Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo joined Ormat, Nevada Energy leadership and others to celebrate the completion of the new, state-of-the-art binary geothermal project at North Valley with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and facility tour.
Part of the 24,000-acre San Emidio Geothermal Unit, the North Valley Geothermal Project is expected to produce emission-free, renewable geothermal energy for about 22,000 homes while offsetting 3.5 million tons of CO2.
Ormat Technologies, Inc. says it is a leading geothermal company and the only vertically integrated company engaged in geothermal and recovered energy generation ("REG"), with the objective of becoming a leading global provider of renewable energy.
Paul Thompson, Vice President of Business Development, says, "What you see behind me is simply we bring up hot water, that hot water turns a turbine, and it starts producing electricity. We pump one hundred percent of that hot water back into the ground. And we do that continuously. The power plant will run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. We have about 20 full time staff. And it took about 400 employees to build this power plant."
The power plant will produce electricity for about 22,000 homes in reno. That power will be provided to NV Energy. In environmental terms, Thompson says that over its lifetime this plant will avoid about 3.5 million metric tons of CO2.
Thompson says, "And it also provides about 2.5 million dollars in economic development to Nevada."
Ormat says this is one of 16 plants they own in Nevada, and they produce more than 400 megawatts of clean renewable energy. They say that means stable power developed right here in the silver state.
"We control this power, we control the pricing so we should see more stable pricing in increased economic development in Nevada," says Thompson.
But not everyone is celebrating Ormat's finished project. Protestors stood outside of the plant nervous for what may come next.
Ormat is considering another plant right next to Gerlach.
Dave Cooper, Gerlach Resident, says, "There is a whole list of major concerns about Ormat not just doing the geothermal exploration but the potential for building a powerplant in our community."
Residents of Gerlach say that not only does this plant invade their space but it could also ruin the community's water supply and put them at risk.
Jason Walters, Black Rock Desert Resident, says, "I attended three meetings with Ormat, as did a lot of other townspeople. We have been offered nothing. Nothing for our risks."
Protestors argue that these kind of plants and large facilities will ruin the historic aspect of Gerlach and run off tourist, which they thrive off. Those behind the project say the plants bring in new jobs and again, create economic opportunities.
The Company has engineered, manufactured and constructed power plants, which it currently owns or has installed to utilities and developers worldwide, totaling over 2,900 MW of gross capacity.
