ORMAT TECHNOLOGIES, INC. - Annual Report: 2021 (Form 10-K)

Glossary of Terms

Unless the context otherwise requires, all references in this Annual Report on Form 10-K (this “Annual Report”) to “Ormat”, “the Company”, “we”, “us”, “our company”, “Ormat Technologies”, or “our” refer to Ormat Technologies, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries. A glossary of certain terms and abbreviations used in this annual report appears at the beginning of this Annual Report. When the following terms and abbreviations appear in the text of this report, they have the meanings indicated below:

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements and Risk Factor Summary

This Annual Report includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this report that address activities, events or developments that we expect or anticipate will or may occur in the future, including such matters as our projections of annual revenues, expenses and debt service coverage with respect to our debt securities, future capital expenditures, business strategy, competitive strengths, goals, development or operation of generation assets, market and industry developments and the growth of our business and operations, are forward-looking statements. When used in this Annual Report, the words “may”, “will”, “could”, “should”, “expects”, “plans”, “anticipates”, “believes”, “estimates”, “predicts”, “projects”, “potential”, or “contemplate” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain such words or expressions. The forward-looking statements in this Annual Report are primarily located in the material set forth under the headings Item 1 — “Business” contained in Part I of this Annual Report, Item 1A — “Risk Factors” contained in Part I of this Annual Report, Item 7 — “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” contained in Part II of this Annual Report, and “Notes to Financial Statements” contained in Item 8 — “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” contained in Part II of this Annual Report, but are found in other locations as well. These forward-looking statements generally relate to our plans, objectives and expectations for future operations and are based upon management’s current estimates and projections of future results or trends. Although we believe that our plans and objectives reflected in or suggested by these forward-looking statements are reasonable, we may not achieve these plans or objectives. You should read this Annual Report completely and with the understanding that actual future results and developments may be materially different from what we expect attributable to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control.

These forward-looking statements are made only as of the date hereof, and, except as legally required, we undertake no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

A summary of the risks that may cause actual results to differ from our expectations include, but are not limited to the following:

Risks Related to the Company’s Business and Operation 

Risks Related to Governmental Regulations, Laws and Taxation

Risks Related to Economic and Financial Conditions

Risks Related to Force Majeure

Risks Related to Our Stock

Market and Industry Data

This Annual Report includes market and industry data and forecasts that we have derived from publicly available information, various industry publications, other published industry sources and internal data and estimates. Industry publications and other published industry sources generally indicate that the information contained therein was obtained from sources believed to be reliable. Internal data and estimates are based upon information obtained from trade and business organizations and other contacts in the markets in which we operate and our management’s understanding of industry conditions. Any estimates underlying such market-derived information and other factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the independent parties’ estimates and in our estimates.

Company Contact and Sources of Information

Our website is www.ormat.com. Information contained on our website is not part of this Annual Report. Information that we furnish to or file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), including our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and any amendments to, or exhibits included in, these reports are made available for download, free of charge, through our website as soon as reasonably practicable. Our SEC filings, including exhibits filed therewith, are also available directly on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

We may use our website as a distribution channel of material company information. Financial and other important information regarding the Company is routinely posted on and accessible through our website at www.ormat.com. Accordingly, investors should monitor this channel, in addition to following our press releases, SEC filings and public conference calls and webcasts.

PART I

ITEM 1. BUSINESS

Overview

We are a leading vertically integrated company that is primarily engaged in the geothermal energy power business. We leverage our core capabilities and global presence to expand our activity in recovered energy generation and into different energy storage services and solar PV (including hybrid geothermal and solar PV as well as energy storage plus solar PV). Our objective is to become a leading global provider of renewable energy and we have adopted a strategic plan to focus on several key initiatives to expand our business.

We currently conduct our business activities in three business segments:

The charts below show the relative contributions of each of our segments to our consolidated revenues and the geographical breakdown of our segment revenues for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021.

The following chart sets forth a breakdown of our revenues for each of the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2021:

The following chart sets forth the geographical breakdown of revenues attributable to our Electricity and Product segments for each of the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2021:

The revenues attributable to our Energy Storage segment for each of the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2021 were 100% generated in the United States.

Our Power Generation Business (Electricity Segment)

Our company-owned power plants include both power plants that we have built and power plants that we have acquired. The substantial majority of the power plants 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. As a result, electricity produced from geothermal energy sources contributes significantly less to climate change and local and regional incidences of acid rain than energy produced by burning fossil fuels. In addition, compared to power plants that utilize other renewable energy sources, such as wind or solar, geothermal power plants are generally available all year-long and all day-long and can therefore provide base-load electricity services. Geothermal power plants can also be custom built to provide a range of electricity services such as baseload, voltage regulation, reserve and flexible capacity.

We own and operate a geothermal and solar PV hybrid project and have similar projects currently under construction, in which the electricity generated from a solar PV power plant is used to offset the equipment’s energy use at the geothermal facility, thus increasing the geothermal energy delivered by the project to the grid.

We also construct, own, and operate recovered energy-based power plants. We have built all of the recovered energy-based plants that we operate. Recovered energy comes from residual heat that is generated as a by-product of gas turbine-driven compressor stations, solar thermal units and a variety of industrial processes, such as cement manufacturing. Such residual heat, which 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 additional emissions.

Each of our current geothermal power plants sells substantially all of its output pursuant to long-term, in most of the cases, fixed price PPAs to various counterparties denominated in or linked to the U.S. dollar or Euro. These contracts had a total weighted average remaining term, based on contributions to segment revenue, of approximately 15 years at December 31, 2021. In addition, the counterparties to our PPAs in the United States had a credit rating of between A3 to Baa2 by Moody's and BB- to A by S&P. The purchasers of electricity from our foreign power plants are mainly state-owned entities in countries with below investment grade rating.

Power Plants in Operation

We own and operate 27 geothermal, REG and solar sites globally with an aggregate generating capacity of 1,012 MW. Geothermal comprises 94% of our generating capacity. In 2021, our geothermal and REG power plants generated at a capacity factor of 86% and 71%, respectively, which is much higher than typical capacity factors for wind and solar producers that are usually at 20% to 30%.

The table below summarizes certain key non-financial information relating to our power plants and complexes as of February 16, 2022. The generating capacity of certain of our power plants and complexes listed below has been updated from our 2020 disclosure to reflect changes in the resource temperature and other factors that impact resource capabilities:

New Power Plants

We are currently in various stages of construction of new power plants and expansion of existing power plants. Our construction and expansion plans include between 160 MW and 165 MW in generating capacity from geothermal and solar PV power plants in the United States. In addition, we have several geothermal and solar PV projects in the United States, Indonesia, Guatemala and Guadeloupe that are under different stages of construction and development with an aggregate capacity of between 61 MW and 72 MW.

We have substantial land positions across 30 prospects in the United States and 11 prospects in Ethiopia, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia and New Zealand that we expect will support future geothermal development and on which we have started or plan to start exploration activity. These land positions are comprised of various leases, exploration concessions for geothermal resources and an option to enter into leases.

Our Product Segment

We design, manufacture and sell products for electricity generation and provide the related services described below. In addition, we are providing cementing services for well drilling to third parties. We primarily manufacture products to fill customer orders, but in some situations, we manufacture products as inventory for future projects that we will own and for future third party projects.

Power Units for Geothermal Power Plants 

We design, manufacture and sell power units for geothermal electricity generation, which we refer to as OECs. In geothermal power plants using OECs, geothermal fluid (either hot water, also called brine, or steam or both) is extracted from the underground reservoir and flows from the wellhead to a vaporizer that heats a secondary working fluid, which is vaporized and used to drive the turbine. The secondary fluid is then condensed in a condenser, which may be cooled directly by air through an air cooling system or by water from a cooling tower and sent back to the vaporizer. The cooled geothermal fluid is then reinjected back into the reservoir. Our customers include contractors, geothermal power plant developers, owners and operators.

Power Units for Recovered Energy-Based Power Generation 

We design, manufacture and sell power units used to generate electricity from recovered energy, or so-called “waste heat”. This heat is generated as a residual by-product of gas turbine-driven compressor stations, solar thermal units, biomass facilities and a variety of industrial processes, such as cement manufacturing, and is not otherwise used for any purpose. Our existing and target customers include interstate natural gas pipeline owners and operators, gas processing plant owners and operators, cement plant owners and operators, and other companies engaged in other energy-intensive industrial processes.

EPC of Power Plants

We serve as an EPC contractor for geothermal and recovered energy power plants on a turnkey basis, using power units we design and manufacture. Our customers are geothermal power plant owners as well as our target customers for the sale of our recovered energy-based power units as described above. Unlike many other companies that provide EPC services, we believe that our competitive advantage is in using equipment that we manufacture allowing us better quality and control over the timing and delivery of required equipment and its related costs.

Remote Power Units and Other Generators 

We design, manufacture and sell fossil fuel powered turbo-generators with capacities ranging from 200 watts to 5,000 watts, which operate unattended in extreme hot or cold climate conditions. Our customers include contractors who install gas pipelines in remote areas and offshore platform operators and contractors. In addition, we design, manufacture, and sell generators, including heavy duty direct-current generators, for various other uses.

Our Energy Storage Segment

Our energy storage segment has grown consistently since 2019 and we expect continuous and even stronger growth over the coming years, while we target the sector as one of our major segments for further investment and growth.

In 2021, we successfully brought on line one new Ormat-owned BESS project, the 10 MW/40 MWh Vallecito project in California, which increased our operating portfolio at the end of 2021 to approximately 83 MW / 176 MWh within the footprint of 4 RTOs or ISOs: CAISO, PJM Interconnect, ERCOT and ISONE.

We are currently in the process of constructing 7 energy storage projects with a total capacity of 189 MW / 464 MWh in California, Texas, New Jersey and Ohio, with two new projects that were added in early 2022. 

In addition, we have an approximately 2.3 GW/5.7 GWh pipeline of potential projects, in different stages of development across the United States that will support our target to reach an energy storage portfolio of between 313MW to 373MW by the end of 2023. The development of such projects is dependent, inter alia, on site permitting, interconnection agreement, supply of Lithium- Ion batteries and economic viability, which are not certain. We plan to continue leveraging our experience in project development and finance, as well as our engineering, procurement and construction know-how and our relationships with utilities and other market participants, to develop additional BESS projects.

Business Strategy

Our strategy is focused on further developing a geographically balanced portfolio of geothermal, energy storage, solar (PV) and recovered energy assets and continuing our leading position in the geothermal energy market with the objective of becoming a leading global provider of renewable energy. Our strategy focuses on three main elements:

We intend to implement this strategy through:  

The map below shows our worldwide portfolio of operating geothermal, solar PV and recovered energy power plants as of February 25, 2022.

* In the Sarulla complex, we include our 12.75% share only.

The map below shows our portfolio of operating storage facilities as of February 25, 2022.

Our Proprietary Technology

Our proprietary technology involves original designs of turbines, pumps, and heat exchangers, as well as formulation of organic motive fluids (all of which are non-ozone-depleting substances) and may be used either in power plants operating according to the ORC alone or in combination with various other commonly used thermodynamic technologies that convert heat to mechanical power, such as gas and steam turbines. It can be used with a variety of thermal energy sources, such as geothermal, recovered energy, biomass, solar energy and fossil fuels. By using advanced computational fluid dynamics techniques and other computer aided design software as well as our test facilities, we continuously seek to improve power plant components, reduce operations and maintenance costs, and increase the range of our equipment and applications. We are always examining ways to increase the output of our plants by utilizing evaporative cooling, cold reinjection, configuration optimization, and topping turbines.

We also developed, patented and constructed GCCU power plants in which the steam first produces power in a backpressure steam turbine and is subsequently condensed in a vaporizer of a binary plant, which produces additional power. Our Geothermal Combined Cycle technology is depicted in the diagram below.

In the conversion of geothermal energy into electricity, our technology has a number of advantages over conventional geothermal steam turbine plants. A conventional geothermal steam turbine plant consumes significant quantities of water, causing depletion of the aquifer and requiring cooling water treatment with chemicals and consequently a need for the disposal of such chemicals. A conventional geothermal steam turbine plant also creates a significant visual impact in the form of an emitted plume from the cooling towers, especially during cold weather. By contrast, our binary and combined cycle geothermal power plants have a low profile with minimal visual impact and do not emit a plume when they use air-cooled condensers. Our binary and combined cycle geothermal power plants reinject all of the geothermal fluids utilized in the respective processes into the geothermal reservoir. Consequently, such processes generally have no emissions.

Other advantages of our technology include simplicity of operation and maintenance and higher yearly availability. For instance, the OEC employs a low speed and high efficiency organic vapor turbine directly coupled to the generator, eliminating the need for reduction gear. In addition, with our binary design, there is no contact between the turbine blade and geothermal fluids, which can often be very erosive and corrosive. Instead, the geothermal fluids pass through a heat exchanger, which is less susceptible to erosion and can adapt much better to corrosive fluids. In addition, with the organic vapor condensed above atmospheric pressure, no vacuum system is required.

We use the same elements of our technology in our recovered energy products. The heat source may be exhaust gases from a Brayton cycle gas turbine, low-pressure steam, or medium temperature liquid found in the process industries such as oil refining and cement manufacturing. In most cases, we attach an additional heat exchanger in which we circulate thermal oil or water to transfer the heat into the OEC’s own vaporizer in order to provide greater operational flexibility and control. Once this stage of each recovery is completed, the rest of the operation is identical to that of the OECs used in our geothermal power plants and enjoys the same advantages of using the ORC. In addition, our technology allows for better load following than conventional steam turbines, requires no water treatment (since it is air cooled and organic fluid motivated), and does not require the continuous presence of a licensed steam boiler operator on site.

Our REG technology is depicted in the diagram below.

Patents

As of December 31, 2021, we have 75 issued U.S. patents and five pending U.S. patent application. These patents and patent applications cover our products (mainly power units based on the ORC) and systems (mainly geothermal power plants and industrial waste heat recovery plants for electricity production). The product-related patents cover components that include turbines, heat exchangers, air coolers, seals and controls as well as control of operation of geothermal production well pumps. The system-related patents cover not only particular components but also the overall energy conversion system from the “fuel supply” (e.g., geothermal fluid, waste heat, biomass or solar) to electricity production.

The system-related patents also cover subjects such as waste heat recovery related to gas pipeline compressors and industrial waste heat, solar power systems, disposal of non-condensable gases present in geothermal fluids, reinjection of other geothermal fluids ensuring geothermal resource sustainability, power plants for very high-pressure geothermal resources, two-phase fluids, low temperature geothermal brine as well as processes related to EGS. 55 of our patents cover combined cycle geothermal power plants, in which the steam first produces power in a backpressure steam turbine and is subsequently condensed in a vaporizer of a binary plant, which produces additional power. The remaining terms of our issued patents range from one year to 16 years. The loss of any single patent would not have a material effect on our business or results of operations.

Research and Development

We conduct research and development activities intended to improve plant performance, reduce costs, and increase the breadth of our product offerings. The primary focus of our research and development efforts is targeting power plant conceptual thermodynamic cycle and major equipment including continued performance, cost and land usage improvements to our condensing equipment, and development of new higher efficiency and higher power output turbines and brine production pumps. New realms for innovation include implementation of predictive maintenance software and automation of power plants performance analysis.

We also devote resources to research and development related to our energy storage segment. Our engineering and R&D teams are working to optimize the dispatch strategy of a battery energy storage system (BESS), develop and deploy capabilities to self-integrate BESS and test different battery cell and inverter technologies under simulated operating criteria of various energy markets to allow us to bring to market cost-effective BESS more rapidly and more optimized to the specific use cases and target revenue streams. Additionally, we are continuing to evaluate investment opportunities in companies with innovative technology or product offerings for renewable energy and energy storage solutions.

Market Opportunities

Geothermal Market Opportunities

Renewable energy provides a sustainable alternative to the existing solutions to two major global issues: climate change and diminishing fossil fuel reserves. Renewable energy is sustainable, clean and decarbonizes the grid. These environmental benefits have led major countries to focus their efforts on the development of renewable energy sources in general and geothermal specifically.

Based on data provided by ThinkGeo Energy in January 2022, the total installed geothermal power generation capacity at year-end 2021 stood at 15,854 MW, an increase of 246 MW over 2020. The leading countries are the U.S., Indonesia, the Philippines, Turkey, Mexico and New Zealand. The largest growth in 2021 happened in Indonesia, which had an addition of 143 MW with two new power plants, followed by Chile and Turkey.

Having realized the importance of renewable energy including geothermal alternatives, various governments have been preparing regulatory frameworks and policies, and providing incentives to develop the sector.

United States

Interest in geothermal energy in the United States continues to grow based on supportive legislation and regulation at the local, state, and federal levels. Policy makers and regulators are becoming increasingly aware of the comparatively high value of geothermal energy in contrast to intermittent renewable technology, and this is readily apparent through individual state’s renewable portfolio standard (RPS) goals (as described below) accounting for more baseload energy than ever before as coal, natural gas and nuclear power plants reach retirement.

Today, electricity generation from geothermal resources is concentrated mainly in California, Nevada, Hawaii, Idaho, Oregon, and Utah, and we believe there are opportunities for expansion in other states such as New Mexico due to the potential of its geothermal resources and recent legislation that has increased its renewable energy goals to 100% by 2045 for investor-owned utilities.

Geothermal energy provides numerous benefits to the U.S. grid and economy. Geothermal development and operation bring economic benefits in the form of tax incentives and long term high-paying jobs, and it currently has one of the lowest LCOE of all power sources in the United States, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration's report published in February 2019. Additionally, improvements in geothermal production make it possible to provide ancillary and on-demand services. This helps load serving entities avoid additional costs from purchasing and then balancing intermittent resources with storage or new transmission.

At the end of 2020, the United States Congress passed its most significant energy legislation in over a decade as part of the omnibus spending and coronavirus relief package. The legislation includes a budget for the Geothermal Technology Office to support geothermal research and development, a one-year extension of the production tax credit, and specific language to improve permitting efforts for renewable projects on federal land.

State level legislation

Many state governments have enacted an RPS program under which utilities are required to include renewable energy sources as part of their energy generation portfolio. Under an RPS, participating states have set targets for the production of their energy from renewable sources with specific deadlines. Renewable energy generation under an RPS program is tracked through the production of RECs. Load serving entities track the RECs to ensure they are meeting the mandate prescribed by the RPS.

Currently in the United States, 42 states plus the District of Colombia and four territories have enacted an RPS, renewable portfolio goals, or similar laws or incentives (such as clean energy standards or goals) requiring or encouraging load serving entities in such states to generate or buy a certain percentage of their electricity from renewable energy or recovered heat sources. The vast majority of Ormat’s geothermal projects can be found in California, Nevada, and Hawaii which have some of the most stringent RPS programs in the country.

We see the impact of RPS and climate legislation as the most significant driver for us to expand existing power plants and to build new renewable projects.

States also provide incentives to geothermal energy producers. Nevada provides a property tax abatement of up to 55% for real and tangible personal property used to generate electricity from geothermal sources. The abatement may extend up to twenty years if certain job creation requirements are met. The California Energy Commission provides favorable grants and loans to promote the development of new or existing geothermal resources and technologies within the state. In Idaho, geothermal energy producers are exempt from property tax and, in lieu, pay a tax of 3% of gross energy earnings. Also in California, in its recent ruling, the CPUC requiring Electric Load Service Entities (LSEs) to procure 11.5 GW of new clean electricity by 2026, 1 GW of this procurement must deliver firm power with an 80% capacity factor, produce zero on-site emissions, and be weather independent. With a high capacity factor and firm and flexible generation, geothermal energy addresses these requirements and is the natural replacement for baseload fossil fuels and nuclear generation.

