For the first time, geothermal power is being produced from a producing oil well, reports Ormat Technologies Inc., Reno, Nev. (NYSE: ORA)


Ormat, in a joint project with the U.S. Department of Energy at the Rocky Mountain Oil Test Center, reports that the experiment validates the feasibility of proven technology already used in geothermal and recovered energy generation for the production of commercial electricity using hot water produced during the process of oil and gas field production.


The project, conducted near Casper, Wyo., uses an Ormat-produced organic rankine cycle (ORC) power-generation system to produce commercial electricity.


Ormat chairman Lucien Bronicki says, “In the past 20 years, Ormat’s ORC power technology has optimized the range of exploitable geothermal resources from low to moderate temperatures previously discarded.”


Test center director Clarke Turner says, “Ormat is a company of innovation. It was first recognized by the Department of Energy as an innovator nearly 20 years ago and I am honored that the center was chosen by Ormat as a partner to power the world with this exciting project. Ormat Technologies and the center have partnered to bring another transition here; for the first time in the world, electricity is generated from hot water co-produced in an operating oilfield. Similar Ormat power plants located around the world produce one thousand megawatts of power and hundreds more are scheduled to come online in the U.S.”


U.S. oilfields could provide an additional 5,000MW of electricity for the nation’s power grid through this technology, according to a statement by U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyoming).


The Ormat unit being used is similar to the 250-kW air-cooled unit that has been producing electricity from geothermal-heated water at an Austrian resort since 2001. Additionally, there are similar units in Nevada (700 kW) and Thailand (300 kW) that have been in continuous commercial operation and without overhaul, since 1984 and 1989, respectively.


Ormat is now assessing the feasibility of using these wells to support onsite power generation by employing the company’s sub-megawatt geothermal power units.


Ormat designs, develops, builds, owns and operates geothermal and recovered energy-based power plants. The company has operations in the U.S., Guatemala, Kenya and Nicaragua.—JAS