Nevada Geothermal Power Inc.

                                     

                                      Source: Infinilec Earth Friendly Energy

Its been a month since I last posted and if you have been trying to follow my blog at all regularly, you have my apologies.  With an independent consulting practice, three children and my wife's career, sometimes I just can't juggle fast enough.  One result of the break though is I have a list of things I'm interested exploring in the confines of this blog including developments in the carbon markets, more from my travels in Australia, sustainable oil and gas and last but not least, geothermal energy.

In the past, I haven't paid too much attention to geothermal or the companies using geothermal resources to produce power.  However, yesterday I had the opportunity to attend a breakfast presentation given by Brian Fairbank, the President and CEO of Nevada Geothermal Power Inc. (TSX: NGP).  The session was organized by the Pacific Energy Innovation Association here in Vancouver and was part of a series the Association has been offering on "Climate Change on the Radar Screen".

Nevada Geothermal expects to complete its first power plant at Blue Mountain in Nevada by the end of next year, i.e. 2009.  To-date the company has successfully negotiated a 20 year Power Purchase Agreement with Nevada Power, completed its environmental assessment (FONSI) and received approval for its Large Generation Interconnection Assessment for up to 75 MW.  The company has also reached an agreement for Ormat Nevada Inc. (Ormat Technologies, NYSE: ORA), a leading geothermal developer and equipment supplier, to supply and construct the power plant. 

And with US$140 million in construction financing underwritten by the Glitner Bank in Iceland and Morgan Stanley (expected to close by the end of May), the company appears to be on the downhill slide to becoming an established geothermal power producer.

Looking to the future, Mr. Fairbank was able to lay out a convincing pipeline of projects, including:

• Pumpernickel Valley, Nevada
• Black Warrior, Nevada
• Crump Geyser, Oregon

And he even suggested some potential projects in B.C. (but he was speaking to a Vancouver crowd).

The stock, which is traded on the TSX and the U.S. over the counter market, is today at $1.10, roughly the middle of its 52 week range (52 week high/low: $1.34/$0.66).  See below for a chart.

Nevada Geothermal remains a company without revenues for now.  However, from what I saw yesterday, it seems a company worth watching.

Comments

[Geothermicist]

This is great news. Having a thermal power plant open up in the western U.S. in about a year will be a great first step towards being energy independent.