Global 

We believe the global markets continue to present growth and expansion opportunities in both established and emerging markets.

Operations outside of the United States may be subject to and/or benefit from increasing efforts by governments and businesses around the world to fight climate change and move towards a low carbon, resilient and sustainable future. According to a recent report by the International Renewable Energy Agency entitled Toward 100% Renewable Energy, in 2019, a total of 61 countries had set a 100% renewable energy target in at least one end-use sector, up from 60 countries in 2018.

We believe that several global initiatives will create business expansion opportunities for us internationally and support global growth of the renewable sector, such as: the historic Paris Agreement approved by the Twenty-first Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change on December 12, 2015, which committed parties to the agreement to set nationally determined efforts with the view to strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change and reporting on their progress; the Mission Innovation, pursuant to which 22 countries and the European Commission have pledged to double their respective budgets for renewable energy technology over five years, increasing investments by $4.9 billion annually since its inception in 2015; and the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, among others. Following the Paris Agreement, the EIB and other multilateral institutions committed to provide $100 billion of new financing for climate action projects over the next five years to assist countries in reaching their targets, and in 2021, the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26) brought together 120 world leaders to set the global agenda on climate change for the next decade. It was agreed, among other things, that countries will meet next year to pledge further cuts to emissions of CO2 to keep temperature rises within 1.5˚C.

Outside of the United States, the majority of power generating capacity has historically been owned and controlled by governments. Since the early 1990s, however, many foreign governments have privatized their power generation industries through sales to third parties encouraging new capacity development and/or refurbishment of existing assets by independent power developers. These foreign governments have taken a variety of approaches to encourage the development of competitive power markets, including awarding long-term contracts for energy and capacity to independent power generators and creating competitive wholesale markets for selling and trading energy, capacity, and related products. Some foreign regions and countries have also adopted active government programs designed to encourage clean renewable energy power generation such as the following countries in which we operate, sell products and/or are conducting business development activities:

Europe

Europe has the fourth largest geothermal power capacity, the majority of which stems from Italy and Turkey and recently small scale projects in Germany. A significant part of our European operations is in Turkey. We are looking for opportunities to expand in Europe mostly in the Product segment.

A significant part of our European operations is in Turkey, which, until recently, was the fastest growing geothermal market worldwide with the theoretical potential for 31 GW of geothermal capacity and with a proven geothermal capacity of 4.5 GW, according to the Turkish Mineral Technical Exploration Agency. Since 2004, we have established strong business relationships in the Turkish geothermal market and provided our wide range of solutions including our binary systems, to over 40 geothermal power plants with a total capacity of approximately 950 MW. The potential for geothermal growth in Turkey is still high, specifically in center-south and east areas of the country, however, due to the economic crisis in Turkey, there has been a practical stop of new projects and investments.

Latin America

Several Latin American countries have renewable energy programs and pursue the development of the geothermal market.

In Guatemala, where our Zunil and Amatitlan power plants are located, the government approved and adopted the Energy Policy 2013-2027 that secures, among other things, a supply of electricity at competitive prices by diversifying the energy mix with an 80% renewable energy share target for 2027.

In Honduras, where we operate our Platanares power plant, the government set a target to reach at least 80% renewable energy production by 2034.

New Zealand

In New Zealand, where we have been actively providing geothermal power plant solutions since 1988, the government’s policies to fight climate change include a net zero GHG emissions reduction target  by 2050 and a renewable electricity generation target of 90% of New Zealand’s total electricity generation by 2035. We continue selling power plants and products to our New Zealand customers and our cooperate with other potential customers for adding geothermal power generation capacity within the coming years.

Asia

Indonesia has become an important geothermal market for Ormat to expand its core business, due to its significant potential for future development, financial strength (rated at BBB by S&P and Baa2 by Moody's) and active geothermal industry that is supported by regulatory incentives. The government intends to increase the share of renewable energy sources in the energy mix, aiming to meet a target of 29% of domestic energy demand by 2025. In addition to two joint venture projects in Indonesia, we are advancing drilling in two prospects, Toca Tindung (formerly known as Bitung) and Wapsalit. We are also pursuing various supply opportunities in Indonesia, and in other countries in Southeast Asia, and in China, where we supplied our equipment to one of our clients’ geothermal projects, and Japan, which has the third largest potential geothermal output in the world at 23,470 MW and the ninth largest installed capacity. In March 2021, China’s National Energy Administration adopted the 14th Renewable Energy Development Five Year Plan that seeks to increase the share of non-fossil fuel energy in total primary energy consumption to 20% by 2030, among other goals. In October 2021, the Japanese Cabinet approved the Sixth Strategic Energy Plan targeting the ratio of renewable energy to total power generation in 2030 of 36% to 38%, up from 22% to 24% under the previous Plan in 2018. State-owned resources agency JOGMEC started conducting test bores as part of the financially risky early phase of development on behalf of potential developers beginning in the fiscal year from April 2020. Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) determined 22 successful applicants for the full year 2020 Research Project for Developing Resources for Geothermal Power Generation, managed by State-owned resources agency JOGMEC.

East Africa

In East Africa the geothermal potential along the Rift Valley is estimated at several thousand MW. The different countries along the Rift Valley are at different stages of development of their respective geothermal potential.

In Kenya, there are already several geothermal power plants, including our 150 MW Olkaria III complex. The Kenyan government has identified the country's untapped geothermal potential as the most suitable indigenous source of electricity.

While the Kenyan government is aiming to reach 10 GW of power generating capacity by 2037, under the Least-Cost Power Development Plan 2017-37, which had a target of 62% of such capacity generated from renewable energy sources (including large hydro and solar), a Task Force was appointed by Kenya's president to review and analyze PPAs entered into between various independent power producers and the local utility, and their recommendation at this stage is to reconsider new PPAs and review all new development in the country.

Energy Storage

Globally, there is a continued increase in the use of renewable energy. In the United States and Europe, this increase is placing strains on the electric grid as adding wind and solar PV power creates situations where a significant amount of power plant capacity must be available to ramp up and down to accommodate these intermittent resource’s daily output cycles and variations due to weather conditions. Furthermore, the output from wind and solar PV power plants can change significantly over short periods of time due to environmental conditions like cloud movement and fog burn off and can cause instability on the electric grid. As a result, energy storage is positioned to become a key component of the grid.

Energy storage systems utilize surplus, available electricity that enables utilities and grid operators to optimize the operation of the grid, run generators closer to full capacity for longer periods, and operate the grid more efficiently and effectively. As penetration of wind and solar resources increases, so does the need for services that energy storage systems can provide to “balance the grid”, such as local capacity, frequency regulation, ramping, reactive power, black start and movement of energy from times of excess supply to times of high demand. Common applications for energy storage systems include ancillary services, wind/solar smoothing, energy trading, peaker replacement, and transmission and distribution deferral.

According to Wood Mackenzie's Energy Storage Monitor for Q3 2021, approximately 1.1 GW/3.5 GWh of new energy storage projects were installed in the United States as of Q3 2021 and this number represents a 135%/349% increase compared to Q3 2020. Wood Mackenzie is forecasting that annual energy storage deployments will grow to 37GWh by 2025.

2021 saw record growth in BESS deployment in the United States and significant growth in BESS deployment is expected to continue primarily for grid-connected (also referred to as “in front of the meter”) applications. Many power systems are also undergoing significant challenges and changes such as grid aging, grid congestion, retirement of aging generators, implementation of greenhouse gas emission reduction rules and increasing penetration of variable renewable energy resources.

We own and operate several grid-connected BESS facilities, where revenues are derived from selling energy, capacity and/or ancillary services in merchant markets like PJM Interconnect, ISO New England, the ERCOT and the CAISO. We are pursuing the development of additional grid-connected BESS projects in multiple regions, with expected revenues coming from providing energy, capacity and/or ancillary services on a merchant basis,or through bilateral contracts with load serving entities, e.g. investor owned utilities, publicly owned utilities and community choice aggregators. We are also pursuing the development of storage plus Solar PV facilities.

Solar PV 

The solar PV market continues to grow, driven by a decline in equipment prices and an increasing desire to replace conventional generation with renewable resources that are commonly supported by favorable regulatory policies.  We are monitoring market drivers with the potential to develop solar PV power plants in locations where we can offer competitively priced power generation. Our current focus is in adding solar PV systems in some of our operating geothermal power plants to reduce internal consumption loads, as well as developing solar PV and BESS projects in targeted regions where economics are favorable. In 2019 we successfully placed in service a solar PV augmentation system at our Tungsten Mountain geothermal power plant in Churchill County, Nevada and we are currently constructing projects adjacent to some of our geothermal power plants in Nevada. We are also currently constructing the 20 MW(AC) Wister solar PV project in Imperial County, California, for which a power purchase agreement with San Diego Gas & Electric is in effect and we are currently targeting commercial operation in the second half of 2022.

Other Opportunities

Recovered Energy Generation

In addition to our geothermal power generation activities, we are pursuing recovered energy-based power generation opportunities in the United States and worldwide. We believe recovered energy-based power generation will ultimately benefit from the efforts to reduce GHG emissions. We have built 23 power plants in North America which generate electricity utilizing “waste heat” from gas turbine-driven compressor stations along interstate natural gas pipelines, from midstream and gas processing facilities, and from other applications.

Several states, and to some extent the federal government, have recognized the environmental benefits of recovered energy-based power generation. For example, according to trade association data, 20 states currently include waste heat to power facilities in their renewable portfolio standard, efficiency standard, or similar program. In addition, California modified the Self Generation Incentive Program to allow recovered energy-based power generation to qualify for a per watt incentive.

At the end of 2020, the United States Congress passed legislation including a provision that makes recovered energy generation property eligible for the energy investment tax credit. Recovered energy property that begins construction in 2021 or 2022 is eligible for a 26 percent tax credit, and property that begins construction in 2023 is eligible for a 22 percent tax credit.

In 2016, the Canadian government ratified its commitments in the Paris Agreement, which features a commitment to reduce emissions by 30% from 2005 levels by 2030. In July 2021, Pursuant to the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act, Canadian provinces must have an emission reduction plan in place or be subject to a federal carbon tax in 2018.Canada updated its commitment under the agreement to reduce emissions by 40-45% below 2005 levels by 2030.

Canada’s comprehensive climate policy, once fully implemented, will encourage the development of renewable energy technologies, including waste heat recovery, throughout the country. We believe that Europe and other markets worldwide may offer similar opportunities in recovered energy-based power generation.

In summary, the market for the recovery of waste heat converted into electricity exists either when already available electricity is expensive or where the regulatory environment facilitates construction and marketing of power generated from recovered waste heat. However, such projects tend to be smaller than 9 MW and we expect any growth to be relatively slow and geographically scattered.

Operations of our Electricity Segment

How We Own Our Power Plants

We customarily establish a separate subsidiary to own interests in each of our power plants. This ensures that the power plant, and the revenues generated by it, will be the only source for repaying indebtedness, if any, incurred to finance the construction or the acquisition (or to refinance the construction or acquisition) of the relevant power plant. If we do not own all of the interest in a power plant, we enter into a shareholders’ agreement or a partnership agreement that governs the management of the specific subsidiary and our relationship with our partner in connection with the specific power plant. Our ability to transfer or sell our interests in certain power plants may be restricted by certain purchase options or rights of first refusal in favor of our power plant partners or the power plant’s power purchasers and/or certain change of control and assignment restrictions in the underlying power plant and financing documents. All of our domestic geothermal and REG power plants are Qualifying Facilities under the PURPA and are eligible for regulatory exemptions from most provisions of the FPA and certain state laws and regulations.

How We Explore and Evaluate Geothermal Resources

We conduct our exploration activities in the United States and internationally. It generally takes two to three years from the time we start active exploration of a particular geothermal resource to the time we have an operating production well, assuming we conclude the resource is commercially viable and determine to pursue its development. Exploration activities generally involve the phases described below.

Initial Evaluation

We identify and evaluate potential geothermal resources by sampling and studying new areas combined with information available from public and private sources.

Our initial evaluation is usually conducted by our own staff, although we might engage outside service providers for some tasks from time to time. The costs associated with an initial evaluation vary from site to site, based on various factors, including the acreage involved and the costs, if any, of obtaining information from private databases or other sources. On average, our expenses for an initial evaluation range from approximately $10,000 (mainly in the U.S.) to $50,000 (mainly in the international prospects) including travel, chemical analyses, and data acquisition. 

If we conclude, based on the information considered in the initial evaluation, that the geothermal resource could support a commercially viable power plant, taking into account various factors described below, we proceed to land rights acquisition.

Land Acquisition

We acquire land rights to any geothermal resources our initial evaluation indicates could potentially support a commercially viable power plant. For domestic power plants, we either lease or own the sites on which our power plants are located. For our foreign power plants, our lease rights for the power plant site are generally contained in the terms of a concession agreement or other contract with the host government or an agency thereof. In certain cases, we also enter into one or more geothermal resource leases (or subleases) or a concession or an option agreement or other agreement granting us the exclusive right to extract geothermal resources from specified areas of land, with the owners (or sublessors) of such land.

For most of our current exploration sites in the United States, we acquire rights to use the geothermal resource through land leases with the BLM (which regulates leasehold interests in U.S. federal land), with various states, or through private leases. A summary of our typical lease terms is provided below under “Description of our Leases and Lands”. The up-front bonus and royalty payments vary from site to site and are based on, among other things, current market conditions.

Surveys

We conduct geological, geochemical, and/or geophysical surveys on the site we acquire. These surveys are conducted incrementally considering relative impact and cost, and the geologic model is updated continuously.

We make a further determination of the commercial viability of the geothermal resource based on the results of this process, particularly the results of the geochemical surveys estimating temperature and the overall geologic model, including potential resource size. If the results from the geochemical surveys are poor (i.e., low derived resource temperatures or poor permeability) or the geologic model indicates small or deep resource, we re-evaluate the commercial viability of the geothermal resource and may not proceed to exploratory drilling. We generally only move forward with those sites that we believe have a high probability of successful development.

Exploratory Drilling

We drill one or more exploratory wells on the high priority, relatively low risk sites to confirm and/or define the geothermal resource. Each year we determine and approve an exploration budget for the entire exploration activity in such year. We prioritize budget allocation between the various geothermal sites based on commercial and geological factors. The costs we incur for exploratory drilling vary from site to site based on various factors, including the accessibility of the drill site, the geology of the site, and the depth of the resource. However, on average, exploration costs, prior to drilling of a full-size well are approximately $1.0 million to $3.0 million for each site, not including land acquisition. We only reach such spending levels for sites that proved to be successful in the early stages of exploration.

At various points during our exploration activities, we re-assess whether the geothermal resource involved will support a commercially viable power plant based on information available at that time.

If we conclude that the geothermal resource involved will support a commercially viable power plant, we proceed to constructing a power plant at the site.

How We Construct Our Power Plants.

The principal phases involved in constructing one of our geothermal power plants are as follows:

In recent years, it has taken us two to three years from the time we drill a production well until the power plant becomes operational. During 2021, in the Electricity segment, we focused on the commencement of operations at McGinness Hills Expansion in Nevada, the construction of Mammoth CD-4 plant and the construction of Tungsten Mountain Enhancement. We also began construction of North Valley power plant and Heber 2 repower as well as with enhancement work in some other of our operating power plants worldwide.

When deciding whether to continue holding lease rights and/or to pursue exploration activity, we diligently prioritize our prospective investments, taking into account resource and probability assessments in order to make informed decisions about whether a particular project will support commercial operation. 

We may conclude that a respective geothermal resources will not support commercial operations and therefore costs associated with exploration activities at this site will be expensed accordingly under the Write-off of Unsuccessful Exploration Activities line item in the consolidated statements of operations in or financial statements.

How We Operate and Maintain Our Power Plants

Our operations and maintenance practices are designed to minimize operating costs without compromising safety or environmental standards while maximizing plant flexibility and maintaining high reliability. Our operations and maintenance practices for geothermal power plants seek to preserve the sustainable characteristics of the geothermal resources we use to produce electricity and maintain steady-state operations within the constraints of those resources reflected in our relevant geologic and hydrologic studies. Our approach to plant management emphasizes the operational autonomy of our individual plant or complex managers and staff to identify and resolve operations and maintenance issues at their respective power plants; however, each power plant or complex draws upon our available collective resources and experience, and that of our subsidiaries. We have organized our operations such that inventories, maintenance, backup, and other operational functions are pooled within each power plant complex and provided by one operation and maintenance provider. This approach enables us to realize cost savings and enhances our ability to meet our power plant availability goals. 

Safety is a key area of concern to us. We believe that the most efficient and profitable performance of our power plants can only be accomplished within a safe working environment for our employees. Our compensation and incentive program includes safety as a factor in evaluating our employees, and we have a well-developed reporting system to track safety and environmental incidents, if any, at our power plants.

How We Sell Electricity

In the United States, the purchasers of power ally from our power plants are typically investor-owned electric utility companies or electric cooperatives including public owned utilities, and recently we signed a PPA with CCAs. Outside of the United States, our purchasers are either state-owned utilities or privately-owned-entities and we typically operate our facilities under rights granted to us by a governmental agency pursuant to a concession agreement. In each case, we enter into long-term contracts (typically, PPAs) for the sale of electricity or the conversion of geothermal resources into electricity. Although previously our power plants’ revenues under a PPA generally consisted of two payments, energy payments and capacity payments, our recent PPAs provide for energy payments only. Energy payments are normally based on a power plant’s electrical output actually delivered to the purchaser measured in kWh, with payment rates either fixed or indexed to the power purchaser’s “avoided” power costs (i.e., the costs the power purchaser would have incurred itself had it produced the power it is purchasing from third parties) or rates that escalate at a predetermined percentage each year. Capacity payments are normally calculated based on the generating capacity or the declared capacity of a power plant available for delivery to the purchaser, regardless of the amount of electrical output actually produced or delivered. In addition, we have four domestic power plants located in California, Nevada and Hawaii that are eligible for capacity payments under the respective PPAs upon reaching certain levels of generation, or subject to a capacity payment reduction if certain levels of generation are not reached.

How We Finance Our Power Plants

Historically we have funded our power plants with different sources of liquidity such as a non-recourse or limited recourse debt, lease financing, tax monetization transactions, internally generated cash, which includes funds from operations, as well as proceeds from loans under corporate credit facilities, public equity offerings, senior unsecured corporate bonds, and the sale of equity interests and other securities. Such leveraged financing permits the development of power plants with a limited amount of equity contributions, but also increases the risk that a reduction in cashflow could adversely affect a particular power plant’s ability to meet its debt obligations. Leveraged financing also means that distributions of dividends or other distributions by our power plant subsidiaries to us are contingent on compliance with financial and other covenants contained in the applicable finance documents.

In 2021, we raised several corporate loans and expanded and renewed our revolving credit facilities to support our geothermal and storage growth.

We have used financing structures to monetize PTCs and depreciation, such as our tax equity partnership transaction involving McGinness Hills phase 3, Tungsten and Steamboat Hills Repowering Project. Our Dixie Valley project, acquired from Terra-Gen in 2021, has a leveraged lease financing arrangement.

We have also used a sale of equity interests in three of our geothermal assets and nine of our REG facilities to fund corporate needs including funding for the construction of new projects. We may use some of the same financing structures in the future. 

How We Mitigate International Political Risk.

We generally purchase insurance policies to cover our book equity exposure to certain political risks involved in operating in developing countries, as described below under “Insurance”. However, insurance may not cover all political risks or coverage amounts may not be sufficient.

