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Oct 22, 2009CanGEA Members: Ormat, Magma Energy, and Ram Power in Badiali’s interview with The Energy Report
CanGEA Members, Ormat Technologies Inc., (NYSE:ORA), Magma Energy Corp. (TSX:MXY), and Ram Power Corp. (TSX:RPG) are given mention and praise in Matt Badiali’s Interview with The Energy Report. Please read the following excerpt.
(TER = The Energy Report)
(MB = Matt Badiali, S&A Resource Report editor)
TER: Could you give us a quick synopsis of your view of the geothermal market as an investment? It’s been attracting a lot of attention of late.
MB: There are two very different investment theses behind some of the companies in this space. Ormat Technologies Inc. (NYSE: ORA) is a play on everybody else getting excited about geothermal. It does produce some geothermal energy, but it is more the general store for the geothermal industry.
And I think if any form of cap-and-trade passes that makes coal-generated electrical power much more expensive, Calpine Corp. (NYSE:CPN) is going to make a lot more money. I’ve actually visited the geysers, which is where Calpine produces a lot of its geothermal energy. They generate hundreds of megawatts and it’s silent, the coolest thing in the world.
TER: It sounds as if geothermal appeals to you.
MB: It does. What really what gets me excited about geothermal is that it works. It’s not solar and wind, which need subsidies; and it’s not tidal energy that works well on some engineer’s drawing board, but doesn’t translate into the real world.
I’ve heard that every megawatt of wind or solar energy needs a megawatt of natural gas or some other consistent power source to back it up, because there’s no way to store this energy. If you produce wind power and suddenly the wind stops blowing at peak hours, you have to be able to turn something else on and generate that electricity.
Geothermal works. It’s an economic, 24-hours-a-day source of power, and it makes a lot of sense. That’s why I’m glad to see these new mid-sized entrants into the geothermal space. I think it will be a race between Ram Power Corp. (TSX: RPG) and Magma Energy Corp. (TSX:MXY) to roll up the junior geothermal industry.
To read the entire interview click here.
