Ormat Industries
Encyclopedia
Ormat Industries Ltd. is a provider of alternative
and renewable energy
technology. To date the company has installed over 750 power units worldwide. Ormat also owns and operates 515 MW of geothermal
and recovered energy
based power plants.
In the late 1950s Lucien Bronicki worked in a government physics laboratory, where he developed a turbine to produce electricity from a range of energy sources, including solar; the process is known as Organic Rankine Cycle
, which he co-developed with Harry Zvi Tabor
. He retired from the lab to commercialize his ideas and set up the Ormat with his wife. In its early years the company focused exclusively on manufacturing of power generation equipment.
During the 1970s', the energy crisis increased the interest in Ormat’s technology; the company obtained financial assistance from the Israeli government and raised additional capital from private investors to build one of the world's first power stations to produce electricity from solar energy. However the power station was not economically viable and was abandoned in 1988.
During the 1980s Ormat began to build systems to generate electricity by utilizing recovered energy
(heat emitted during industrial processes). The company also started utilizing its theology to generated electricity from geothermal sources.
In the 1990s the company changed its strategy and decided not only to provide the power generation equipment, but also to own and manage alternative and renewable energy power stations.
In 1991 Ormat Industries listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange
and is currently included in the TA-25 Index.
and based in Reno
, Nevada
. The company’s main production facilities are based in Yavne
, Israel
.
The company owns and operates geothermal power plants in California
, Nevada
, Hawaii
, Nicaragua
, Guatemala
, Kenya
, New Zealand
and Indonesia
.
The plant utilized a technology known as Solar pond
, a large-scale solar thermal energy collector with integral heat storage for supplying thermal energy. It was the largest operating solar pond ever build for electricity generation and operated up until 1988. It had an area of 210,000 m² and gave an electrical output of 5 MW.
Since the decommissioning of the Solar pool project Ormat was not active in the solar energy market, but on October 2009 announced that its subsidiary, Ormat Systems Ltd., has signed a Joint venture
Agreement with Sunday Energy Ltd. to develop, construct and operate solar-photovoltaic
energy systems in Israel with a total capacity of 36 MW.
and OPTI Canada
.
was created in 1999 to develop integrated bitumen and heavy oil projects using Ormat's OrCrude upgrading technology. The company is based in Calgary and is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange
. OPTI is focused on developing the fourth and next major integrated oil sands project in Canada, Phase 1 of the Long Lake Project (the Project), in a joint venture with Nexen Inc.
in which OPTI Canada has a 35 percent working interest.
from castor plants
, in Namibia
, Africa.
which develops and manufactures automated optical inspection (AOI) systems for bare and assembled Printed circuit board
s and Flat panel display
s. The company's systems, imaging and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM and Engineering) technologies enable electronic manufacturers to achieve the increased yields and throughput essential for electronics production.
Alternative energy
Alternative energy is an umbrella term that refers to any source of usable energy intended to replace fuel sources without the undesired consequences of the replaced fuels....
and renewable energy
Renewable energy
Renewable energy is energy which comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are renewable . About 16% of global final energy consumption comes from renewables, with 10% coming from traditional biomass, which is mainly used for heating, and 3.4% from...
technology. To date the company has installed over 750 power units worldwide. Ormat also owns and operates 515 MW of geothermal
Geothermal power
Geothermal energy is thermal energy generated and stored in the Earth. Thermal energy is the energy that determines the temperature of matter. Earth's geothermal energy originates from the original formation of the planet and from radioactive decay of minerals...
and recovered energy
Energy recovery
Energy recovery includes any technique or method of minimizing the input of energy to an overall system by the exchange of energy from one sub-system of the overall system with another...
based power plants.
History
Ormat was established in 1965 as Ormat Turbines Ltd., in Yavne, Israel, by engineer Lucien Bronicki (Chairman and CTO) and wife Yehudit "Dita" Bronicki (CEO).In the late 1950s Lucien Bronicki worked in a government physics laboratory, where he developed a turbine to produce electricity from a range of energy sources, including solar; the process is known as Organic Rankine Cycle
Organic Rankine Cycle
The Organic Rankine cycle is named for its use of an organic, high molecular mass fluid with a liquid-vapor phase change, or boiling point, occurring at a lower temperature than the water-steam phase change. The fluid allows Rankine cycle heat recovery from lower temperature sources such as...