Description of Our Leases and Lands

We have domestic leases on approximately 355,973 acres of federal, state, and private land in California, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Idaho and Oregon. The approximate breakdown between federal, state and private leases and owned land is as follows:

Each of the leases within each of the categories above has standard terms and requirements, as summarized below. Internationally, our land position includes approximately 60,903 acres.

BLM Geothermal Leases

Certain of our domestic project subsidiaries have entered into geothermal resources leases with the U.S. government, pursuant to which they have obtained the right to conduct their geothermal development and operations on federally-owned land. These leases are made pursuant to the Geothermal Steam Act and the lessor under such leases is the U.S. government, acting through the BLM.

BLM geothermal leases grant the geothermal lessee the right and privilege to drill for, extract, produce, remove, utilize, sell, and dispose of geothermal resources on certain lands, together with the right to build and maintain necessary improvements thereon. The actual ownership of the geothermal resources and other minerals beneath the land is retained in the federal mineral estate. The geothermal lease does not grant to the geothermal lessee the exclusive right to develop the lands, although the geothermal lessee does hold the exclusive right to develop geothermal resources within the lands. Since BLM leases do not grant to the geothermal lessee the exclusive right to use the surface of the land, BLM may grant rights to others for activities that do not unreasonably interfere with the geothermal lessee’s uses of the same land, including use, off-road vehicles, and/or wind or solar energy developments.

Typical BLM leases issued to geothermal lessees before August 8, 2005 have a primary term of ten years and will renew so long as geothermal resources are being produced or utilized in commercial quantities but cannot exceed a period of forty years after the end of the primary term. If at the end of the forty-year period geothermal steam is still being produced or utilized in commercial quantities and the lands are not needed for other purposes, the geothermal lessee will have a preferential right to renew the lease for a second forty-year term, under terms and conditions as the BLM deems appropriate.

BLM leases issued after August 8, 2005 have a primary term of ten years. If the geothermal lessee does not reach commercial production within the primary term, the BLM may grant two five-year extensions. If the lessee is drilling a well for the purposes of commercial production, the lease may be extended for five years and thereafter, as long as steam is being produced and used in commercial quantities, the lease may be extended for up to thirty-five years. If, at the end of the extended thirty-five-year term, geothermal steam is still being produced or utilized in commercial quantities and the lands are not needed for other purposes, the geothermal lessee will have a preferential right to renew the lease under terms and conditions as the BLM deems appropriate.

For BLM leases issued before August 8, 2005, the geothermal lessee is required to pay an annual rental fee (on a per acre basis), which escalates according to a schedule described therein, until production of geothermal steam in commercial quantities has commenced. After such production has commenced, the geothermal lessee is required to pay royalties (on a monthly basis) on the amount or value of (i) steam, (ii) by-products derived from production, and (iii) commercially de-mineralized water sold or utilized by the project (or reasonably susceptible to such sale or use).

For BLM leases issued after August 8, 2005, (i) a geothermal lessee who has obtained a lease through a non-competitive bidding process will pay an annual rental fee equal to $1.00 per acre for the first ten years and $5.00 per acre each year thereafter; and (ii) a geothermal lessee who has obtained a lease through a competitive process will pay a rental equal to $2.00 per acre for the first year, $3.00 per acre for the second through tenth year and $5.00 per acre each year thereafter. Rental fees paid before the first day of the year for which the rental is owed will be credited towards royalty payments for that year. For BLM leases issued, effective, or pending on August 5, 2005 or thereafter, royalty rates are fixed between 1.0-2.5% of the gross proceeds from the sale of electricity during the first ten years of production under the lease. The royalty rate set by the BLM for geothermal resources produced for the commercial generation of electricity but not sold in an arm’s length transaction is 1.75% for the first ten years of production and 3.5% thereafter. The royalty rate for geothermal resources sold by the geothermal lessee or an affiliate in an arm’s length transaction is 10.0% of the gross proceeds from the arm’s length sale.

In the event of a default under any BLM lease, or the failure to comply with any of the provisions of the Geothermal Steam Act or regulations issued under the Geothermal Steam Act or the terms or stipulations of the lease, the BLM may, 30 days after notice of default is provided to the relevant project, (i) suspend operations until the requested action is taken, or (ii) cancel the lease.

Private Geothermal Leases

Certain of our domestic project subsidiaries have entered into geothermal resources leases with private parties, pursuant to which they have obtained the right to conduct their geothermal development and operations on privately owned land. In many cases, the lessor under these private geothermal leases owns only the geothermal resource and not the surface of the land.

Typically, the leases grant our project subsidiaries the exclusive right and privilege to drill for, produce, extract, take and remove from the leased land water, brine, steam, steam power, minerals (other than oil), salts, chemicals, gases (other than gases associated with oil), and other products produced or extracted by such project subsidiary. The project subsidiaries are also granted certain non-exclusive rights pertaining to the construction and operation of plants, structures, and facilities on the leased land. Additionally, the project subsidiaries are granted the right to dispose geothermal fluid as well as the right to re-inject into the leased land water, brine, steam, and gases in a well or wells for the purpose of maintaining or restoring pressure in the productive zones beneath the leased land or other land in the vicinity. Because the private geothermal leases do not grant to the lessee the exclusive right to use the surface of the land, the lessor reserves the right to conduct other activities on the leased land in a manner that does not unreasonably interfere with the geothermal lessee’s uses of the same land, which other activities may include agricultural use (farming or grazing), recreational use and hunting, and/or wind or solar energy developments.

The leases provide for a term consisting of a primary term in the range of five to 30 years, depending on the lease, and so long thereafter as lease products are being produced or the project subsidiary is engaged in drilling, extraction, processing, or reworking operations on the leased land.

As consideration under most of our project subsidiaries’ private leases, the project subsidiary must pay to the lessor a certain specified percentage of the value “at the well” (which is not attributable to the enhanced value of electricity generation), gross proceeds, or gross revenues of all lease products produced, saved, and sold on a monthly basis. In certain of our project subsidiaries’ private leases, royalties payable to the lessor by the project subsidiary are based on the gross revenues received by the lessee from the sale or use of the geothermal substances, either from electricity production or the value of the geothermal resource “at the well”.

In addition, pursuant to the leases, the project subsidiary typically agrees to commence drilling, extraction or processing operations on the leased land within the primary term, and to conduct such operations with reasonable diligence until lease products have been found, extracted and processed in quantities deemed “paying quantities” by the project subsidiary, or until further operations would, in such project subsidiary’s judgment, be unprofitable or impracticable. The project subsidiary has the right at any time within the primary term to terminate the lease and surrender the relevant land. If the project subsidiary has not commenced any such operations on said land (or on the unit area, if the lease has been unitized), or terminated the lease within the primary term, the project subsidiary must pay to the lessor, in order to maintain its lease position, annually in advance, a rental fee until operations are commenced on the leased land.

If the project subsidiary fails to pay any installment of royalty or rental when due and if such default continues for a period of fifteen days specified in the lease, for example, after its receipt of written notice thereof from the lessor, then at the option of the lessor, the lease will terminate as to the portion or portions thereof as to which the project subsidiary is in default. If the project subsidiary defaults in the performance of any obligations under the lease, other than a payment default, and if, for a period of 90 days after written notice is given to it by the lessor of such default, the project subsidiary fails to commence and thereafter diligently and in good faith take remedial measures to remedy such default, the lessor may terminate the lease.

We do not regard any property that we lease as material unless and until we begin construction of a power plant on the property, that is, until we drill a production well on the property.

Description of Our Power Plants

Domestic Operating Power Plants

The following descriptions summarize certain industry metrics for our domestic operating power plants:

Power plants in the United States

Power plants in Rest of the World

⁽¹⁾ Don A. Campbell is experiencing cooling since mid-2016, with 6°F in recent years, that is reducing its generating capacity. Injection tests and tracer studies, along with reservoir modeling have been used to develop a plan to mitigate temperature decline of the reservoir. Temperature mitigation program is ongoing. New production and injection wells are scheduled for early 2022.

⁽²⁾ Indirectly owned 36.75% by Northleaf.

⁽³⁾ We are currently in the process of enhancing the Heber 1 and Heber 2 power plants as discussed below.

⁽⁴⁾ In  2021, we  signed a 15-year PPA with the CPA for our Heber South power plant. Under the terms of the agreement, effective January 1, 2022, CPA started to purchase 14 MW from the facility located in Imperial Valley, CA. The PPA replaces the original PPA with SCPPA, which had a shorter remaining duration and was subject to an early termination option. This is Ormat’s first contract with CPA, creating the potential for additional agreements in the future as CPA pursues aggressive goals to provide renewable energy to southern California.

⁽⁵⁾ Under the Heber 2 PPA with SCE, that expires in mid-2023, the parties have six months' notice termination right that we used and sent a termination notice to SCE. We are currently negotiating a new long-term PPA for the project following a request for bid we issued in 2021.

⁽⁶⁾Owned 40% by Enbridge Inc. Upgrades to the power plant were completed in 2020.

⁽⁷⁾ Continued workover in Ormesa to maintain production.

⁽⁸⁾On May 3, 2018, the Kilauea volcano located in close proximity to our Puna 38 MW geothermal power plant in the Puna district of Hawaii's Big Island erupted following a significant increase in seismic activity in the area. The Puna power plant resumed operations in November 2020 and during 2021 operated at a level of 25 MW. We continue with drilling and workovers into 2022 to increase generation. In 2019, we reached an agreement with HELCO and signed a new PPA that is currently subject to PUC approval. The new PPA extends the current until 2052 and increases the current contract capacity by 8 MW to 46MW. In addition, the new PPA has a fixed price with no escalation, regardless of changes to fossil fuel pricing, which impacts the majority of our current pricing under the existing PPA. The existing PPA remains in effect with its current terms until the earlier of a) PPA's expiration date at the end of 2027 and b) the new PPA will be in effect.

⁽⁹⁾ Dixie Valley geothermal and Beowawe power plants located in Nevada were acquired from Terra-Gen LLC in July 2021.

⁽¹⁰⁾85% of the Bouillante power plant is owned jointly by Ormat and CDC allocated 75% to Ormat and 25% to CDC.

⁽¹¹⁾ The Olkaria complex experienced lower performance of the wellfield in 2021 and currently is generating 123 MW. In addition, a task force was appointed by the President to review and analyze PPAs between various independent power producers and KPLC, including Ormat's long term PPA for the Olkaria complex. In September 2021 the task force recommended to the President that KPLC review its contracts and attempt renegotiation with Independent Power Producers to secure reductions in PPA tariffs within existing contractual arrangements. Ormat was approached by the task force following release of the report.

⁽¹²⁾We hold the Platanares assets, including the project’s wells, land, permits and a PPA, under a BOT structure for 15 years from the date the Platanares plant commenced commercial operation on September 26, 2017. A portion of the land on which the project is located is held by us through a lease from a local municipality. 

⁽¹³⁾ The Sarulla complex is experiencing a reduction in generation primarily due to wellfield issues at one of its power plants, as well as equipment failures which resulted in a decrease in profitability. To address these issues, the project management developed a Long-Term Recovery Plan ("LTRP") that includes drilling of additional wells and various equipment modifications. The LTRP is expected to be implemented starting in 2022, pending approval by the lenders. Additional initiatives are also undergoing in an effort to strengthen the Sarulla project's financial position, including potential tariff changes. We are following the progress and results of the LTRP in Sarulla  as well as the accounting impact and its implication on our financial statements on our investment in Sarulla.

⁽¹⁴⁾  In May 2021, we successfully completed a 15MW enhancement to the MGH complex and its generating capacity increased to 160 MW.

⁽¹⁵⁾ The Tungsten solar power plant generates energy that is used for the auxiliary power of the geothermal power plant.

Future Projects

Projects Released for Construction 

We have several projects in various stages of construction, including 13 projects that we have fully released for construction with a total capacity of  150MW and one project with capacity of 10MW to 15MW that is in the early stage of construction.  In 2021, due to COVID-19 and other factors, we saw continuous delays in getting all relevant permits as well as panels for the Solar PV project, and as a result we are seeing continuous delays in the expected COD.

These projects are expected to have a total geothermal generating capacity of between 108 MW and 113MW (representing our interest) and solar PV projects with a total  AC capacity of 52 MW.

Projects under Various Stages of Development that were not Released for Construction 

We also have projects under various stages of development in the United States, Indonesia and Guadeloupe that we estimate will increase the generating capacity of our geothermal projects by approximately 47 MW to 58 MW (representing our interest) and Solar PV project with a total of 14 MW. We expect to continue to explore these and other opportunities for expansion so long as they continue to meet our business objectives and investment criteria. However, we prioritize our investments based on their readiness for continued construction and expected economics and therefore we are not planning to invest in all of such projects in 2022.

⁽¹⁾ The size of the project reflects Ormat's 49% interest share in the project

Future Prospects

We have a substantial land position that is expected to support future development and on which we have started or plan to start exploration activity. When deciding whether to continue holding lease rights and/or to pursue exploration activity, we diligently prioritize our prospective investments, taking into account resource and probability assessments in order to make informed decisions about whether a particular project will support commercial operation.

Our current land position is comprised of various leases, concessions and private land for geothermal resources of approximately 205,000 acres in 41 prospects across the western United States, Latin America, Africa and New Zealand. In the United States we hold 30 prospects:

Outside the U.S. we hold 11 prospects:

Operations of our Product Segment

Power Units for Geothermal Power Plants

We design, manufacture, and sell power units for geothermal electricity generation, which we refer to as OECs. Our customers include contractors and geothermal plant owners and operators.

The power units are usually paid for in installments, in accordance with milestones set forth in the supply agreement. We also provide the purchaser with spare parts (either upon their request or our recommendation). We provide the purchaser with at least a 12-month warranty for such products. We provide the purchaser with performance guarantees (usually in the form of standby letters of credit), which partially terminates upon delivery of the equipment to the site and terminates in full at the end of the warranty period.

Power Units for Recovered Energy-Based Power Generation

We design, manufacture, and sell power units used to generate electricity from recovered energy or so-called “waste heat”. Our existing and target customers include interstate natural gas pipeline owners and operators, gas processing plant owners and operators, cement plant owners and operators, biomass facilities owners and operators and all other companies engaged in energy-intensive industrial processes such as glass, steel and other. We manufacture and sell the power units for recovered energy-based power generation to third parties for use in “inside-the-fence” installations or otherwise.

Remote Power Units and other Generators

We design, manufacture and sell fossil fuel powered turbo-generators with capacities ranging from 200 watts to 5,000 watts, which operate unattended in extreme hot or cold climate conditions. The remote power units supply energy to remote unmanned installations and along communications lines and provide cathodic protection along gas and oil pipelines. Our customers include contractors installing gas pipelines in remote areas. In addition, we manufacture and sell generators, including heavy duty direct current generators, for various other uses. The terms for sale of the turbo-generators are similar to those for the power units we produce for power plants.

EPC of Power Plants

We engineer, procure and construct, as an EPC contractor, geothermal and recovered energy power plants on a turnkey basis, using power units we design and manufacture. Our customers are geothermal power plant owners as well as our target customers for the sale of our recovered-energy based power units described above. Unlike many other companies that provide EPC services, we believe that our advantage is in using our own manufactured equipment and thus have better quality and control over the timing and delivery of equipment and related costs. The consideration for such services is usually paid in installments, in accordance with milestones set forth in the EPC contract and related documents. We provide performance guarantees securing our obligations under the contract.

In connection with the sale of our power units for geothermal power plants, power units for recovered energy-based power generation, remote power units and other generators, we enter into sales agreements, from time to time, with sales representatives for the marketing and sale of such products pursuant to which we are obligated to pay commissions to such representatives upon the sale of our products in the relevant territory covered by such agreements by such representatives or, in some cases, by other representatives in such territory.

Our manufacturing operations and products are certified ISO 9001, ISO 14001, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), and TÜV, and we are an approved supplier to many electric utilities around the world.

Backlog

We have a product backlog of approximately $53.5 million as of February 16, 2022, which includes revenues for the period between January 1, 2022 and February 16, 2022, compared to $33.4 million as of February 25, 2021, which included revenues for the period between January 1, 2021 and February 25, 2021. The increase in the 2022 backlog is mainly related to an initial recovery following COVID-19 related impacts. After a slowdown in raw materials and marine transportation costs, we expect the recovery to continue.

The following is a breakdown of the Product segment backlog amount (in $ millions) by countries as of February 16, 2022:

The following is a breakdown of the Product segment backlog by technology as of February 16, 2022:

Operations of our Energy Storage Segment

Storage Projects

In addition to our Geothermal activity, we own, operate and develop energy storage projects in the United States including the following:

Under operation

Under construction and development

Energy Storage Pipeline

For an energy storage prospect to move into the EPC phase, it requires  site control, an executed interconnection agreement, permits from all authorities and a viable financial model. We have a substantial pipeline of approximately 2.3GW/5.7GWh of projects in different stages of development for future development in the United States that will support our target to reach an energy storage portfolio of between 313MW to 373MW by the end of 2023.

Competition

Electricity Segment

In our Electricity segment, we face competition from geothermal power plant owners and developers as well as other renewable energy providers and developers.

Competition in the Electricity segment occurs in the very early stage of development and in advanced stages when obtaining a PPA. The early stage is primarily obtaining the rights to the resource for development of future projects or acquiring a site already in a more advanced stage of development. From time to time and in different jurisdictions competing geothermal developers become our customers in the Product segment.

Our main competitors in the geothermal sector in the United States are CalEnergy, Calpine Corporation, Enel Green Power S.p.A., Cyrq Energy Inc. and other smaller pure play developers. Outside the United States, in many cases our competitors are companies that are gaining experience developing geothermal projects in their own countries such as Mercury and Contact Energy in New Zealand, Energy Development Corporation from the Philippines, Storenergy and Meridian from France and Enel Green Power from Italy. Some Turkish developers are also focusing on the international market. Additionally, we face competition from country-specific companies and smaller pure play geothermal developers.

In obtaining new PPAs, we also face competition from companies engaged in the power generation business from other renewable energy sources, such as wind power, biomass, solar power and hydroelectric power. In the United States we primarily compete against solar power generation combined with energy storage. We also face competition from existing geothermal power plants as they are re-contracted.

As a geothermal company, we are focused on niche markets where our baseload and flexibility advantages can allow us to develop competitive projects.

Product Segment

In our Product segment, we face competition from power plant equipment manufacturers and system integrators as well as engineering or project management companies.

Our competitors among power plant equipment suppliers are divided by technology, steam turbines and binary power plant manufacturers. Our main steam turbine competitors are industrial steam turbine manufacturers such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Fuji Electric Co., Ltd. and Toshiba Corporation of Japan, GE/Nuovo Pignone and Ansaldo Energia of Italy.

Our binary technology competitors are manufacturers using the ORC technology such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries through Turboden, TICA, a Chinese air conditioning company that acquired Italian Exergy, Egesim, a Turkish electrical contractor who is collaborating with Atlas Copco mainly in the Turkish market and internationally, Kaishan, a compressor manufacturer from China who also develops its own projects and Fuji Electric Co., Ltd of Japan. While we believe that we have a distinct competitive advantage based on our accumulated experience and current worldwide share of installed binary geothermal generation capacity (which is approximately 78%), an increase in competition, which we are currently experiencing, has started to affect our ability to secure new purchase orders from potential customers. The increased competition in addition to increase in raw material costs led to a reduction in the operating margins, which in turn impacted our profitability.

In the REG business, our competitors are other ORC manufacturers, mainly Mitsubishi/Turboden and TICA/Exergy, which dominate binary waste heat recovery market installations. Other manufacturers are conventional steam turbines and small scale ORC suppliers.

