Excerpt from Ormat Technologies, Inc. SEC Filing dated March 12, 2007
We are a leading vertically integrated company engaged in the geothermal and recovered energy power business. We design, develop, build, own and operate clean, environmentally friendly geothermal and recovered energy-based power plants, in each case using equipment that we design and manufacture. We conduct our business activities in two business segments. In our Electricity Segment, we develop, build, own and operate geothermal and recovered energy-based power plants in the United States and geothermal power plants in other countries around the world and sell the electricity they generate. In our Products Segment, we design, manufacture and sell equipment for geothermal and recovered energy-based electricity generation, remote power units and other power generating units and provide services relating to the engineering, procurement, construction, operation and maintenance of geothermal and recovered energy power plants.
Most of the projects that we currently own or operate produce electricity from geothermal energy sources. Geothermal energy is a clean, renewable and generally sustainable form of energy derived from the natural heat of the earth. Unlike electricity produced by burning fossil fuels, electricity produced from geothermal energy sources is produced without emissions of certain pollutants such as nitrogen oxide, and with far lower emissions of other pollutants such as carbon dioxide. Therefore, electricity produced from geothermal energy sources contributes significantly less to local and regional incidences of acid rain and global warming than energy produced by burning fossil fuels. Geothermal energy is also an attractive alternative to other sources of energy as part of a national diversification strategy to avoid dependence on any one energy source or politically sensitive supply sources.
In addition to our geothermal energy business, we have developed and continue to develop products that produce electricity from recovered energy or so-called "waste heat." We also own and are constructing new recovered energy projects to be owned and operated by us. Recovered energy or waste heat represents residual heat that is generated as a by-product of gas turbine-driven compressor stations and a variety of industrial processes, such as cement manufacturing, and is not otherwise used for any purpose. Such residual heat, that would otherwise be wasted, may be captured in the recovery process and used by recovered energy power plants to generate electricity without burning additional fuel and without emissions.
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