Description
Ormat Technologies is an international company based in Reno, Nevada, USA. Ormat supplies alternative and renewable geothermal energy technology. The company has built over 190 power plants and installed over 3,200 MW. As of January 2021 it owns and operates 933 MW of geothermal and recovered energy based power plants. Ormat has supplied over 1000 turbochargers worldwide: North America, South America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The company's products also include turbines, generators, and heat exchangers.
The company's share is a dual stock traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange since 1991 and on the New York Stock Exchange since 2004 under the symbol ORA, and is part of the Tel Aviv 35 Index and the Tel Aviv Tech-Elite Index. The company's main production facilities are located in Yavne, Israel.
History
Ormat was established in 1965 as Ormat Turbines Ltd. (later renamed Ormat Industries), in Yavne, Israel, by engineer Lucien Bronicki, the company's chairman and CTO until 2014, and his wife Yehudit "Dita" Bronicki, who served as CEO until 2014.
In the late 1950s Lucien Bronicki worked in a government physics laboratory, where he developed a turbine to produce electricity from a range of energy sources, including solar; the process is known as the organic Rankine cycle, which he co-developed with Harry Zvi Tabor. He retired from the lab to commercialize his ideas . In its early years the company focused exclusively on manufacturing power generation equipment.
The 1970s energy crisis increased interest in efficient generation technology. The firm obtained financial assistance from the Israeli government and raised capital from private investors to build one of the world's first solar-driven power stations. However the power station was not economically viable and was abandoned in 1988.
During the 1980s the firm developed generation systems utilizing recovered energy, i.e. heat emitted during industrial processes. It also applied its technology to generate electricity from geothermal sources.
In 1986, the firm designed and supplied geothermal power systems to the Kawerau Power Station in New Zealand. Since then, it has built 13 geothermal power plants in that country. In 1989, the firm supplied geothermal equipment for the regional heating system at Sudurnes Iceland, utilizing the abundant local geothermal resources to provide heating for 20,000 people.
In the 1990s the firm decided not only to provide power generation equipment, but also to own and operate alternative and renewable energy power stations.
In 1991, the firm, then as Ormat Industries, became listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. In 1992, Ormat acquired a controlling stake of Bet Shemesh Engines, a manufacturer of parts for jet engines, that also overhauls, maintains and assembles jet engines. In 2005, Ormat sold its shares in the company.
In 2004, Ormat Technologies, completed an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange raising $100 million. Ormat Technologies was founded in 1994 as a US subsidiary of Ormat Industries. Following the initial public offering, Ormat Industries was restructured as a holding company that was still listed in the exchange, while shifting all its operations to the subsidiary Ormat Technologies.
In 2006, the firm received for the first time, an order for to supply equipment for a geothermal power plant in Germany.
In June 2014, Dita Bronicki resigned from her position as CEO and was appointed to serve on the board of directors of Ormat Technologies. Yoram Bronicki was elected to serve as chairman of the board of directors of Ormat Technologies.
The Company's Board of Directors selected Isaac Angel to serve as CEO of Ormat Technologies. Angel joined the company in April for an overlapping procedure and began serving as CEO in July 2014.
In November 2015, Dita and Yoram Bronicki resigned from the company's board of directors, and Gilon Beck was appointed chairman of the board.
As of May 2016, the FIMI fund and Bronicki Investment Fund were the company's largest shareholders, holding 14.83% and 7.23% of the company's shares, respectively. The rest of the company's shares are held by institutional bodies and by the public.
In May 2017, the Japanese company Orix acquired the FIMI and Bronicki Investment Fund's share in Ormat for $627 million.
In July 2020, Doron Blachar, the company's former CFO since 2013, was appointed as the company's CEO, while Isaac Angel was appointed chairman of the board.