In the case of proposed EPC projects we also compete with other service suppliers, such as project/engineering companies or EPC contractors.

Energy Storage Segment

In our Energy Storage segment, we face significant competition from companies that already have established businesses in those technologies and markets as well as companies seeking to acquire established businesses and other new market entrants.

The energy storage space is comprised of many companies divided into different verticals and sub verticals like independent power producers, project developers, system integrators, EPC contractors , component suppliers (e.g. batteries, inverters, control software, and balance of plant), scheduling coordinators, etc. The energy storage space is seeing tremendous interest that is manifested by the consolidation of small and medium players under big energy players. We continue to develop greenfield projects with great emphasis on the quality of the location and other characteristics that will make for highly profitable projects as well as target strategic acquisitions of development assets or platforms. Additionally, our analytical operational platform and growing experience in energy storage operation and integration with electricity markets, as well as our engineering and system integration capabilities, allow us to provide multiple value streams from a single storage installation. We have continued and plan to continue to grow our energy storage business in these markets.

Customers

All of our revenues from the sale of Electricity in the year ended December 31, 2021 were derived from fully-contracted energy and/or capacity payments under long-term PPAs with governmental, public or private utility entities. The percentage of total revenues above 5% is detailed in the table below:

Based on publicly available information, as of December 31, 2021, the credit ratings of our rated electric utility customers are as set forth below:

The credit ratings of any power purchaser may change from time to time. There is no publicly available information with respect to the credit rating or stability of the power purchasers under the PPAs for our foreign power plants other than EDF (France).

Our revenues from the Product segment are derived from contractors, owners, or operators of power plants, process companies, and pipelines.

Our revenues from the Energy Storage segment are derived from selling energy, capacity services under long term capacity contracts and/or ancillary services in merchant markets like PJM, ISO New England, ERCOT and CAISO. We are pursuing the projects that will serve entities, such as investor owned utilities, publicly owned utilities and community choice aggregators.

Human Capital Resources

Our Team

As a global renewable energy company, we are proud to employ and work closely with the communities that we serve, knowing we contribute to local economies and social well-being. With nearly one power plant on every continent, we have a commitment to generating a stable and secure economic future for all, based on sharing our knowledge and expertise regarding sustainable energy solutions. The promise of renewable energy that we deliver to our customers and stakeholders goes hand in hand with our commitment to local employment and skill development wherever we work.

We believe our success depends in large part on our ability to recruit, develop and retain a productive and engaged workforce. Accordingly, investing in our employees, focusing on safety, offering competitive compensation and benefits, promoting a diverse workforce, adopting forward thinking human capital management practices and community outreach are critical elements of our corporate strategy.

As of December 31, 2021, we employed 1,385 employees, of whom 532 were located in Israel, 649 were located in the United States and 204 were located in other countries. We expect that any material future growth in the number of our employees will be generally attributable to the purchase or development of new power plants and energy storage facilities.

Workforce Health and Safety

The health and safety of our employees, subcontractors, the public and the environment is an overarching priority for us. We manage risks by identifying, assessing and managing risks in our facilities and offices that we own and operate. We promote safety awareness and values and our goal is to report, analyze, learn and improve performance in order to reduce the number of incidents. We also work to continuously improve our safety performance and to instill a workplace safety culture. We also conduct quality, environment, health and safety audits of our plants and facilities on a periodic basis.

Ormat has an Integrated Quality, Environment, Health and Safety Policy that sets out our general commitments towards health and safety principles at our sites and for all our stakeholders. The policy is publicly available on Ormat's website and outlines our commitments to providing high quality products, conducting our business with care for the environment and for integrating our QEHS system into our business strategy and work processes. In addition, our Human Rights and Labor Policy, which is also available publicly on our website, outlines our commitments to ensuring that essential health and safety standards and practices are enforced in the workplace, to developing risk awareness and to encouraging responsible health and safety behavior among employees.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we acted quickly to put social distancing mechanisms in place to protect our employees while maintaining and enhancing business activity during this global crisis. We did not lay off any employees due the COVID-19 pandemic, except for in the ordinary course of business. We also launched an outreach plan to support communities where we do business such as addressing the reduced availability of food to vulnerable populations and providing medical and personal protective equipment to local communities’ healthcare workers across the globe. Throughout this continued global pandemic, we will continue following stringent protective measures necessary to safeguard the health, and safety of our employees. This includes adhering to all government regulations and maintaining clear, comprehensive plans and protective measures for employees who work in our energy plants, manufacturing facilities, offices and elsewhere.

Diversity Initiatives

We strive to provide a diverse and inclusive working environment, where people are respected and feel a sense of belonging regardless of their race, nationality, gender, age, religion or sexual orientation. Our offices, manufacturing plants and power plants are in multiple jurisdictions and our global workforce operates across many different beliefs. We are committed to local employment at all our operational and manufacturing locations. While our first and foremost consideration of a potential candidate is professional skills and overall qualifications for the position, we work with several organizations in the U.S. to help us present opportunities to ethnic minorities and veterans for open positions. Furthermore, we are committed to eliminating any form of discrimination in our hiring and employment termination practices and ensuring that all employees are adequately accommodated and treated equally.

We actively seek opportunities to hire and promote female employees and managers across our Company, and we are working to ensure the complete integration of women in our workplaces, including our various offices in the operations around the world.

Competitive Compensation and Benefits

We strive to ensure that our employees receive fair and competitive compensation and benefits, including, for most of our employees, paid maternity or paternity leave, sponsorship of learning opportunities, health care insurance, sick leave benefits and coverage in the event of disability and/or infirmity, among others. At times, benefits are made available to part-time and temporary employees as well. All our global employees are entitled to retirement and pension benefits at or beyond the legally required level of employer contribution in the relevant country of operation, including access to 401(k) plans in the U.S. We fully cover retirement and pension plan liabilities in relevant countries of operation with our general resources. All current employees in Israel who are entitled to benefits in the event of termination or retirement in accordance with the Israeli Government sponsored programs are provided with limited non-pension benefits.

Employee Investment

We focus on creating opportunities for employee education, development and training and we strive to ensure that employees are fulfilling both their professional and personal goals. Our training opportunities include relevant professional as well as soft skills to help our employees improve their performance and expand their horizons. We have annual performance reviews for most of our employees. Our Human Resources department and various business units work together on initiatives to create a sense of community and togetherness and we offer employees options improve their work-life balance, including as community events, holiday and team milestone celebrations, volunteering opportunities and fitness support.

Collective Bargaining Agreements & Employee Unions

As of December 31, 2021, the only employees that are represented by a labor union are the employees of our acquired Bouillante power plant located in Guadeloupe. The employees in Guadeloupe are represented by the Confédération Générale du Travail de Guadeloupe. We have never experienced any labor dispute, strike or work stoppage. We believe that our relations with our employees are positive.

We have no collective bargaining agreements with respect to our Israeli employees. However, by order of the Israeli Ministry of Economy and Industry, the provisions of a collective bargaining agreement between the Histadrut (the General Federation of Labor in Israel) and the Coordination Bureau of Economic Organizations (which includes the Industrialists Association) may apply to some of our Israeli non-managerial, finance and administrative, and sales and marketing personnel. This collective bargaining agreement principally concerns cost of living pay increases, length of the workday, minimum wages and insurance for work-related accidents, annual and other vacation, sick pay, and determination of severance pay, pension contributions, and other conditions of employment. We currently provide such employees with benefits and working conditions, which are at least as favorable as the conditions specified in the collective bargaining agreement.

Sustainability Strategy

We are committed to engaging with its stakeholders on, and strengthening our commitment to, sustainability issues, including environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) matters. We endorse external initiatives and partner with national and international associations that we believe assist us in meeting our ESG commitments and values, in particular, relating to geothermal, energy and health and safety issues. We strive to provide recent, credible and comparable data to ESG agencies while engaging institutional investors and investor advocacy organizations around ESG issues.

As a renewable energy solution provider, we are motivated to identify our opportunities and risks with respect to climate change and take efforts to reduce our greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions and improve our energy efficiency. In addition to meeting our regulatory requirements, we report our annual GHG emissions to global organizations, including CDP and the Israeli Ministry of Environmental Protection’s voluntary business reporting initiative.

As noted above, we report our progress on environmental goals and commitments annually in our Sustainability Reports, including, but not limited to, our climate change mitigation measures, biodiversity conservation, and water management efforts. A copy of our most recent Sustainability Report is accessible, free-of-charge, on our website at https://investor.ormat.com/sustainability-report. The information that we include in these sustainability reports is incorporated into this Annual Report.

Insurance

We maintain physical damage and business interruption insurance, including the perils of flood, volcanic eruption, earthquake and windstorm, cyber coverage, general and excess liability, pollution legal liability, control of well, drilling rigs, construction risks, as well as customary worker’s compensation and automobile, marine transportation insurance and such other commercially available insurance as is generally carried by companies engaged in similar businesses and owning similar properties in the same general areas as us. Such insurance covering our properties extends to Ormat and/or our owned, controlled, direct or indirect affiliated or associated companies, subsidiary companies or corporations in amounts generally based upon the estimated replacement value and maximum foreseeable loss of our facilities (provided that certain perils including earthquake, volcanic eruption and flood coverage are subject to sublimit and/or annual aggregate limits depending on the type and location of the facility) and business interruption insurance coverage in an amount that also varies from location to location.

We purchase certain insurance policies to cover our book equity investment to specified political risks involved in operating in developing countries. We hold a global political risk insurance program covering the significant political risks at certain of our locations. This program is issued by the global insurers in the private sector. Such insurance policies generally cover, subject to the limitations and restrictions contained therein, losses derived from a specified governmental act, such as expropriation, political violence, and the inability to convert local currency into hard currency and, in certain cases, the breach of agreements with governmental entities, in approximately 90% of our book net equity investment.

Regulation of the Electric Utility Industry in the United States

The following is a summary overview of the electric utility industry and applicable federal and state regulations and should not be considered a full statement of the law or all issues pertaining thereto.

PURPA

PURPA and FERC's regulations thereunder exempt owners of small power production Qualifying Facilities that use geothermal resources as their primary source and other Qualifying Facilities that are 30 MW or under in size from regulation under the PUHCA 2005, from many provisions of the FPA and from state laws relating to the financial, organization and rate regulation of electric utilities.

PURPA provides the owners of power plants certain benefits described below if a power plant is a “Qualifying Facility.” A small power production facility is a Qualifying Facility if: (i) the facility does not exceed 80 MW; (ii) the primary energy source of the facility is biomass, waste, geothermal, or renewable resources, or any combination thereof, and at least 75% of the total energy input of the facility is from these sources, and fossil fuel input is limited to specified uses; and (iii) the facility, if larger than one megawatt, has filed with FERC a notice of self-certification of qualifying status, or has been certified as a Qualifying Facility by FERC. The 80 MW size limitation, however, does not apply to a facility if (i) it produces electric energy solely by the use, as a primary energy input, of solar, wind, waste or geothermal resources; and (ii) an application for certification or a notice of self-certification of qualifying status of the facility was submitted to not later than December 31, 1994, and construction of the facility commenced not later than December 31, 1999.

With respect to the FPA, FERC's regulations under PURPA do not exempt from the rate provisions of the FPA sales of energy or capacity from Qualifying Facilities larger than 20 MW in size that are made (a) pursuant to a contract executed after March 17, 2006 or (b) not pursuant to a state regulatory authority’s implementation of PURPA. The practical effect of these regulations is to require owners of Qualifying Facilities that are larger than 20 MW in size to obtain market-based rate authority from FERC if they seek to sell energy or capacity other than pursuant to a contract executed on or before March 17, 2006 or pursuant to a state regulatory authority’s implementation of PURPA. A sale to a public utility under PURPA at state approved avoided cost rates is generally exempt from FERC rate regulation.

In addition, provided that the purchasing electric utility has not been relieved from its mandatory purchase obligation, PURPA and FERC’s regulations under PURPA obligate electric utilities to purchase energy and capacity from Qualifying Facilities at either the electric utility’s avoided cost or a negotiated rate. FERC's regulations under PURPA allow FERC, upon request of a utility, to terminate a utility’s obligation to purchase energy from Qualifying Facilities upon a finding that Qualifying Facilities have nondiscriminatory access to: (i) independently administered, auction-based day ahead, and real time markets for electric energy and wholesale markets for long-term sales of capacity and electric energy; (ii) transmission and interconnection services provided by a FERC-approved regional transmission entity and administered under an open-access transmission tariff that affords nondiscriminatory treatment to all customers, and competitive wholesale markets that provide a meaningful opportunity to sell capacity, including long-term and short-term sales, and electric energy, including long-term, short-term, and real-time sales, to buyers other than the utility to which the Qualifying Facility is interconnected; or (iii) wholesale markets for the sale of capacity and electric energy that are at a minimum of comparable competitive quality as markets described in (i) and (ii) above. FERC regulations protect a Qualifying Facility’s rights under any contract or obligation involving purchases or sales that are entered into before FERC has determined that the contracting utility is entitled to relief from the mandatory purchase obligation. FERC has granted the request of California investor-owned utilities for a waiver of the mandatory purchase obligation for Qualifying Facilities larger than 20 MW in size. In addition, FERC recently amended its PURPA regulations to reduce the rebuttable presumption that small power production facilities in organized markets have nondiscriminatory access to markets from 20 MW to 5 MW. Therefore, the California investor-owned utilities may have a basis to further reduce their mandatory purchase obligation.

We expect that our power plants in the U.S will continue to meet all of the criteria required for Qualifying Facility status under PURPA. However, since the Heber power plants have PPAs with Southern California Edison that require Qualifying Facility status to be maintained, maintaining Qualifying Facility status remains a key obligation. If any of the Heber power plants loses its Qualifying Facility status our operations could be adversely affected. Loss of Qualifying Facility status would eliminate the Heber power plants’ exemption from the FPA and thus, among other things, the rates charged by the Heber power plants in the PPAs with Southern California Edison and SCPPA would become subject to FERC regulation. Further, it is possible that the utilities that purchase power from the power plants could successfully obtain a waiver of the mandatory-purchase obligation in their service territories. If a waiver of the mandatory purchase obligation is obtained, or if FERC reduces the 5 MW threshold or eliminates the mandatory purchase obligation, the power plants’ existing PPAs will not be affected, but the utilities will not be obligated under PURPA to renew or extend these PPAs or execute new PPAs upon the existing PPAs’ expiration.

PUHCA

Under PUHCA 2005, the books and records of a utility holding company, its affiliates, associate companies, and subsidiaries are subject to FERC and state commission review with respect to transactions that are subject to the jurisdiction of either FERC or the state commission or costs incurred by a jurisdictional utility in the same holding company system. However, if a company is a utility holding company solely with respect to Qualifying Facilities, exempt wholesale generators, or foreign utility companies, it will not be subject to review of books and records by FERC under PUHCA 2005. Qualifying Facilities or exempt wholesale generators that make only wholesale sales of electricity are not subject to state commissions’ rate regulations and, therefore, in all likelihood would not be subject to any review of their books and records by state commissions pursuant to PUHCA 2005 as long as the Qualifying Facility is not part of a holding company system that includes a utility subject to regulation in that state. Additionally, most of our storage projects have exempt wholesale generator status, exempting them from PUHCA requirements as well.

FPA

Pursuant to the FPA, FERC has exclusive jurisdiction over the rates for most wholesale sales of electricity and transmission of electricity in interstate commerce. These rates may be based on a cost of service approach or may be determined on a market basis through competitive bidding or negotiation. FERC can accept, reject or suspend rates. The rates can be suspended for up to five months, at which point the rates become effective subject to refund. FERC can order refunds for rates that are found to be “unjust and unreasonable” or “unduly discriminatory or preferential.”

Moreover, the loss of the Qualifying Facility status of any of our power plants might also permit the off-taker, pursuant to the terms of its PPA, to cease taking and paying for electricity from the relevant power plant and to seek refunds for past amounts paid and/or a reduction in future payments.

Additionally, FERC possesses civil penalty authority, up to approximately $1.3 million per violation of the FPA per day. FERC can also require the disgorgement of unjust profits earned in connection with such violations of the FPA and revoke the right of the power plants to make sales at market-based rates.

Under the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the FPA was supplemented to empower FERC to ensure the reliability of the bulk electric system. Such authority required that FERC assume both oversight and enforcement roles. Pursuant to its new directive, FERC certified the North American Electric Reliability Corporation as the nation’s Electric Reliability Organization (ERO) to develop and enforce mandatory reliability standards to address medium and long-term reliability concerns. Today, enforcement of the mandatory reliability standards, including the protection of critical energy infrastructure, is a substantial function of the ERO and of FERC, which may impose penalties of up to approximately $1.3 million a day for violating mandatory reliability standards. We examine our projects’ compliance with NERC standards on an ongoing basis and begin work on the process of NERC registration as new projects approach the threshold at which NERC standards become applicable.

Thus, if any of the power plants were to lose Qualifying Facility status, the application of the FPA and other applicable state regulations to such power plants could require compliance with an increasingly complex regulatory regime that may be costly and greatly reduce our operational flexibility. Even if a power plant does not lose Qualifying Facility status, the owner of a Qualifying Facility/power plant in excess of 20 MW will become subject to rate regulation under the FPA for sales of energy or capacity pursuant to a contract executed after March 17, 2006 or not pursuant to a state regulatory authority’s implementation of PURPA. A decrease in existing rates or being ordered by FERC to pay refunds for rates found to be “unjust and unreasonable” or “unduly discriminatory or preferential” would likely result in a decrease in our future revenues.

State Regulation

Our power plants in California, Nevada, Oregon, and Idaho, by virtue of being Qualifying Facilities that make only wholesale sales of electricity, are not subject to rate, financial and organizational regulations applicable to electric utilities in those states. The power plants each sell or will sell their electrical output under PPAs to electric utilities (Sierra Pacific Power Company, Nevada Power Company, Southern California Edison, SCPPA and Idaho Power Company). All of the utilities except SCPPA are regulated by their respective state public utilities commissions. Sierra Pacific Power Company and Nevada Power Company, which merged and are doing business as NV Energy, are regulated by the PUCN. Southern California Edison is regulated by the CPUC.

Under Hawaiian law, non-fossil generators are not subject to regulation as public utilities. Hawaiian law provides that a geothermal power producer is to negotiate the rate for its output with the public utility purchaser. If such rate cannot be determined by mutual accord, the PUCH will set a just and reasonable rate. If a non-fossil generator in Hawaii is a Qualifying Facility, federal law applies to such Qualifying Facility and the utility is required to purchase the energy and capacity at its avoided cost. The rates for our power plant in Hawaii are established under a long-term PPA with HELCO.

Environmental Permits

U.S. environmental permitting regimes with respect to geothermal projects center upon several general areas of focus. The first involves land use approvals. These may take the form of Special Use Permits or Conditional Use Permits from local planning authorities or a series of development and utilization plan approvals and right of way approvals where the geothermal facility is entirely or partly on BLM or United States Forest Service lands. Certain federal approvals require a review of environmental impacts in conformance with the federal National Environmental Policy Act. In California, some local permit approvals require a similar review of environmental impacts under a state statute known as the California Environmental Quality Act. These federal and local land use approvals typically impose conditions and restrictions on the construction, scope and operation of geothermal projects.

