Southern Nevada's First Non-Solar Renewable Energy Project Completed

GOODSPRINGS, Nev., Nov. 19, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Executives from NV Energy (NYSE: NVE), Ormat Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: ORA) and Kern River Gas Transmission Company today dedicated southern Nevada's first non-solar renewable energy project, the Goodsprings Energy Recovery Station.

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Located 35 miles south of Las Vegas, the Goodsprings Energy Recovery Station is the first renewable energy project owned by NV Energy. The project is rated at 7.5 megawatts, enough to supply approximately 4,500 homes in southern Nevada.

Goodsprings Energy Recovery Station was built in partnership with Kern River Gas Transmission Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company, and by Ormat Nevada Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ormat Technologies Inc.

"Our Goodsprings project provides a reliable and consistent renewable energy resource for our customers in southern Nevada," said NV Energy President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Yackira. "We are proud of the innovative nature of this project as well as our company's growing presence in the renewable energy arena. Additionally, we appreciate our partnership with Kern River and the great work Ormat has done in developing this project."

The waste-heat-recovery project is adjacent to the Kern River Goodsprings compressor station. The project will use a process to capture the heat from Kern River's natural gas-fueled compressors, and then use that heat to turn a separate generator to produce electricity. To save water, the project will use a dry-cooling system.

"Kern River is an advocate of increasing energy efficiency while reducing greenhouse gas emissions," said Kern River President Gary Hoogeveen. "We have been happy to collaborate with NV Energy and Ormat to recover the heat from our compressors and turn it into energy to be used by NV Energy's customers."

Ormat provided the project technology and served as the project's engineering, procurement and construction contractor. During construction the project employed approximately 30 workers during peak construction activity.

"We are pleased to have partnered with NV Energy in the design, supply and construction of the first recovered energy generation facility in Nevada," said Ormat Technologies, Inc. President and COO Yoram Bronicki. "This innovative, cost-effective project will contribute to the success of Nevada's renewable energy economy."

The Goodsprings Energy Recovery Station is one of NV Energy's 44 separate geothermal, solar, biomass, small hydro, wind and waste-heat recovery projects under contract that are either in commercial operation or the project-development stage.  The company's renewable energy portfolio is more than 1,200 megawatts.

NV Energy is headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada and is a holding company whose principal subsidiaries, Nevada Power Company and Sierra Pacific Power Company, are doing business as NV Energy. Serving a combined 54,500-square-mile territory that stretches north to south from Elko to Laughlin, NV Energy provides a wide range of energy services and products to approximately 2.4 million citizens of Nevada as well as approximately 40 million tourists annually.  www.nvenergy.com  

Kern River Gas Transmission Company owns and operates a 1,680-mile interstate natural gas pipeline between southwestern Wyoming and Southern California. With headquarters in Salt Lake City, Kern River currently delivers more than 1.9 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas to expanding markets in Utah, Nevada and California. Kern River is a subsidiary of MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company.  www.kernrivergas.com

Ormat Technologies 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. www.ormat.com

SOURCE NV Energy