. GeoPower expects to have the South Meager plant ready for commercial generation by mid-2007.
Pennsylvania to Generate 3,600 Megawatts of Wind Power by 2016 Due to New Standard
As mentioned in a previous entry, the Pennsylvania legislature passed SB1030, the Alternative Energy Bill, on November 20, 2004 which will require a total of 18% of Pennsylvania's electricity to be generated by alternative energy sources by 2020. The standard requires 8% of Pennsylvania's electricity to be generated by so-called "Tier I" renewable sources of energy by 2020. Tier I resources include solar, wind, geothermal and biomass. The standard also requires 10% of the state's electricity to come from a second category of resources that include waste coal, integrated combined coal gasification technology, municipal solid waste, large-scale hydro,...
Ormat Steams On
Ormat Technologies, Inc. (ORA: NYSE) recently reported financial results for the three-month period ending September 2018 - the first full quarter without the revenue and earnings of the company’s Puna geothermal electricity generation project. In early May 2018, the Kilauea volcano erupted, giving the Hawaiian Islands a grand fire show. For Ormat and its neighbors near its Puna Geothermal Power Project the volcano was more nightmare than entertainment. Within a few days Ormat was forced to shut down the facility on Kilauea by removing surface equipment and plugging the geothermal well holes. Nonetheless, three well sites, the electric substation, an adjacent warehouse and drilling equipment were overtaken...
Alterra Power: Deep Geothermal
by Debra Fiakas CFA Last week, one of the leaders in a development consortium, Iceland’s largest privately owned energy generator HS Orka hf, announced the completion of a project to prove the merits of deeper geothermal wells. The project in the Reykjanes Peninsula in southern Iceland reached 4,659 meters depth in January 2017, where temperatures measured 427 degrees Centigrade and fluid pressure was 340 bars. By all accounts the project was successful, suggesting that deep wells could a cost effective approach to geothermal energy. The drilling program was mentioned in early December 2015 a recent post “Hot...
US Geothermal: Wringing Profits From Hot Rocks
by Debra Fiakas CFA Last week I spent the better part of a day listening to presentations of energy companies at the Wall Street Analyst Forum in New York. Although I had heard the management of US Geothermal (HTM: NYSE) tell the company’s story before, I was impressed to hear about the progress the company has made in squeezing profits from electricity produced with turbines run by underground steam. Management called it gratifying! The company reported $31 million in sales in the year 2014, delivering $14.9 million in net income to the bottom line. That is something...