The second category of permitting focuses on the installation and use of the geothermal wells themselves. Geothermal projects typically have three types of wells: (i) exploration wells designed to define and verify the geothermal resource, (ii) production wells to extract the hot geothermal liquids (also known as brine) for the power plant, and (iii) injection wells to inject the brine back into the subsurface resource. For example, on BLM lands in Nevada, California, Oregon, and Idaho, the well permits take the form of geothermal drilling permits for well installation. Approvals are also required to modify wells, including for use as production or injection wells. For all wells drilled in Nevada, a geothermal drilling permit must be obtained from the Nevada Division of Minerals. Those wells in Nevada to be used for injection will also require UIC permits from the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection and Bureau of Water Pollution Control. All geothermal wells drilled in Oregon (except on tribal lands) require a geothermal well drilling permit from the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries. All geothermal wells drilled in Idaho require a well construction permit from the IDWR and injection wells also require UIC permitting through IDWR. Geothermal wells on private lands in California require drilling permits from the California Department of Conservation’s DOGGR. The eventual designation of these installed wells as individual production or injection wells and the ultimate closure of any wells is also reviewed and approved by DOGGR pursuant to a DOGGR-approved Geothermal Injection Program.

A third category of permits involves the regulation of potential air emissions associated with the construction and operation of wells and power plants and surface water discharges associated with construction and operations activities. Generally, each well and plant requires a preconstruction air permit and storm water discharge permit before earthwork can commence. In addition, in some jurisdictions the wells that are to be used for production require, and those used for injection may require air emissions permits to operate. Internal combustion engines and other air pollutant emissions sources at the projects may also require air emissions permits. For our projects, these permits are typically issued at the state or county level. Permits are also required to manage storm water during project construction and to manage drilling mud from well construction, as well as to manage certain discharges to surface impoundment, if any.

A fourth category of permits, required in Nevada, California, Oregon, and Idaho, includes ministerial permits such as building permits, hazardous materials storage and management permits, and pressure vessel operating permits. We are also required to obtain water rights permits in Nevada if water cooling is being used at the power plant. In addition to permits, there are various regulatory plans and programs that are required, including risk management plans (federal and state programs) and hazardous materials management plans (in California).

In some cases, our projects may also require permits, issued by the applicable federal agencies or authorized state agencies, regarding threatened or endangered species, permits to impact wetlands or other waters and notices of construction of structures which may have an impact on airspace. Environmental laws and regulations may change in the future that may modify the time to receive such permits and associated costs of compliance.

Our BESS projects are subject to similar permitting and regulatory compliance requirements. All of our current BESS projects are located on privately owned land and may require ministerial permits from local agencies as described above or undergo a state environmental permitting process (e.g., under the California Environmental Quality Act) with the city or county as the lead permitting agency. Storage projects are also required to comply with all applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations, and similar to geothermal projects, storage projects may require various regulatory plans and programs including emergency action plans and fire response plans.

As of the date of this report, all of the material environmental permits and approvals currently required for our operating power plants and BESS projects have been obtained. We sometimes experience regulatory delays in obtaining various environmental permits and approvals required for projects in development and construction. These delays may lead to increases in the time and cost to complete these projects. Our operations are designed and conducted to comply with applicable environmental permit and approval requirements. Non-compliance with any such requirements could result in fines and penalties and could also affect our ability to operate the affected project.

Environmental Laws and Regulations

Our facilities and operations are subject to a number of federal, state, local and foreign environmental laws and regulations relating to development, construction and operation. In the U.S, these may include the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and related state laws and regulations.

Our geothermal operations involve significant quantities of brine (substantially, all of which we reinject into the subsurface) and scale, both of which can contain materials (such as arsenic, antimony, lead, and naturally occurring radioactive materials) in concentrations that exceed regulatory limits used to define hazardous waste. We also use various substances, including isopentane and industrial lubricants that could become potential contaminants and are generally flammable. As a result, our projects are subject to domestic and foreign federal, state and local statutory and regulatory requirements regarding the generation, handling, transportation, use, storage, treatment, fugitive emissions, and disposal of hazardous substances. The cost of investigation and removal or remediation activities associated with a spill or release of such materials could be significant. Hazardous materials are also used in our equipment manufacturing operations in Israel.

Although we are not aware of any mismanagement of these materials, including any mismanagement prior to the acquisition of some of our power plants that has materially impaired any of the power plant sites, any disposal or release of these materials onto the power plant sites, other than by means of permitted injection wells, could lead to contamination of the environment and result in material cleanup requirements or other responsive obligations under applicable environmental laws.

Regulation Related to the Energy Storage Segment

Our participation in energy storage space and in energy management and demand response require us to obtain and maintain certain additional authorizations and approvals.  These include (1) authorization from FERC to make wholesale sales of energy, capacity, and ancillary services at market-based rates, and (2) membership status with eligibility to serve designated contractual functions in the ISO/RTOs of PJM, NYISO, CAISO, ISO-NE, and ERCOT. Among other requirements, our market-based rate sellers are subject to certain market behavior and anti-market manipulation rules and, if any of our subsidiaries were deemed to have violated any one of those rules, such subsidiary could be subject to potential disgorgement of profits associated with the violation and/or suspension or revocation of market-based rate authority, as well as criminal and civil penalties. If the market-based rate authority for one (or more) of our subsidiaries was revoked or it was not able to obtain market-based rate authority when necessary, and it was required to sell energy on a cost-of-service basis, it could become subject to the full accounting, record keeping and reporting requirements of FERC. In the future, we may need to obtain and maintain similar membership and eligibility status with other ISO/RTOs in order to offer such services in their respective areas.

Regulation of the Electric Utility Industry in our Foreign Countries of Operation

The following is a summary overview of certain aspects of the electric industry in the foreign countries in which we have an operating geothermal power plant. As such, it should not be considered a full statement of the laws in such countries or all of the issues pertaining thereto.

Guatemala

The General Electricity Law of 1996, Decree 93-96, created a wholesale electricity market in Guatemala and established a new regulatory framework for the electricity sector. The law created a new regulatory commission, the CNEE, and a new wholesale power market administrator, the AMM, for the operation and administration of the sector. The AMM is a private not-for-profit entity. The CNEE functions as an independent agency under the Ministry of Energy and Mines and is in charge of regulating, supervising, and controlling compliance with the electricity law, overseeing the market and setting rates for transmission services, and distribution to medium and small customers. All distribution companies must supply electricity to such customers pursuant to long-term contracts with electricity generators. Large customers can contract directly with the distribution companies, electricity generators or power marketers, or buy energy in the spot market. Guatemala has approved a Law of Incentives for the Development of Renewable Energy Power plants, Decree 52-2003, in order to promote the development of renewable energy power plants in Guatemala. This law provides certain benefits to companies utilizing renewable energy, including a 10-year exemption from corporate income tax and VAT on imports and customs duties. On September 16, 2008, CNEE issued a resolution that approved the Technical Norms for the Connection, Operation, Control and Commercialization of the Renewable Distributed Generation and Self-producers Users with Exceeding Amounts of Energy. This Technical Norm was created to regulate all aspects of generation, connection, operation, control and commercialization of electric energy produced with renewable sources to promote and facilitate the installation of new generation plants, and to promote the connection of existing generation plants which have excess amounts of electric energy for commercialization. It is applicable to projects with a capacity of up to 5 MW. At present, the General Electricity Law and the Law of Incentives for the Development or Renewable Energy Power Plants are still in force.

Kenya 

The electric power sector in Kenya is regulated by the Kenyan Energy Act.  Among other things, the Kenyan Energy Act provides for the licensing of electricity power producers and public electricity suppliers or distributors. KPLC is the major licensed public electricity supplier and has a virtual monopoly in the distribution of electricity in the country with the exception of a few off-grid, which have recently been licensed by the EPRA. The Kenyan Energy Act permits IPPs to install power generators and sell electricity to KPLC, which is owned by various private and government entities, and which currently purchases energy and capacity from other IPPs in addition to our Olkaria III complex. The electricity sector is regulated by the EPRA under the Kenyan Energy Act. KPLC’s retail electricity rates are subject to approval by the EPRA. The EPRA has an expanded mandate to regulate not just the electric power sector but the entire energy sector in Kenya. Transmission of electricity is now undertaken by KETRACO while another company, GDC, is responsible for geothermal assessment, drilling of wells and sale of steam for electricity operations to IPPs and KenGen.  Both KETRACO and GDC are wholly owned by the government of Kenya.  Renewable energy dominated by geothermal, wind and, presently at a lower level, solar is one of the key energy sub-sectors in Kenya contributing significantly to the overall energy mix as a result of the implementation of the feed-in- tariff policy by the Ministry of Energy.  Under the national constitution enacted in August 2010, formulation of energy policy (including electricity) and energy regulation are functions of the national government. However, the constitution lists the planning and development of electricity and energy regulation as a function of the county governments (i.e. the regional or local level where an individual power plant is or is intended to be located).

Indonesia

The 2009 Electricity Law (as amended by the Indonesian Omnibus Law in 2020) divides the power business into two broad categories: (i) activities that supply electrical power, both public supply and captive supply (own use), such as electrical power generation, electrical power transmission, electrical power distribution and the sale of electrical power and (ii) the activities involved in electrical power support such as services businesses (consulting, construction, installation, operation & maintenance, certification & training, testing etc.) and industry businesses (power tools & power equipment supply electricity power supporting businesses). Currently, power generation is dominated by PLN (state owned company), which controls around 70% of generating assets in Indonesia. Private sector participation is allowed through an IPP scheme. IPP appointment mostly is done through tenders although IPPs can also be directly appointed or selected. The 2009 Electricity Law, as amended, provides PLN priority rights to conduct the electricity power business nationwide. As the sole owner of transmission and distribution assets, PLN remains the only business entity involved in transmitting and distributing, although the 2009 Electricity Law, as amended, allows private participation. The Geothermal Law issued in 2014 (as also amended by the Indonesian Omnibus Law in 2020), endorses private participation as geothermal IPP. The geothermal IPP appointment is done through tender held by the Central Government. The central government will also award the tender winner a Geothermal License (IPB). Accordingly, the Geothermal License holder can conduct exploration and feasibility studies within five years and subject to two one-year extensions, conduct well development and power plant construction and sell the electricity generated to PLN for a maximum of 30 years. Prior to the expiration of the Geothermal License, the IPP can propose to extend the license for an additional 20 years. Starting in 2017, the regulatory framework with respect to tariffs is based on PLN's existing average cost of generation (known by its Indonesian acronym, BPP) with respect to the relevant local grid cost of generation, excluding transmission and distribution costs. The Indonesian Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources ("MEMR") releases each year a list of local BPPs for each region and a national BPP (which is an average of the local BPPs). The BPPs for a particular year are based on PLN's previous year audited generation costs. In 2019, the MEMR published BPP figures of year 2018. The national BPP was set at Rp 983/kWh (equivalent to US$ cent 7.39/kWh at Rp 13,307/US$).

For 2020, the regulation was not clear and has been revoked, but the general interpretation is that for geothermal projects in Sumatera, Java and Bali islands, the tariff will be determined based on mutual agreement between PLN and the IPP, regardless of the BPP figures in those regions.

Draft presidential regulation on new tariffs, which replaces the BPP tariff as a basis with attractive tariffs based on power plant size and region, has been publicly published, but not yet signed into law.

Guadeloupe

EDF is the transmission and distribution utility in Guadeloupe and also operates a significant portion of Guadeloupe’s fossil fuel energy generation. There are also a number of IPPs in Guadeloupe, primarily producing renewable electricity. The electricity sector in Guadeloupe is regulated by the Commission Regulation of Energy (CRE), which also regulates EDF’s operations in mainland France and its other overseas territories. The electricity sector in Guadeloupe is characterized by both enabling features and obstacles with respect to renewable energy. One of the most influential enabling features is a French law requiring the utility to purchase power from any interconnected renewable generator. The major obstacle preventing further uptake of renewable electricity generation is the cap on variable generation at 30% of instantaneous system load. According to the multi-annual energy program (PPE) for Guadeloupe, the island aims to reach total energy independence by 2030. The program outlines the development schedule with an emphasis on solar, wind and geothermal growth for the years 2023-2026. The PPE also predict a geothermal installed capacity of 78MW by 2028.

Honduras

In 2014, Honduras approved its new Law of Electrical Industry (Decree 404-2013, and its Regulation, published in the Official Newspaper on November 18, 2015; and by Executive Accord 07-2015), which provides the legal framework for the electricity sector and replaces the previous Electricity Subsector Framework Law (Decree 158 of 1994, regulated by Accord 934 of 1997).   The Law establishes technology-specific auctions for renewable energy. It creates the Regulatory Commission of Electric Power (CREE) as the entity in charge of supervising the bidding processes and the awarding of PPAs. The CREE is also responsible for granting study permits for the construction of generation projects that use renewable natural resources. Permits will have a maximum duration of two years, and will be revoked if no studies have been initiated within a period of six months and the reports required by the CREE have not been submitted. The new Law also establishes that all new capacity must be contracted through auctions and that the government can set a minimum quota for renewables in each auction. With respect to metering, after previous regulation applied legal incentives to renewable energy metering, the new law mandates utilities to buy excess power and credit it towards monthly bills and to install bi-directional meters. 

Among others, the objectives of the law are to adapt the electricity sector’s legislation to the Framework Treaty for the Central American Electricity Market, which Honduras is a party to, and update the operating rules in the country’s electricity industry by incorporating structures and modern practices to increase the sector’s efficiency and competency in the production and marketing of electricity services.

With the passage of this new law, Honduras is moving into a new and open market.  Under this legislation, all aspects of the market have been opened to private parties. This legislation is still being implemented within the market.

Honduras has also approved a Law of Incentives for Renewable Energy Projects, Decree 70-2007, further amended by Decree 138-2013, with additional incentives to solar PV projects, etc.  The purpose, as in other countries of the region, is to promote the development of renewable energy power plants.  Laws provide certain benefits to companies that generate power through renewable sources, including a 10-year exemption from corporate income tax and VAT on imports and customs duties, a fast track process for certain permits and a Sovereign Guaranty by the Central Government for the payments of the off-taker, the Public Utility Company, ENEE.  At present, the Law of the Electrical Industry and the Laws of Incentives for Renewable Energy Projects are still in force.

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

The following risk factors should be read carefully in connection with evaluating us and this Annual Report. Certain statements in “Risk Factor” are forward-looking statements. See “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” elsewhere in this Annual Report.

Risks Related to the Company’s Business and Operation

Our financial performance depends on the successful operation of our geothermal, REG and Solar PV power plants under the Electricity segment, as well as our Storage facilities, which are subject to various operational risks.

Our financial performance depends on the successful operation of our geothermal REG and Solar PV power plants. In connection with such operations, we derived 88.3% of our total revenues for the year ended December 31, 2021 from the sale of electricity. The cost of operation and maintenance and the operating performance of our geothermal power, REG  and Solar PV power plants may be adversely affected by a variety of factors, including:

Any of these events could significantly increase the expenses incurred by our storage facilities, our power plants, or could reduce the overall generating capacity of our power plants and could significantly reduce or entirely eliminate the revenues generated by one or more of our power plants, which in turn would reduce our net income and could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, future results and cash flows.

Our exploration, development, and operation of geothermal energy resources are subject to geological risks and uncertainties, which may result in decreased performance or increased costs for our power plants.

Our primary business involves the exploration, development, and operation of geothermal energy resources. These activities are subject to uncertainties that, in certain respects, are similar to those typically associated with oil and gas exploration, development, and exploitation, such as dry holes, uncontrolled releases, and pressure and temperature decline. Any of these uncertainties may increase our capital expenditures and our operating costs or reduce the efficiency of our power plants. We may not find geothermal resources capable of supporting a commercially viable power plant at exploration sites where we have conducted tests, acquired land rights, and drilled test wells, which would adversely affect our development of geothermal power plants. Further, since the commencement of their operations, several of our power plants have experienced geothermal resource cooling, uncontrolled flow and/or reservoir pressure decline in the normal course of operations. Because geothermal reservoirs are complex geological structures, we can only estimate their geographic area and sustainable output. The viability of geothermal power plants depends on different factors directly related to the geothermal resource (such as the temperature, pressure, storage capacity, transmissivity, and recharge) as well as operational factors relating to the extraction or reinjection of geothermal fluids. Our geothermal energy power plants may also suffer an unexpected decline in the capacity of their respective geothermal wells and are exposed to a risk of geothermal reservoirs not being sufficient for sustained generation of the electrical power capacity desired over time. A recent example is the Olkaria complex, which experienced a reduction in generation due to lower performance of the wellfield. We are working to increase the capacity back and expect generation to reach between 135 and 140 MW by the end of 2022. Also, in the Sarulla complex, we experienced a reduction in generation primarily due to wellfield issues at one of its power plants, as well as equipment failures which resulted in a decrease in profitability. To address these issues, the project management developed a Long-Term Recovery Plan ("LTRP") that includes drilling of additional wells and various equipment modifications. The LTRP is expected to be implemented starting in 2022, pending approval by the lenders. Additional initiatives are also undergoing in an effort to strengthen the Sarulla project's financial position, including potential tariff changes. We are following the remediation plans as well as assessing the accounting impact and its implication on our financial statements and our investment in the Sarulla complex.

Another aspect of geothermal operations is the management and stabilization of subsurface impacts caused by fluid injection pressures of production and injection fluids to mitigate ground subsidence or inflation. Inflation and subsidence, if not controlled, can adversely affect farming operations and other infrastructure at or near the land surface.

Additionally, active geothermal areas, such as the areas in which our power plants are located, may be subject to frequent low-level seismic disturbances. Serious seismic disturbances, volcanic eruptions and lava flows are possible and could result in damage to our power plants (or transmission lines used by customers who buy electricity from us) or equipment or degrade the quality of our geothermal resources to such an extent that we could not perform under the PPA for the affected power plant, which in turn could reduce our net income and materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, future results and cash flow. If we suffer a serious seismic disturbance, volcanic eruptions and lava flows, our business interruption and property damage insurance may not be adequate to cover all losses sustained as a result thereof. In addition, insurance coverage may not continue to be available in the future in amounts adequate to insure against such seismic disturbances, volcanic eruptions and lava flows.

Furthermore, absent additional geologic/hydrologic studies, any increase in power generation from our geothermal power plants, failure to reinject the geothermal fluid or improper maintenance of the hydrological balance may affect the operational duration of the geothermal resource and cause it to decline in value over time and may adversely affect our ability to generate power from the relevant power plant.

We may decide not to implement, or may not be successful in implementing, one or more elements of our multi-year strategic plan, and the plan as implemented may not achieve its goal of enhancing shareholder value through the long-term growth of our Company

We are implementing a multi-year strategic plan to:

There are uncertainties and risks associated with our strategic plan, including with respect to implementation and outcome. We may decide to change, or to not implement, one or more elements of the plan over time or we may not be successful in implementing one or more elements of the plan, in each case for a number of reasons. For example, we may face significant challenges and risks expanding into the energy storage market (or expanding our core geothermal business), including:

Strengthening our core geothermal business to new customers and geographical areas will have many of the same risks and uncertainties as those outlined above.

Implementing the plan may also involve various costs, including, among other things:

These costs may not be recovered, in whole or in part, if one or more elements of the plan are not successfully implemented. These costs, or the failure to implement successfully one or more elements of the plan, could adversely affect our reputation and the reputation of our subsidiaries and could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, future results and cash flow.

Apart from the risks associated with implementing the plan, the plan itself will expose us to other risks and uncertainties once implemented. Expanding our customer base may expose us to customers with different credit profiles than our current customers. Expanding our geographic base will subject us to risks associated with doing business in new foreign countries in which we will have to learn the business and political environment. In addition, expanding into new technologies will expose us to new risks and uncertainties that are unknown to us now in addition to the risks and uncertainties that may be similar to those we now face. The success of the plan, once implemented, will depend, among other things, on our ability to manage these risks effectively.

