Ormat resumes operation of the Puna geothermal power plant on Hawaii

Puna geothermal plant, Hawaii (source: Ormat Technologies)

In a release today morning, U.S. time, Ormat Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: ORA) announced that it has resumed operation of the Puna Geothermal Power Plant, which supplies electricity to the Hawaii Island grid, two and a half years after the eruption of the Kilauea Volcano disrupted operations.

Electricity production at Puna resumed on November 5th, 2020, and the plant is currently delivering between 1 to 2 MW of energy to the utility grid. Ormat expects to gradually ramp up production to approximately 15 MW by year end 2020, subject to the successful connection of an additional production well to the power plant.

Ormat’s recovery plan included building a new electricity substation and adding new geothermal wells. The company currently expects that completion of additional well field work, planned to occur over the next 6 months, will enable the power plant to further ramp up production, with the goal of resuming full operations by the middle of 2021.

“I truly appreciate the dedication and hard work of the Ormat team over the last two and a half years,” said Doron Blachar, Chief Executive Officer of Ormat Technologies. “The Puna Power Plant provides clean, renewable base-load energy for Hawaii, supporting the state’s standing as a recognized leader in green power, increasing Hawaiian Electric’s generation reserve margins and reducing the need of fossil fuels to generate electricity for the Island. Ormat and Hawaiian Electric have worked closely together, and strived thorough challenges imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic in order to bring the Puna Power Plant back online for the residents of Hawaii. While the ramp to full capacity is taking slightly longer than we recently anticipated, I believe that we will be able to bring Puna back to normal operation during 2021.”

Source: Company release