ORA Ormat Technologies Inc

RENO, Nev., Dec. 27, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Ormat Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: ORA) announced today that its subsidiary, Ormat Nevada Inc. ("Ormat"), decided not to proceed with the Part II of the DOE loan guarantee program application for Wister, CD-4 and Dead Horse Wells geothermal projects, currently under construction in California and Nevada.  The decision was made in coordination with John Hancock Life Insurance Company (U.S.A.) ("John Hancock") relative to the pending application for up to $330 million in DOE funding. Ormat has decided to explore commercial financing for the projects in lieu of DOE support.

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Under the guidelines of the Financial Institution Partnership Program ("FIPP") supported by Section 1705 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, projects backed by the program must have all the permits necessary for the projects by September 2011. The decision by Ormat and John Hancock to remove the projects from the application was due to uncertainties in the permitting process and the transaction costs associated with the program.  

The Jersey Valley, McGinness Hills and Tuscarora projects, all located in Nevada, are covered under a separate DOE application that is in process.  Ormat expects to secure financing for these three Nevada projects under the FIPP program before the program expires.

About Ormat Technologies

Ormat Technologies, Inc. is the only vertically-integrated company primarily engaged in the geothermal and recovered energy power business. The Company designs, develops, owns and operates geothermal and recovered energy-based power plants around the world. Additionally, the Company designs, manufactures and sells geothermal and recovered energy power units and other power-generating equipment, and provides related services. The Company has more than four decades of experience in the development of environmentally-sound power, primarily in geothermal and recovered-energy generation. Ormat products and systems are covered by 75 U.S. patents. Ormat has engineered and built power plants, that it currently owns or has supplied to utilities and developers worldwide, totaling approximately 1300 MW of gross capacity.  Ormat's current generating portfolio includes the following geothermal and recovered energy-based power plants: in the United States - Brady, Brawley, Heber, Mammoth, Ormesa, Puna, Steamboat, OREG 1, OREG 2, OREG 3 and OREG 4; in Guatemala - Zunil and Amatitlan; in Kenya – Olkaria III; and, in Nicaragua - Momotombo.

Ormat's Safe Harbor Statement

Information provided in this press release may contain statements relating to current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about future events that are "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements generally relate to Ormat's plans, objectives and expectations for future operations and are based upon its management's current estimates and projections of future results or trends. Actual future results may differ materially from those projected as a result of certain risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, see "Risk Factors" as described in Ormat Technologies, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 8, 2010.

These forward-looking statements are made only as of the date hereof, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE Ormat Technologies, Inc.