The trading price of our common stock could decline if securities, industry analysts or our investors disagree with our strategic plan or the way we implement it. Accordingly, there is no assurance that the plan will enhance shareholder value through long-term growth of the Company to the extent currently anticipated by our management or at all.

Concentration of customers, specific projects and regions may expose us to heightened financial exposure.

Our businesses often rely on a single customer to purchase all or a significant portion of a facility’s output. The financial performance of these facilities depends on the ability of each customer to perform its obligations under a long-term agreement between the parties. A facility’s financial results could be materially and adversely affected if any of our customers fail to fulfill its contractual obligations and we are unable to find other customers in the marketplace to purchase at the same level of profitability. We cannot assure that such performance failures by our customers will not occur, or that if they do occur, such failures will not adversely affect the cash flows or profitability of our businesses. Moreover, there can be no assurance that we will be able to enter into replacement agreements on favorable terms or at all.

While we have historically been able to collect on substantially all of our receivable balances, we have received late payments and have amounts overdue from certain of our significant customers. In  the Electricity segment, we are exposed to the credit and financial condition of KPLC that buys the power generated from our Olkaria III in Kenya. In 2021, KPLC accounted for 15.5% of our total revenues. There has been a deterioration in the collection from KPLC that became slower than in the past, and as of December 31, 2021, the amount overdue from KPLC in Kenya was $25.5 million of which $22.9 million was paid in January and February of 2022. Any change in KPLC's financial condition may adversely affect us.

In Honduras, as of December 31, 2021, the total amount overdue from ENEE was $20.7 million of which $2.9 million was collected in February 2022. In addition, due to continuing restrictive measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic in Honduras, the Company may experience additional delays in collection. The Company believes it will be able to collect all past due amounts in Honduras.

We are also exposed to the credit and financial condition of SCPPA and its municipal utility members that account for 23.7% of our total revenues, as customers that buy the output from seven of our geothermal power plants. Because our contracts with SCPPA are long-term, we may be adversely affected if the credit quality of any of these customers were to decline or if their respective financial conditions were to deteriorate or if they are otherwise unable to perform their obligations under our long-term contracts. 

In addition, we generate a significant portion of our revenue from our two largest projects, the McGinness Hills complex in East Nevada and Olkaria III Complex in Kenya, which together accounted for approximately 30% of the total generating capacity of our Electricity segment in 2021. These two facilities accounted for 23% of our total revenues for the year ended December 31, 2021.  Any disruption to the operation of these facilities would have a disproportionately adverse effect on our revenues and on our profitability.

Our international operations expose us to risks related to the application of foreign laws and regulations, any of which may adversely affect our business, financial condition, future results and cash flows.

Our foreign operations in Kenya, Turkey, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia and other countries requires us to comply with the laws and regulations of various foreign governments and regulatory authorities in addition to any legal or regulatory requirements in the United States. Such foreign laws or regulations may not provide the same type of legal certainty, rights, or judicial processes with respect to our contractual relationships in such countries, as are afforded to our operations in the United States. A failure to receive adequate judicial or enforcement protection of our contractual rights abroad may adversely affect our ability to fulfill our contracts successfully and generate revenues therefrom. In particular, the legal and regulatory systems in the foreign jurisdictions where we operate can be characterized by one or more of the following:

We face additional risks inherent in conducting business internationally, including compliance with laws and regulations of many jurisdictions that apply to our international operations. These laws and regulations may apply to us, our subsidiaries, individual directors, officers, employees and agents, and may restrict our operations, trade practices, investment or acquisition decisions or partnership opportunities. These requirements include, but are not limited to, data privacy requirements, labor relations laws, tax laws, competition regulations, import and trade restrictions, economic sanctions, and export requirements.

In particular, our international operations are subject to United States and foreign anti-corruption laws and regulations, such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended (the “FCPA”) and other local laws that prohibit corrupt payments to governmental officials or certain payments or remunerations to customers. The FCPA prohibits United States companies and their officers, directors, employees and agents acting on their behalf from corruptly offering, promising, authorizing or providing anything of value to foreign officials for the purposes of influencing official decisions or obtaining or retaining business or otherwise obtaining favorable treatment. The FCPA also requires companies to make and keep books, records and accounts that accurately and fairly reflect transactions and dispositions of assets and to maintain a system of adequate internal accounting controls. As part of our business, we deal with state-owned business enterprises, the employees and representatives of which may be considered foreign officials for purposes of the FCPA. As a result, business dealings between our employees and any such foreign official could expose us to the risk of violating anti-corruption laws even if such business practices may be customary or are not otherwise prohibited between us and a private third party. Violations of these legal requirements are punishable by criminal fines and imprisonment, civil penalties, disgorgement of profits, injunctions, debarment from government contracts as well as other remedial measures.

Given the high level of complexity of these laws, there is a risk that some provisions may be breached by us, for example through fraudulent or negligent behavior of individual employees (or third parties acting on our behalf), our failure to comply with certain formal documentation requirements, or otherwise. Violations of these laws and regulations could result in fines, criminal sanctions against us, our officers or our employees, requirements to obtain export licenses, cessation of business activities in sanctioned countries, implementation of compliance programs and prohibitions on the conduct of our business. Any such violation could include prohibitions on our ability to offer our products in one or more countries and could materially damage our reputation, our brand, our ability to attract and retain employees, our business, our financial condition and our results of operations.

Furthermore, existing laws or regulations may be amended or repealed, and new laws or regulations may be enacted or issued. In addition, the laws and regulations of some countries may limit our ability to hold a majority interest in some of the power plants that we may develop or acquire, thus limiting our ability to control the development, construction and operation of such power plants, or our ability to import our products into such countries.

Political, economic and other conditions in the emerging economies where we operate may subject us to greater risk than in the developed U.S. economy, which may have a materially adverse effect on our business.

We have substantial operations outside of the United States, both in our Electricity segment and our Product segment. In 2021, 33.6% of our total revenues were derived from international operations, and our international operations were significantly more profitable than our U.S. operations. In 2021 a substantial portion of international revenues came from Kenya and, to a lesser extent, from Honduras, Guatemala, Guadeloupe and other countries. Thus, disturbances to and challenges facing our foreign operations, especially in Kenya, could have impacts on our business ranging from moderate to severe. Our foreign operations and our exposure to foreign customers that are in most cases, government owned utilities, subject us to significant political, economic and financial risks, which vary by country, and include:

Electricity Segment. In 2021, the international operations of the Electricity segment accounted for 27% of our total revenues, but accounted for 45% of our gross profit, 68% of our net income and 42% of our EBITDA. A substantial portion of Electricity segment international revenues came from Kenya (which also contributed disproportionately to our gross profit and net income) and, to a lesser extent, from Guadeloupe, Guatemala and Honduras. In Kenya, any break-up or potential privatization of KPLC, the power purchaser for our power plants located in Kenya, may adversely affect our Olkaria III complex and our overall results of operations. Additionally, in Guatemala the electricity sector was partially privatized, and it is currently unclear whether further privatization will occur in the future. Such developments may affect our Amatitlan and Zunil power plants if, for example, they result in changes to the prevailing tariff regime or in the identity and creditworthiness of our power purchasers.

Product Segment. With respect to our Product segment, 88% of our Product segment revenues in 2021 came from international sales, primarily Turkey. Since we primarily engage in sales in those markets where there is a geothermal reservoir, any such change might adversely affect geothermal developers in those markets and, subsequently, the ability of such developers to purchase our products. 

Generally. Outbreaks of civil and political unrest and acts of terrorism have also occurred in several countries in Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, where we have operations, such as Kenya and Honduras. Kenya experienced numerous terrorist attacks in 2014 and 2015, and has experienced an upsurge in attacks in more recent years, including in early 2019, from extremist groups. Continued or escalated civil and political unrest and acts of terrorism in the countries in which we operate could result in our curtailing operations. In the event that countries in which we operate experience civil or political unrest or acts of terrorism, especially in events where such unrest leads to an unseating of the established government, our operations in such countries could be materially impaired.

As a result of these risks, we purchase certain types of political risk insurance policies for selected countries where we operate and which are exposed to political turmoil, geopolitical issues or political uncertainty. While such policies are designed to offer assistance with respect to some political incidents that could give rise to financial liability, it does not mitigate all of the above-mentioned risks. In addition, insurance proceeds received pursuant to our political risk insurance policies, where applicable, may not be adequate to cover all losses sustained as a result of any covered risks and may at times be pledged in favor of the power plant lenders as collateral. Also, insurance may not be available in the future with the scope of coverage and in amounts of coverage adequate to insure against such risks and disturbances. Any or all of the changes discussed above could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, future results and cash flow.

Conditions in and around Israel, where the majority of our senior management and our main production and manufacturing facilities are located, may adversely affect our operations and may limit our ability to produce and sell our products or manage our power plants.

The majority of our senior management and our main production and manufacturing facilities are located in Israel approximately 26 miles from the border with the Gaza Strip. As such, political, economic and security conditions in Israel and the Middle East region directly affect our operations.

The political instability and civil unrest in the Middle East and North Africa (including the ongoing civil war in Syria) as well as the increased tension between Iran and Israel have raised new concerns regarding security in the region and the potential for armed conflict or other hostilities involving Israel, any of which could impede our ability to manufacture and support our products offerings. We could be adversely affected by any such hostilities, the interruption or curtailment of trade between Israel and its trading partners, or a significant downturn in the economic or financial condition of Israel. In addition, the sale of products manufactured in Israel may be adversely affected in certain countries by restrictive laws, policies or practices directed toward Israel or companies having operations in Israel. If our facilities become temporarily or permanently disabled by an act of terrorism or war, we may be required to develop alternative infrastructure and we may not be able to avoid service interruptions.

These events and conditions could disrupt our operations in Israel, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, future results, and cash flow.

Continued reduction in our Products backlog may affect our ability to fully utilize our main production and manufacturing facilities and may have a materially adverse effect on our business.

In our Product segment, the economic downturn as a result of the continued COVID-19 pandemic has adversely impacted customers’ purchasing decisions and travel restrictions have adversely impacted our sales and marketing efforts and we experienced a decrease in our backlog. Continued reduction in our backlog may affect our ability to fully utilize our manufacturing facility and we may incur higher costs that our Product segment revenues may not be able to cover or increase capital costs to develop our own power plants, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, future results, and cash flow.

Some of our leases will terminate if we do not extract geothermal resources in “commercial quantities”, if we fail to comply with the terms or stipulations of such leases or any of the provisions of the Geothermal Steam Act or if the lessor under any such lease defaults on any debt secured by the relevant property, thus requiring us to enter into new leases or secure rights to alternate geothermal resources, none of which may be available on terms as favorable to us as any such terminated lease, if at all.

Most of our geothermal resource leases are for a fixed primary term, and then continue for so long as geothermal resources are extracted in “commercial quantities” or pursuant to other terms of extension. The land covered by some of our leases (approximately 193,000 acres in the U.S. and approximately 13,000 acres elsewhere) is undeveloped and has not yet produced geothermal resources in commercial quantities. Leases that cover land which remains undeveloped and does not produce, or does not continue to produce, geothermal resources in commercial quantities and leases that we allow to expire, may terminate. In the event that a lease is terminated and we determine that we will need that lease once the applicable power plant is operating, we would need to enter into one or more new leases with the owner(s) of the premises that are the subject of the terminated lease(s) in order to develop geothermal resources from, or inject geothermal resources into, such premises or secure rights to alternate geothermal resources or lands suitable for injection. We may not be able to do this or may not be able to do so without incurring increased costs, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, future results and cash flow.

Additionally, pursuant to the terms of our BLM leases, we are required to conduct our operations on BLM-leased land in a workmanlike manner and in accordance with all applicable laws and BLM directives and to take all mitigating actions required by the BLM to protect the surface of and the environment surrounding the relevant land. Certain BLM leases contain additional requirements, some of which relate to the mitigation or avoidance of disturbance of any antiquities, cultural values or threatened or endangered plant, wildlife and species. In the event of a default under any BLM lease, or the failure to comply with such requirements, or any non-compliance with any of the provisions of the Geothermal Steam Act or regulations issued thereunder, the BLM may, 30 days after notice of default is provided to our relevant project subsidiary, suspend our operations until the requested action is taken or terminate the lease, either of which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, future results and cash flow.

The fee interest in the land which is the subject of some of our leases (or subleases) may currently be or may become subject to encumbrances securing loans from third-party lenders to the lessor (or sublessor). Our rights as lessee (or sublessee) under such leases (or subleases) are or may be subject and subordinate to the rights of any such lender. Accordingly, a default by the lessor (or sublessor) under any such loan could result in a foreclosure on the underlying fee interest in the property and thereby terminate our leasehold interest and result in the shutdown of the power plant located on the relevant property and/or terminate our right of access to the underlying geothermal resources required for our operations.

Reduced levels of recovered energy required for the operation of our REG power plants may result in decreased performance of such power plants.

Our REG power plants generate electricity from recovered energy or so-called “waste heat” that is generated as a residual by-product of gas turbine-driven compressor stations and a variety of industrial processes. Any interruption in the supply of the recovered energy source, such as a result of reduced gas flows in the pipelines or reduced level of operation at the compressor stations, or in the output levels of the various industrial processes, may cause an unexpected decline in the capacity and performance of our recovered energy power plants.

Our business development activities may not be successful and our projects under construction or facilities undergoing enhancement and repowering may encounter delays, which may impact our future growth.

We are in the process of developing and constructing a number of new power plants. Our success in developing a project is contingent upon, among other things, negotiation of satisfactory engineering and construction agreements and obtaining PPAs and transmission services agreements, receipt of required governmental permits (including environmental permits), obtaining adequate financing, and the timely implementation and satisfactory completion of field development, testing and power plant construction and commissioning. We may be unsuccessful in accomplishing any of these matters or doing so on a timely basis such in cases where we have to handle legal proceedings with respect to environmental permits. Although we may attempt to minimize the financial risks attributable to the development of a project by securing a favorable PPA and applicable transmission services agreements, obtaining all required governmental permits and approvals and arranging, in certain cases, adequate financing prior to the commencement of construction, the development of a power project may require us to incur significant expenses for preliminary engineering, permitting and legal and other expenses before we can determine whether a project is feasible, economically attractive or capable of being financed.

Currently, we have geothermal projects and prospects under exploration, development or construction in the United States, as well as in Indonesia, Ethiopia, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Honduras, and New Zealand and we intend to pursue the development of other new plants. In addition, our current growth plans include enhancement and repowering of a number of our operating facilities, including the Heber, Dixie Valley, Zunil and Puna power plants and involve replacement of old equipment and optimization of the geothermal field, including repair and enhancement of existing wells and drilling of new wells. Our completion of these facilities’ development and/or enhancement is subject to substantial risks, including:

Any one of these could give rise to delays, cost overruns, the termination of the plant expansion, construction or development or the loss (total or partial) of our interest in the project under development, construction, or expansion.

In addition, we enter into various types of arrangements with communities and joint venture partners, including in some cases, Indigenous peoples, for the development of projects. In some circumstances, we may be required to notify, consult, or obtain the consent of certain stakeholders, such as Indigenous peoples, landowners, and/or municipalities. In some jurisdictions where we have greenfield power projects, it may be possible to claim Indigenous rights to land and the existence or declaration of Indigenous title may affect the existing or future activities of our projects and impact our business, financial condition and results of operations. Certain of these communities and partners may have or may develop interests or objectives which are different from or even in conflict with our objectives. Any such differences could have a negative impact on the success of our projects.

We rely on power transmission facilities that we do not own or control.

We depend on transmission facilities owned and operated by others to deliver the power we sell from our power plants to our customers. If transmission is disrupted, or if the transmission capacity infrastructure is inadequate, of if there is a failure that requires long shutdown for repair, or if curtailment is required due to load system inefficiency, our ability to sell and deliver power to our customers may be adversely impacted and we may either incur additional costs or forego revenues. In addition, lack of access to new transmission capacity may affect our ability to develop new projects. Existing congestion of transmission capacity, as well as expansion of transmission systems and competition from other developers seeking access to expanded systems, could also affect our performance.

Our use of joint ventures may limit our flexibility with jointly owned investments.

We have partners in several of our plants and we may continue in the future to develop and/or acquire and/or hold properties in joint ventures with other entities when circumstances warrant the use of these structures. These arrangements are often driven by the magnitude of capital required to complete acquisitions of generating assets, strategic partnering arrangements to access operating expertise, and other geothermal and energy industry wide trends that we presume will continue in the future. Where we hold a minority interest in a joint venture or share control or management with another party in a joint venture (such as in the case of our plant in Guadeloupe), our ability to influence joint venture operations may be limited. As such, our ownership of assets in joint ventures is subject to risks that may not be present with other methods of ownership, including:

For example, we hold a 12.75% minority interest in the Sarulla complex and, as a result, cannot control the development of its remediation plan, pace of exploration or development or major drilling decisions. Because we may, in some instances, have a reduced level of influence over our joint ventures, we may not be able to realize some or all of the benefits that we believe will be created from our involvement. If any of the foregoing were to occur, our business, financial condition and results of operations could suffer as a result.

Our operations could be adversely impacted by climate change.

We are susceptible to losses and interruptions caused by extreme weather conditions such as droughts, hurricanes, tsunamis, floods, wildfires, and water or other natural resource shortages, occurrences of which may increase in frequency and severity as a result of climate change. Climate change may also produce general changes in weather or other environmental conditions, including temperature or precipitation levels, and thus may impact consumer demand for electricity. Daily and seasonal fluctuations in temperature generally have a more significant impact on the generating capacity of geothermal energy plants than conventional power plants. Some of our power plants experience reduced generation in warm periods due to the lower heat differential between geothermal fluid and the ambient surroundings. While we generally account for the projected impact seasonal fluctuations in temperature based on our historic experience, the impact of climate change on traditional weather patterns has become more pronounced. This has reduced the certainty of our modelling efforts. For example, in 2019, we experienced prolonged elevated temperatures in the Western United States which impacted generating capacity at our facilities and adversely impacted our revenues in the fourth quarter of the year. To the extent weather conditions continue to be impacted by climate change, the generating capacity of certain of our facilities may be adversely impacted in a manner that we could not predict which may in turn adversely impact our results of operations. In addition, the potential physical effects of climate change, such as increased frequency and severity of storms, floods, and other climatic events, could disrupt our operations and cause us to incur significant costs to prepare for or respond to these effects.

Climate change could also affect the availability of a secure and economical supply of water, which is essential for the continued operation of some of our power plants that use water cooling systems. Ormat monitors water risk carefully. If it is determined that a water supply risk exists that could impact projected generation levels at any plant, risk mitigation efforts are identified and evaluated for implementation.

Geothermal projects that we plan to develop in the future, may operate as "merchant" facilities without long-term PPAs and therefore such projects will be exposed to market fluctuations.

Geothermal projects that we plan to develop in the United States as part of our growth plans may operate as "merchant" facilities and sell electricity without long-term PPAs for some or all of their generating capacity and output. Merchant projects require that we sell directly into the market on a short term basis and our success with respect to any such projects depends, in large part, upon prevailing market prices.  Given the volatility of commodity power prices, to the extent we are unable to secure the benefit of a long-term PPAs for these assets, we cannot be sure that we will be able to sell any or all of the power generated by these facilities at commercially attractive rates or that these facilities will be able to operate profitably. This could lead to future impairments of our property, plant and equipment resulting in economic losses and liabilities, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition or cash flows.

We may not be able to successfully conclude the transactions, integrate companies, which we acquired and may acquire in the future, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, future results and cash flow.