, which he co-developed with Harry Zvi Tabor
Harry Zvi Tabor
Harry Zvi Tabor is an Israeli physicist. He is known as the father of Israeli solar energy. He is generally credited with having brought Israel's solar energy program to international prominence.- Background :...
. He retired from the lab to commercialize his ideas and set up the Ormat with his wife. In its early years the company focused exclusively on manufacturing of power generation equipment.
During the 1970s', the energy crisis increased the interest in Ormat’s technology; the company obtained financial assistance from the Israeli government and raised additional capital from private investors to build one of the world's first power stations to produce electricity from solar energy. However the power station was not economically viable and was abandoned in 1988.
During the 1980s Ormat began to build systems to generate electricity by utilizing recovered energy
Energy recovery
Energy recovery includes any technique or method of minimizing the input of energy to an overall system by the exchange of energy from one sub-system of the overall system with another...
(heat emitted during industrial processes). The company also started utilizing its theology to generated electricity from geothermal sources.
In the 1990s the company changed its strategy and decided not only to provide the power generation equipment, but also to own and manage alternative and renewable energy power stations.
In 1991 Ormat Industries listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange
Tel Aviv Stock Exchange
The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in Tel Aviv is Israel's only stock exchange.The TASE is the only public market for trading securities in Israel. It plays a major role in the Israeli economy....
and is currently included in the TA-25 Index.
Operations
The majority of Ormat Industries’ activities are currently held within its subsidiary Ormat Technology Inc. a company listed on the New York Stock ExchangeNew York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at 13.39 trillion as of Dec 2010...
and based in Reno
Reno
Reno is the fourth most populous city in Nevada, US.Reno may also refer to:-Places:Italy*The Reno River, in Northern ItalyCanada*Reno No...
, Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
. The company’s main production facilities are based in Yavne
Yavne
Yavne is a city in the Central District of Israel. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , at the end of 2009 the city had a population of 33,000.-History:...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
.
The company owns and operates geothermal power plants in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
, Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
, Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
, Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
.
Technologies
Ormat’s core technology, the Ormat Energy Converter (OEC)- power generation unit, is used for converting low and medium temperature heat into electrical energy. The OECs are designed for the specific conditions of a wide variety of heat sources. Its main components include a vaporizer/preheater, turbogenerator, air-cooled or water-cooled condenser, feed pump and controls. Ormat has supplied more than 900 MW of geothermal and recovered energy generation (REG) power units, based on OEC technology, logging millions of hours of operating experience.Geothermal Energy
Ormat’s technology is highly optimized for use in geothermal energy generation, by efficiently converting the heat energy that comes from the Earth's molten interior, deep in the Earth's crust. In location where the heat is brought near to the surface due to movements in the Earth's crustal plates by intrusion of molten magma and by deep circulation of groundwater. Ormat is the third largest geothermal producer in the United States.Recovered Energy
Ormat’s technology is also suitable for Recovered energy power generation (REG), which involves capturing unused waste heat from industrial processes and converting it into electricity that can be sold to power purchasers or used on site without any additional fuel consumption and with zero emission. Ormat’s recovered energy solutions have been deployed in projects in Germany, Canada, India, USA and Japan.Solar Energy
In the 1980s Ormat build and operated one of the world's first power stations to produce electricity from solar energy; the plant was located just north of the Dead Sea in Israel.The plant utilized a technology known as Solar pond
Solar pond
A solar pond is a pool of saltwater which acts as a large-scale solar thermal energy collector with integral heat storage for supplying thermal energy...
, a large-scale solar thermal energy collector with integral heat storage for supplying thermal energy. It was the largest operating solar pond ever build for electricity generation and operated up until 1988. It had an area of 210,000 m² and gave an electrical output of 5 MW.
Since the decommissioning of the Solar pool project Ormat was not active in the solar energy market, but on October 2009 announced that its subsidiary, Ormat Systems Ltd., has signed a Joint venture
Joint venture
A joint venture is a business agreement in which parties agree to develop, for a finite time, a new entity and new assets by contributing equity. They exercise control over the enterprise and consequently share revenues, expenses and assets...