Our strategy is to continue to expand in the future, including through acquisitions to enhance our geothermal portfolio and accelerate growth in our Electricity segment. Integrating acquisitions is often costly, and we may not be able to successfully integrate our acquired companies with our existing operations without substantial costs, delays or other adverse operational or financial consequences. Completion of M&A transactions may be subject to fulfilling conditions and receiving regulatory approval. Integrating our acquired companies involves a number of risks that could materially and adversely affect our business, including:

If any of our acquired companies suffers customer dissatisfaction or performance problems, this could adversely affect the reputation of our group of companies and could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, future results and cash flow.

We encounter intense competition from electric utilities, other power producers, power marketers, developers and third-party investors that could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, future results and cash flow.

The power generation industry is characterized by intense competition from electric utilities, other power producers and power marketers. In recent years, there has been increasing competition in the sale of electricity, in part due to excess capacity in a number of United States markets and an emphasis on short-term or “spot” markets, and competition has contributed to a reduction in electricity prices. For the most part, we expect that power purchasers interested in long-term arrangements will engage in “competitive bid” solicitations to satisfy new capacity demands. This competition could adversely affect our ability to obtain and/or renew long-term PPAs and the price paid for electricity by the relevant power purchasers. In addition, competition between electric utilities has put pressure on electric utilities to lower their costs, including the cost of purchased electricity, and increasing competition in the future will put further pressure on power purchasers to reduce the prices at which they purchase electricity from us.

We also experiencing intense competition in the energy storage market from independent power producers, developers, and third-party investors. If we are unable, as a result of increased competition, to grow our energy storage portfolio while meeting our profitability goals, our business, financial condition, future results and cash flow could be materially and adversely affected.

Changes in costs and technology may significantly impact our business by making our power plants and products less competitive resulting in the inability to sign new PPAs for our Electricity segment and new supply and EPC contracts for our Products segment.

A basic premise of our business model is that generating baseload power at geothermal power plants produces electricity at a competitive price. However, traditional coal-fired systems and gas-fired systems may under certain economic conditions produce electricity at lower average prices than our geothermal plants. In addition, there are other technologies that can produce electricity such as hydroelectric systems, fuel cells, microturbines, wind turbines, energy storage systems and solar PV systems. Some of these alternative technologies currently produce electricity at higher average prices than our geothermal plants while others produce electricity at lower average prices. It is possible that technological advances and economies of scale will further reduce the cost of alternate methods of power generation. It is also possible that energy technologies will compete with our basic premise of a firm (non-intermittent) renewable baseload power source by combining renewable technologies with energy storage to provide an alternative to firm baseload energy. If this were to happen, the competitive advantage of our power plants may be significantly impaired and will cause reduction and/or inability to sign new PPAs for our Electricity segment and new supply and EPC contracts for our Products segment.

Our intellectual property rights may not be adequate to protect our business.

Our existing intellectual property rights may not be adequate to protect our business. We occasionally file patent applications which cover our products (mainly power units based on the ORC) and systems (mainly geothermal power plants and industrial waste heat recovery plants for electricity production). However, the patent application process is expensive, time-consuming and complex and we may not be able to prepare, file, prosecute, maintain and enforce all necessary or desirable patent applications at a reasonable cost or in a timely manner. Patents may be invalidated and patents may not be issued on the basis of our patent applications. Additionally, the scope of patent protection can be reinterpreted after issuance. Even if our patent applications do issue as patents, they may not issue in a form that is sufficiently broad to protect our technology, prevent competitors or other third parties from competing with us or otherwise provide us with any competitive advantage. In addition, any patents issued to us or for which we have use rights may be challenged, narrowed, invalidated or circumvented. Third parties may initiate opposition, interference, re-examination, post-grant review, inter partes review, nullification or derivation actions, or similar proceedings challenging the inventorship, validity, enforceability or scope of our patents. An adverse determination in any such proceeding or litigation could reduce the scope of, or invalidate our patent rights, allow third parties to commercialize our technology and compete directly with us, without payment to us, or result in our inability to commercialize our technology without infringing third-party patent rights. Such proceedings also may result in substantial cost and require significant time from our management, even if the eventual outcome is favorable to us. Our competitors or other third parties may also be able to circumvent our patents by developing similar or alternative technologies in a non-infringing manner. Consequently, we do not know whether any of our technology will be protectable or remain protected by valid and enforceable patents.

In order to safeguard our unpatented proprietary know-how, trade secrets and technology, we rely on a combination of trade secret protection and non-disclosure provisions in agreements with employees and third parties having access to confidential or proprietary information. These measures may not adequately protect us from disclosure, use, reverse engineering, infringement, misappropriation or other violation of our proprietary information and other intellectual property rights by third parties. Furthermore, non-disclosure provisions can be difficult to enforce and, even if successfully enforced, may not be entirely effective. In addition, we cannot guarantee that we have entered into non-disclosure agreements with all employees and third parties that have or may have had access to our trade secrets and other confidential or proprietary information.

Even if we adequately protect our intellectual property rights, litigation may be necessary to enforce these rights, which could result in substantial costs to us and a substantial diversion of management attention. Furthermore, attempts to enforce our intellectual property rights against third parties could also provoke these third parties to assert their own intellectual property or other rights against us, or result in a holding that invalidates or narrows the scope of our rights, in whole or in part. Our success and ability to compete also depends in part on our ability to operate without infringing, misappropriating or otherwise violating the intellectual or proprietary rights of third parties. While we have attempted to ensure that our technology and the operation of our business does not infringe other parties’ patents and other intellectual property or proprietary rights, our competitors or other third parties may assert that certain aspects of our business or technology infringe upon, misappropriate or otherwise violate their intellectual property or proprietary rights. In addition, former employers of our current, former or future employees may assert claims that such employees have improperly disclosed to us the confidential or proprietary information of these former employers. Infringement, misappropriation or other intellectual property violation claims, regardless of merit or ultimate outcome, can be expensive, hard to predict and time-consuming and can divert management’s attention from our core business. An assertion of an intellectual property infringement, misappropriation or other violation claim against us may result in adverse judgments, settlements on unfavorable terms or cause us to pay significant money damages, lose significant revenues, be prohibited from using the relevant technology or other intellectual property, or incur significant license, royalty or technology development expenses. Future litigation may also involve non-practicing entities or other intellectual property owners who have no relevant product offerings or revenue and against whom our own intellectual property may therefore provide little or no deterrence or protection.

We may experience difficulties implementing and maintaining our new enterprise resource planning system

We purchased a new enterprise resource planning (“ERP”) system and are currently in the first phase of implementing the new system. ERP implementations are complex and time-consuming, and involve substantial expenditures on system software and implementation activities. The ERP system will be critical to our ability to provide important information to our management, obtain and deliver products, provide services and customer support, send invoices and track payments, fulfill contractual obligations, accurately maintain books and records, provide accurate, timely and reliable reports on our financial and operating results or otherwise file our financial statements with the SEC and operate our business. ERP implementations also require transformation of business and financial processes in order to reap the benefits of the ERP system; any such transformation involves risks inherent in the conversion to a new computer system, including loss of information and potential disruption to our normal operations. The implementation and maintenance of the new ERP system has required, and will continue to require, the investment of significant financial and human resources and the implementation may be subject to delays and cost overruns. In addition, we may not be able to successfully complete the implementation of the new ERP system without experiencing difficulties. Any disruptions, delays or deficiencies in the design and implementation or the ongoing maintenance of the new ERP system could adversely affect our ability to process orders, ship products, provide services and customer support, send invoices and track payments, fulfill contractual obligations, accurately maintain books and records, provide accurate, timely and reliable reports on our financial and operating results, or otherwise file our financial statements with the SEC and operate our business. Additionally, if we do not effectively implement the ERP system as planned or the system does not operate as intended, the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting could be adversely affected or our ability to assess it adequately could be delayed.

A cyber-incident, cyber security breach, severe natural event or physical attack on our operational networks and information technology systems could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations, liquidity and cash flows.

We rely on information technology systems that allow us to create, store, retain, transmit and otherwise process proprietary and sensitive or confidential information, including our business and financial information, and personal information regarding our employees and third-parties. We also rely on our operational technology systems to manufacture equipment for our energy projects, operate our power plants and provide our services. In addition, we often rely on third-party vendors to host, maintain, modify and update our systems.

Our and our third-party vendors’ technology systems can be damaged by malicious events such as cyber and physical attacks, computer viruses, malicious and destructive code, phishing attacks, denial of service or information, as well as security breaches, natural disasters, fire, power loss, telecommunications failures, employee misconduct, human error, and third parties such as traditional computer hackers, persons involved with organized crime or foreign state or foreign state-supported actors. Furthermore, our disaster recovery planning may not be sufficient for all situations. Any failure, disruptions to or decrease in the functionality of our or our third-party vendors’ operational and information technology networks could impact our ability to maintain effective internal controls over financial reporting, cause harm to the environment, the public or our employees, and significantly disrupt and damage our assets and operations or those of third parties.

We and our third-party vendors have been, and may in the future be, subject to breaches and attempts to gain unauthorized access to our information technology systems or sensitive or confidential data, or to disrupt our operations.  To date, none of these breaches or attempts has, individually or in the aggregate, resulted in a security incident with a material effect on our operations or our financial condition, results of operations, liquidity, or cash flows.  Despite implementation of security and control measures, we and our third-party vendors have not always been able to, and there can be no assurance that we or our third-party vendors will be able to in the future, anticipate or prevent unauthorized access to our or our third-party vendors’ operational technology networks, information technology systems or data, or the disruption of our or our third-party vendors’ operations. The techniques used to obtain unauthorized access to our and our third-party vendors’ operational technology networks, information technology systems or data are constantly evolving and have become increasingly complex and sophisticated. Furthermore, such techniques change frequently and are often not detected until after they have been launched against a target. Therefore, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques and may not become aware in a timely manner of such a security breach, which could exacerbate any damage we experience. Such events could cause interruptions in the operation of our business, damage our operational technology networks and information technology systems, subject us to significant expenses, remediation costs, litigation, disputes, claims by third parties and regulatory actions or investigations that could result in damages, material fines and penalties, and harm to our reputation, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations, liquidity, and cash flows. We may maintain cyber liability insurance that covers certain damages caused by cyber incidents.  However, there is no guarantee that adequate insurance will continue to be available at rates that we believe are reasonable or that the costs of responding to and recovering from a cyber incident will be covered by insurance or recoverable in rates.

In addition, we are subject to various legislation, regulations, directives and guidelines from federal, state, local and foreign agencies, such as FERC, that are intended to strengthen cybersecurity measures required for information and operational technology and critical energy infrastructure and that apply to the collection, use, retention, protection, disclosure, transfer and other processing of personal information. In California, for example, the California Consumer Privacy Act (the “CCPA”) imposes obligations on businesses to be transparent with their data privacy practices and vests consumers with rights to access and delete the personal information held by businesses. These requirements will become even more robust under the California Privacy Rights Act (the “CPRA”) which amends the CCPA to, among other things, extend consumer rights and business obligations to employees, and will become effective on January 1, 2023. These cybersecurity, data protection and privacy law regimes continue to evolve and may result in ever-increasing public scrutiny and escalating levels of capital expenditures, regulatory enforcement, sanctions and fines and increased costs for compliance. We have instituted security measures and safeguards to protect our operational systems and information technology assets, including certain safeguards required by FERC. Despite our implementation of security measures and safeguards, any failure to comply with FERC or any of these legal requirements could result in enforcement action against us, including fines, imprisonment of company officials and public censure, any of which could harm our reputation and have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations, liquidity, and cash flows.

Risks Related to Governmental Regulations, Laws and Taxation

Our financial performance could be adversely affected by changes in the legal and regulatory environment affecting our operations.

All of our power plants are subject to extensive regulation, and therefore changes in applicable laws or regulations, or interpretations of those laws and regulations, could result in increased compliance costs, the need for additional capital expenditures or the reduction of certain benefits currently available to our power plants. The structure of domestic and foreign energy regulation currently is, and may continue to be, subject to challenges, modifications, the imposition of additional regulatory requirements, and restructuring proposals. We or our power purchasers may not be able to obtain all regulatory approvals that may be required in the future, or any necessary modifications to existing regulatory approvals, or maintain all required regulatory approvals. In addition, the cost of operation and maintenance and the operating performance of geothermal power plants may be adversely affected by changes in certain laws and regulations, including tax laws.

Any changes to applicable laws and regulations or interpretations of those laws and regulations could significantly increase the regulatory-related compliance, tax and other expenses incurred by the power plants and could significantly reduce or entirely eliminate the revenues generated by one or more of the power plants, which in turn would reduce our net income and could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, future results and cash flow.

Pursuant to the terms of some of our PPAs with investor-owned electric utilities and publicly-owned electric utilities in states that have renewable portfolio standards, the failure to supply the contracted capacity and energy thereunder may result in the imposition of penalties.

Pursuant to the terms of certain of our PPAs, we may be required to make payments to the relevant power purchaser under certain conditions, such as shortfall in delivery of renewable energy and energy credits, and not meeting certain performance threshold requirements, as defined in the relevant PPA. The amount of payment required is dependent upon the level of shortfall in delivery or performance requirements and is recorded in the period the shortfall occurs. In addition, if we do not meet certain minimum performance requirements, the capacity of the relevant power plant may be permanently reduced. Any or all of these considerations could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, future results and cash flow.

If any of our domestic power plants loses its current Qualifying Facility status under PURPA, or if amendments to PURPA are enacted that substantially reduce the benefits currently afforded to Qualifying Facilities, our domestic operations could be adversely affected.

Most of our domestic power plants are Qualifying Facilities pursuant to PURPA, which largely exempts the power plants from the FPA, and certain state and local laws and regulations regarding rates and financial and organizational requirements for electric utilities.

If any of our domestic power plants were to lose its Qualifying Facility status, such power plant could become subject to the full scope of the FPA and applicable state regulation. The application of the FPA and other applicable state regulation to our domestic power plants could require our operations to comply with an increasingly complex regulatory regime that may be costly and greatly reduce our operational flexibility.

If a domestic power plant were to lose its Qualifying Facility status, it would become subject to full regulation as a public utility under the FPA, and the rates charged by such power plant pursuant to its PPAs may be subject to the review and approval of FERC. FERC, upon such review, may determine that the rates currently set forth in such PPAs are not appropriate and may set rates that are lower than the rates currently charged. In addition, FERC may require that the affected domestic power plant refund amounts previously paid by the relevant power purchaser to such power plant. Even if a power plant does not lose its Qualifying Facility status, pursuant to regulations issued by FERC for Qualifying Facility power plants above 20 MW, if a power plant’s PPA is terminated or otherwise expires, and the subsequent sales are not made pursuant to a state’s implementation of PURPA, that power plant will become subject to FERC’s ratemaking jurisdiction under the FPA. Moreover, a loss of Qualifying Facility status also could permit the power purchaser, pursuant to the terms of the particular PPA, to cease taking and paying for electricity from the relevant power plant or, consistent with FERC precedent, to seek refunds of past amounts paid. This could cause the loss of some or all of our revenues payable pursuant to the related PPAs, result in significant liability for refunds of past amounts paid, or otherwise impair the value of our power plants. If a power purchaser were to cease taking and paying for electricity or seek to obtain refunds of past amounts paid, there can be no assurance that the costs incurred in connection with the power plant could be recovered through sales to other purchasers or that we would have sufficient funds to make such payments. In addition, the loss of Qualifying Facility status would be an event of default under the financing arrangements currently in place for some of our power plants, which would enable the lenders to exercise their remedies and enforce the liens on the relevant power plant.

Pursuant to the Energy Policy Act of 2005, FERC also has the authority to prospectively lift the mandatory obligation of a utility under PURPA to offer to purchase the electricity from a Qualifying Facility if the utility operates in a workably competitive market. Our existing PPAs between a Qualifying Facility and a utility are not affected. If, in addition to the California utilities’ waiver of the mandatory purchase obligation for QF projects that exceed 20 MW described in the risk factor above, the utilities in the other regions in which our domestic power plants operate were to be relieved of the mandatory purchase obligation, they would not be required to purchase energy from the power plant in the region under Federal law upon termination of the existing PPA or with respect to new power plants, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, future results and cash flow. Moreover, FERC has the authority to modify its regulations relating to the utility’s mandatory purchase obligation under PURPA, which could result in the reduction in the purchase obligation of California and other utilities to a level below 5 MW, or the elimination of the purchase obligation. If that were to occur it could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, future results and cash flow.

The PURPA and QF described risks identified above are not likely to affect our Nevada based facilities that entered into PPAs with NV Energy as the off-taker after Nevada initially adopted its RPS in 2001. Those PPAs and the related rates agreed to for such facilities by the off-taker were not based upon PURPA or a QF mandated rate but were instead adopted as a result of a competitive bidding process and approved as part of the off-taker’s integrated resource planning process and in order for the off-taker to comply with Nevada’s RPS. While those PPAS were initially required to file for QF or EWG status with the FERC, the PPAs and their related prices for the term of the PPA were not approved by the FERC pursuant to PURPA. The PURPA and QF risks described above also are not likely to affect our Nevada and California based projects that have their PPAs with the SCPPA because SCPPA is not a regulated public utility under PURPA.

The reduction or elimination of government incentives could adversely affect our business, financial condition, future results and cash flows.

Construction and operation of our geothermal power plants and recovered energy-based power plants has benefited, and may benefit in the future, from public policies and government incentives that support renewable energy and enhance the economic feasibility of these projects in regions and countries where we operate. Such policies and incentives include PTCs (that are applicable for projects that begin construction by the end of 2021) and ITCs (tax credit of 30% of of the project eligible cost is available for projects that start construction by end or 2021. The credit will phase down to 26% for solar PV projects starting construction by the end of 2022 and to 22% for solar PV projects starting construction in 2023. The credit will phase down to 26% for solar PV projects starting construction by the end of 2022 and to 22% for solar PV projects starting construction in 2023), accelerated depreciation tax benefits, renewable portfolio standards, carbon trading mechanisms, rebates, and mandated feed-in-tariffs, and may include similar or other incentives to end users, distributors, system integrators and manufacturers of geothermal, solar and other power products. Some of these measures have been implemented at the federal level, while others have been implemented by different states within the United States or countries outside the United States where we operate. In particular, the current U.S. presidential administration has made public statements that indicate that the administration may be supportive of various renewable energy programs.

The availability and continuation of these public policies and government incentives have a significant effect on the economics and viability of our development program and continued construction of new geothermal, recovered energy-based, solar PV facilities and, recently, energy storage projects. Any changes to such public policies, or any reduction in or elimination or expiration of such government incentives could affect us in different ways. For example, any reduction in, termination or expiration of renewable portfolio standards may result in less demand for generation from our geothermal and recovered energy-based, power plants. Any reductions in, termination or expiration of other government incentives could reduce the economic viability of, and cause us to reduce, the construction of new geothermal, recovered energy-based, solar PV or any other power plants. Policies supporting or deregulating the exploration, production and use of fossil fuels may create regulatory uncertainty in the renewable energy industry. Similarly, any such changes that affect the geothermal energy industry in a manner that is different from other sources of renewable energy, such as wind or solar, may put us at a competitive disadvantage compared to businesses engaged in the development, construction and operation of renewable power projects using such other resources. Any of the foregoing outcomes could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, future results, and cash flows.

We are a holding company and our cash depends substantially on the performance of our subsidiaries and the power plants they operate, most of which are subject to restrictions and taxation on dividends and distributions.

We are a holding company whose primary assets are our ownership of the equity interests in our subsidiaries. We conduct no other business and, as a result, we depend entirely upon our subsidiaries’ earnings and cash flow.