Agreement with Sunday Energy Ltd. to develop, construct and operate solar-photovoltaic
Photovoltaics
Photovoltaics is a method of generating electrical power by converting solar radiation into direct current electricity using semiconductors that exhibit the photovoltaic effect. Photovoltaic power generation employs solar panels composed of a number of solar cells containing a photovoltaic material...
energy systems in Israel with a total capacity of 36 MW.
Oil sands
Ormat has developed an energy efficient technology for extracting crude oil from Oil sands named OrCrude. The OrCrude process enables to produce crude oil more efficiently then other technologies by combining it with gasification, which substantially reduces the requirement for natural gas, typically the largest input cost in an in-situ oil sands project. The technology is currently being utilized in the Long Lake project a joint venture between Nexen Inc.Nexen
Nexen Inc. is an energy company based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.-History:Nexen started in 1969 under the name "Canadian Occidental Petroleum Ltd.", aka CanOxy, and was 80% owned by Occidental Petroleum, a Los Angeles-based oil company...
and OPTI Canada
OPTI Canada
OPTI Canada is a Calgary, Alberta based oil sands development company. Established in 1999, its sole project is the Long Lake oil sands project, of which it owns 35%. The remaining 65% is owned by project operator Nexen Inc.-History:...
.
OPTI Canada
OPTI Canada Inc.OPTI Canada
OPTI Canada is a Calgary, Alberta based oil sands development company. Established in 1999, its sole project is the Long Lake oil sands project, of which it owns 35%. The remaining 65% is owned by project operator Nexen Inc.-History:...
was created in 1999 to develop integrated bitumen and heavy oil projects using Ormat's OrCrude upgrading technology. The company is based in Calgary and is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange
Toronto Stock Exchange
Toronto Stock Exchange is the largest stock exchange in Canada, the third largest in North America and the seventh largest in the world by market capitalisation. Based in Canada's largest city, Toronto, it is owned by and operated as a subsidiary of the TMX Group for the trading of senior equities...
. OPTI is focused on developing the fourth and next major integrated oil sands project in Canada, Phase 1 of the Long Lake Project (the Project), in a joint venture with Nexen Inc.
Nexen
Nexen Inc. is an energy company based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.-History:Nexen started in 1969 under the name "Canadian Occidental Petroleum Ltd.", aka CanOxy, and was 80% owned by Occidental Petroleum, a Los Angeles-based oil company...
in which OPTI Canada has a 35 percent working interest.
OrFuel
Orfuel Inc. a US subsidiary of Ormat Industries is involved in a joint venture with Evogene Ltd. to produced biodieselBiodiesel
Biodiesel refers to a vegetable oil- or animal fat-based diesel fuel consisting of long-chain alkyl esters. Biodiesel is typically made by chemically reacting lipids with an alcohol....
from castor plants
Castor oil plant
The castor oil plant, Ricinus communis, is a species of flowering plant in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae. It belongs to a monotypic genus, Ricinus, and subtribe, Ricininae. The evolution of castor and its relation to other species are currently being studied.Its seed is the castor bean which,...
, in Namibia
Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...
, Africa.
Spin offs
Through the years Ormat was involved in establishment and development of several companies, including:Orbotech
OrbotechOrbotech
Orbotech Ltd. is an international developer and producer of automated optical inspection and related imaging and computer-aided manufacturing systems. The company's imaging tools are used in the manufacturing of printed circuit board, flat panel displays, and IC packaging, among other applications...
which develops and manufactures automated optical inspection (AOI) systems for bare and assembled Printed circuit board
Printed circuit board
A printed circuit board, or PCB, is used to mechanically support and electrically connect electronic components using conductive pathways, tracks or signal traces etched from copper sheets laminated onto a non-conductive substrate. It is also referred to as printed wiring board or etched wiring...
s and Flat panel display
Flat panel display
Flat panel displays encompass a growing number of electronic visual display technologies. They are far lighter and thinner than traditional television sets and video displays that use cathode ray tubes , and are usually less than thick...
s. The company's systems, imaging and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM and Engineering) technologies enable electronic manufacturers to achieve the increased yields and throughput essential for electronics production.