The agreements pursuant to which some of our subsidiaries have incurred debt restrict the ability of these subsidiaries to pay dividends, make distributions or otherwise transfer funds to us prior to the satisfaction of other obligations, including the payment of operating expenses, debt service and replenishment or maintenance of cash reserves. In the case of some of our power plants that are owned jointly with other partners, there may be certain additional restrictions on dividend distributions pursuant to our agreements with those partners. In all of the foreign countries where our existing power plants are located, dividend payments to us may also be subject to withholding taxes. Each of the events described above may reduce or eliminate the aggregate amount of cash we can receive from our subsidiaries.

The costs of compliance with federal, state, local and foreign environmental laws and our ability to obtain and maintain environmental permits and governmental approvals required for development, construction and/or operation may result in liabilities, costs and delays in construction (as well as any fines or penalties that may be imposed upon us in the event of any non-compliance or delays with such laws or regulations) that could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, future results and cash flow and these liabilities and costs may increase in the future.

Our operations are subject to extensive environmental laws, ordinances and regulations, which may cause us to incur significant costs and liabilities. These laws, ordinances and regulations can be subject to change and such change could result in increased compliance costs, the need for additional capital expenditures, or otherwise adversely affect us. In addition, our power plants are required to comply with numerous federal, state, local and foreign statutory and regulatory environmental standards and to maintain numerous environmental permits and governmental approvals required for development, construction and/or operation. We may not be able to renew, maintain or obtain all environmental permits and governmental approvals required for the continued operation or further development and construction of the power plants. We have not yet obtained certain permits and government approvals required for the completion and successful operation of power plants under development, construction or enhancement. Our failure to renew, maintain or obtain required permits or governmental approvals, including the permits and approvals necessary for operating power plants under development, construction or enhancement, could cause our operations to be limited or suspended resulting in fines under the PPA.

We may also be subject to litigation seeking to rescind or delay our receipt of environmental permits and governmental approvals. See “Litigation, legal proceedings, regulatory investigations or other administrative proceedings could expose us to significant liabilities and reputational damage that could have a material adverse effect on us” for additional information.

In addition, some of the environmental permits and governmental approvals that have been issued to the power plants contain conditions and restrictions, including restrictions or limits on emissions and discharges of pollutants and contaminants, or may have limited terms. If we fail to satisfy these conditions or comply with these restrictions, or with any statutory or regulatory environmental standards, we may become subject to regulatory enforcement action and the operation of the power plants could be adversely affected or be subject to fines, penalties or additional costs or other sanctions, including the imposition of investigatory or remedial obligations of the issuance of orders limiting or prohibiting our operations.

We could be exposed to significant liability for violations of hazardous substances laws because of the use or presence of such substances at our power plants.

Our power plants are subject to numerous domestic and foreign federal, regional, state and local statutory and regulatory standards relating to the generation, handling, transportation, use, storage, treatment and disposal of hazardous substances. We use butane, pentane, industrial lubricants, and other substances at our power plants which are or could become classified as hazardous substances. If any hazardous substances are found to have been released into the environment at or by the power plants in concentrations that exceed regulatory limits, we could become liable for the investigation and removal of those substances, regardless of their source and time of release. If we fail to comply with these laws, ordinances or regulations (or any change thereto), we could be subject to civil or criminal liability, the imposition of liens or fines, and cessation of operations, large expenditures to bring the power plants into compliance or other sanctions. Furthermore, under certain federal and states laws in the United States, we can be held liable for the cleanup of releases of hazardous substances at any of our current or former facilities or at any other locations where we arranged for disposal of those substances, even if we did not cause the release at that location or if the release complied with applicable law at the time it occurred. Liability under these laws can be joint and several. The cost of any remediation activities in connection with a spill or other release of such substances could be significant and could expose us to significant liability.

U.S. federal, state and international income tax law changes could adversely affect us

The Company continuously monitors and examines the impact of U.S. and international tax law changes, such as the Tax Act, CARES and similar tax law changes internationally, in order to determine the impact it may have on our business. The overall impact of the global tax law changes is uncertain, and our business, financial condition, future results and cash flow, as well as our stock price, could be adversely affected.

Litigation, legal proceedings, regulatory investigations or other administrative proceedings could expose us to significant liabilities and reputational damage that could have a material adverse effect on us.

We are involved in the ordinary course of business and otherwise in a number of lawsuits involving, among other matters, employment, commercial, and environmental issues, and other claims for injuries and damages, including the lawsuit filed by the Center for Biological Diversity and Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe on December 15, 2021 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada, which seeks to revoke the BLM’s approval of the development of our Dixie Meadows geothermal power plant in Nevada on the basis that the BLM failed to adequately consider in its final environmental review the project’s impact on the tribe’s interests in performing traditional religious practices and the habitat of a species of toad native to the area. We evaluate litigation claims and legal proceedings to assess the likelihood of unfavorable outcomes and to estimate, if possible, the amount of potential losses. Based on these evaluations and estimates, when required by applicable accounting rules, we establish reserves and disclose the relevant litigation claims or legal proceedings, as appropriate. These evaluations and estimates are based on the information available to management at the time and involve a significant amount of judgment. Actual outcomes or losses may differ materially from current evaluations and estimates. The settlement or resolution of such claims or proceedings may have a material adverse effect on us. We use appropriate means to contest litigation threatened or filed against us, but the litigation environment poses a significant business risk.

We are also involved in the ordinary course of business in regulatory investigations and other administrative proceedings, and we are exposed to the risk that we may become the subject of additional regulatory investigations or administrative proceedings. For example, we are providing information to the SEC and Department of Justice ("DOJ") related to their investigation into certain claims made in a report published by a short seller regarding the Company’s compliance with anti-corruption laws and formed a Special Committee of independent directors, which worked with outside legal counsel to investigate the claims made.

Risks Related to Economic and Financial Conditions

We may be unable to obtain the financing we need to pursue our growth strategy and any future financing we receive may be less favorable to us than our current financing arrangements, either of which may adversely affect our ability to expand our operations.

Some of our geothermal power plants have been financed using leveraged financing structures, consisting of non-recourse or limited recourse debt obligations. Each of our projects under development or construction and those projects and businesses we may seek to acquire, or construct will require substantial capital investment. Our continued access to capital on acceptable or favorable terms to us is necessary for the success of our growth strategy, particularly in enhancing our portfolio through M&A activities. Our attempts to obtain future financings may not be successful or on favorable terms.

In recent years, we have also increased our corporate recourse debt at the holding company level due to our ability to obtain improved economic terms. This additional indebtedness may make it more difficult for us to refinance or borrow additional funds in the future, limiting our ability to pursue our growth strategy.

Market conditions and other factors may not permit future project and acquisition financings on terms similar to those our subsidiaries have previously received. Our ability to arrange for financing on a substantially non-recourse or limited recourse basis, and the costs of such financing, are dependent on numerous factors, including general economic conditions, conditions in the global capital and credit markets, investor confidence, the continued success of current power plants, the credit quality of the power plants being financed, the political situation in the country where the power plant is located, and the continued existence of tax and securities laws which are conducive to raising capital. If we are not able to obtain financing for our power plants on a substantially non-recourse or limited recourse basis, we may have to finance them using recourse capital such as direct equity investments or the incurrence of additional debt by us.

Also, in the absence of favorable financing options, we may decide not to build new plants or acquire facilities from third parties. Any of these alternatives could have a material adverse effect on our growth prospects.

We may also need additional financing to implement our strategic plan. For example, our cash flow from operations and existing liquidity facilities may not be adequate to finance any acquisitions we may want to pursue or new technologies we may want to develop or acquire. Financing for acquisitions or technology development activities may not be available on the non-recourse or limited recourse basis we have historically used for our business, or on other terms we find acceptable.

Our foreign power plants and foreign manufacturing operations expose us to risks related to fluctuations in currency rates, which may reduce our profits from such power plants and operations.

Risks attributable to fluctuations in currency exchange rates can arise when any of our foreign subsidiaries incur operating or other expenses in one type of currency but receive revenues in another. In such cases, an adverse change in exchange rates can reduce such subsidiary’s ability to meet its debt service obligations, reduce the amount of cash and income we receive from such foreign subsidiary or increase such subsidiary’s overall expenses. In addition, the imposition by foreign governments of restrictions on the transfer of foreign currency abroad, or restrictions on the conversion of local currency into foreign currency, would have an adverse effect on the operations of our foreign power plants and foreign manufacturing operations, and may limit or diminish the amount of cash and income that we receive from such foreign power plants and operations.

Our power plants have generally been financed through a combination of our corporate funds and limited or non-recourse project finance debt and lease financing. If our project subsidiaries default on their obligations under such limited or non-recourse debt or lease financing, we may be required to make certain payments to the relevant debt holders, and if the collateral supporting such leveraged financing structures is foreclosed upon, we may lose certain of our power plants.

Our power plants have generally been financed using a combination of our corporate funds and limited or non-recourse project finance debt or lease financing. Limited recourse project finance debt refers to our additional agreement, as part of the financing of a power plant, to provide limited financial support for the power plant subsidiary in the form of limited guarantees, indemnities, capital contributions and agreements to pay certain debt service deficiencies. Non-recourse project finance debt or lease financing refers to financing arrangements that are repaid solely from the power plant’s revenues and are secured by the power plant’s physical assets, major contracts, cash accounts and, in many cases, our ownership interest in the project subsidiary. If our project subsidiaries default on their obligations under the relevant debt documents, creditors of a limited recourse project financing will have direct recourse to us, to the extent of our limited recourse obligations, which may require us to use distributions received by us from other power plants, as well as other sources of cash available to us, in order to satisfy such obligations. In addition, if our project subsidiaries default on their obligations under the relevant debt documents (or a default under such debt documents arises as a result of a cross-default to the debt documents of some of our other power plants) and the creditors foreclose on the relevant collateral, we may lose our ownership interest in the relevant project subsidiary or our project subsidiary owning the power plant would only retain an interest in the physical assets, if any, remaining after all debts and obligations were paid in full.

Possible fluctuations in the cost of construction, raw materials, commodities and drilling may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, future results, and cash flow.

Our manufacturing operations are dependent on the supply of various raw materials, including primarily steel and aluminum, commodities, vessels and industrial equipment components that we use. We currently obtain all such raw materials, commodities and equipment at prevailing market prices. We are not dependent on any one supplier and do not have any long-term agreements with any of our suppliers. Global events such as the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak that began in 2020 has resulted in the extended shutdown of certain businesses in the certain regions and resulted in delays in the supply and cost increase of raw materials and components that we purchased for our equipment manufacturing and cost increase of marine and transportation. Our development activity is also impacted by the supply delay and cost increase of storage batteries and Solar PV panels. Further cost increases of such raw materials, commodities and equipment could adversely affect our profit margins.

Our commodity derivative activity may limit potential gains, increase potential losses, result in earnings volatility and involve other risks.

We enter, from time to time, into commodity derivative contracts to manage our price exposure to our energy storage segment revenue. While these transactions are intended to limit our exposure to the adverse effects of fluctuations of storage services prices, they may also limit our ability to benefit from favorable changes in market conditions, and may subject us to periodic earnings volatility in the instances where we do not seek hedge accounting for these transactions or if the correlation between the hedge and the actual performance of the asset will be lower. Also, in connection with such derivative transactions, we may be required to make cash payments to maintain margin accounts and to settle the contracts at their value upon termination.

Finally, this activity exposes us to potential risk of counterparties to our derivative contracts failing to perform under the contracts. As a result, the effectiveness of our risk management could have an impact on our business, results of operations and cash flows.

We are exposed to swap counterparty credit risk that could materially and adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.

We rely on cross-currency swap contracts to effectively manage our currency risk related to our Senior Unsecured Bonds - Series 4 issued in July 2020. Failure of any of our counterparties to perform under derivatives contracts could disrupt our hedging operations if the counterparties do not fulfill their obligations under the agreements, particularly if we were entitled to a termination payment under the terms of the contract that we did not receive, if we had to make a termination payment upon default of the counterparty, or if we were unable to reposition the swap with a new counterparty.

We may not be able to obtain sufficient insurance coverage to cover damages resulting from any damages to our assets and profitability including but not limited to natural disasters such as volcanic eruptions, lava flows, wind and earthquake, which could materially and adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.

We maintain physical damage and business interruption insurance however, our business interruption and property damage insurance coverage may not be sufficient to cover all losses sustained as a result of natural disasters such as flood, volcanic eruptions, lava flows, wind and earthquake or any other insurable risk. In addition, insurance coverage may not continue to be available in the future at rates that we believe are reasonable or in amounts of coverage or with scope of coverage adequate to insure against future natural disasters. Following the May 2018 eruption of the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii, the full amount of our insurance claim for damages to our Puna power plant was denied and we experienced increased costs and difficulties in obtaining sufficient insurance coverage for natural disasters. Before the eruption in 2018, we obtained natural disasters business interruption and property damage insurance coverage of up to approximately $100 million compared to $30 million, with portions of the risk self-insured, secured in 2021 and 2022.

If insurance premiums or deductibles were to increase in the future, if certain types of insurance coverage were to become unavailable or cost prohibitive, if we were to have to increase the percentage of our self-insured insurance coverage or if we were to experience losses in excess of, or outside the scope of, our insurance coverage, such additional costs could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Risks Related to Force Majeure

The global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic may have an adverse impact and could adversely affect our financial results.

The COVID-19 pandemic, including its variant strains, and efforts to control its spread have significantly curtailed the movement of people, goods and services worldwide. Governments around the world have mandated companies to limit or suspend non-essential operations and imposed operational and travel restrictions resulting in a decline in global economic activity and an increase in market volatility. These mandates have also restricted and continue to restrict individuals’ daily activities. We have implemented significant measures both to comply with government requirements and to preserve the health and safety of our employees. These measures include working remotely where possible and operating separate shifts in our power plants, manufacturing facilities and other locations while trying to continue operations as close to full capacity in all locations. Since the end of the second quarter of 2021, the Company has experienced an easing of government restrictions in a number of countries, including Israel, but uncertainty around the impact of COVID-19 continues.

In 2021, we experienced impacts, which varied among our business segments, as described below:

In addition, we have experienced and continue to experience shortage in raw materials, delays in transportation and permitting and increase in costs of raw materials and delivery. These delays and cost increases impact our construction and development timeline of new projects in all business segments and may result in contractual penalties.

The full extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic ultimately impacts our business, operations, financial results and financial condition will depend on numerous evolving factors, which are currently uncertain and cannot be predicted, including:

In addition, the impact of COVID-19 on macroeconomic conditions may impact the proper functioning of financial and capital markets, foreign currency exchange rates, commodity and interest rates. Any of the events described above could amplify the other risks and uncertainties described in this report and could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and/or stock price.

The existence of a prolonged force majeure event or a forced outage affecting a power plant, or the transmission systems could reduce our net income and materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, future results and cash flow.

The operation of our subsidiaries’ geothermal power plants is subject to a variety of risks, including events such as fires, explosions, earthquakes, landslides, floods, severe storms, volcanic eruptions, lava flow or other similar events. If a power plant experiences an occurrence resulting in a force majeure event, although our subsidiary that owns that power plant would be excused from its obligations under the relevant PPA, the relevant power purchaser may not be required to make any capacity and/or energy payments with respect to the affected power plant for as long as the force majeure event continues and, pursuant to certain of our PPAs, will have the right to prematurely terminate the PPA. Additionally, to the extent that a forced outage has occurred, and if as a result the power plant fails to attain certain performance requirements under certain of our PPAs, the power purchaser may have the right to permanently reduce the contract capacity (and correspondingly, the amount of capacity payments due pursuant to such agreements in the future), seek refunds of certain past capacity payments, and/or prematurely terminate the PPA. As a consequence, we may not receive any net revenues from the affected power plant other than the proceeds from any business interruption insurance that applies to the force majeure event or forced outage after the relevant waiting period and may incur significant liabilities in respect of past amounts required to be refunded.

On May 3, 2018, the Kilauea volcano located in close proximity to our Puna 38 MW geothermal power plant in the Puna district of Hawaii's Big Island erupted following a significant increase in seismic activity in the area. The lava ultimately covered the wellheads of three geothermal wells, monitoring wells and the substation of the Puna complex and an adjacent warehouse that stored a drilling rig that was also consumed by the lava. We resumed operations and the Puna power plant is operating at approximately 25 MW. Further details on the status of the power plant is described under "Recent Development" below. The Company continues to assess the accounting implications of this event on its balance sheet and whether an impairment will be required. 

In addition to our power plant in Puna, Hawaii, our power plant in Amatitlan, Guatemala is located in proximity to an active volcano.  As a result of recent events impacting our Puna facility, we cannot be certain how investors will assess the risks to which our facilities are subject and whether this assessment will adversely impact perceptions of our business and our share price.

Threats of terrorism may impact our operations in unpredictable ways and could adversely affect our business, financial condition, future results and cash flow.

Our operations and facilities, in particular, our generation and transmission facilities, information technology systems and other infrastructure facilities, systems and physical assets that we acquire, construct or develop, as well as those of third parties on which we rely, may be targets of terrorist acts and threats, as well as events occurring in response to or in connection with them, that could cause environmental repercussions, result in full or partial disruption of our operations. These operations and facilities are also subject to natural disasters, public health crises, fire, power loss and telecommunication failures. Any of our assets or those of third-party vendors could be directly or indirectly affected by such events or activities. Any such terrorist acts, environmental repercussions or disruptions or natural disasters could result in a significant decrease in revenues or significant reconstruction or remediation costs, beyond what could be recovered through insurance policies, which could have a material adverse effect on the business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Risks Related to Ownership of Our Common Stock

A substantial percentage of our common stock is held by stockholders whose interests may conflict with the interests of our other stockholders.

As of December 31, 2021, ORIX holds 19.6% of our shares of common stock outstanding. Pursuant to the Governance Agreement between us and ORIX entered into in connection with this stock purchase transaction, ORIX has the right to designate three directors to our Board for as long as ORIX and its affiliates collectively hold at least 18% of the voting power of all of our outstanding voting securities, the right to representation on certain committees of our Board as well as preemptive rights pursuant to the Governance Agreement.  In addition, the Governance Agreement provides ORIX preemptive rights in the event we issue common stock or other securities that entitle the holder to vote for the election of directors. ORIX may also exercise certain registration rights pursuant to the Registration Rights Agreement between us and ORIX. 

As a result of these rights and ORIX’s beneficial ownership of our common stock, ORIX could exert influence through its Board representation on our and our subsidiaries’ business, operations and management, including our strategic plans, or, as a significant stockholder, on matters submitted to a vote of our stockholders, including mergers, consolidations and the sale of all or substantially all of our assets. This concentration of ownership of our common stock could delay or prevent proxy contests, mergers, tender offers, or other purchases of our common stock that might otherwise give our stockholders the opportunity to realize a premium over the then-prevailing market price for our shares. If ORIX exercises its registration rights to require us to register for sale the common stock held by ORIX or ORIX otherwise sells its common stock in the public markets, the price of our common stock may decline. This concentration of ownership may also adversely affect the liquidity of our common stock.

The price of our common stock may fluctuate substantially, and your investment may decline in value.

The market price of our common stock may be highly volatile and may fluctuate substantially due to many factors, including:

In addition, the stock market in general, and the NYSE and the market for energy companies in particular, have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of particular companies affected. These broad market and industry factors may materially harm the market price of our common stock, regardless of our operating performance. In the past, following periods of volatility in the market price of a company’s securities, securities class-action litigation has often been instituted against that company. Such litigation, if instituted against us could result in substantial costs and a diversion of management’s attention and resources, which could materially harm our business, financial condition, future results and cash flow. We are generally obliged under our bylaws, to the extent permitted under Delaware law, to indemnify our current and former officers who are named as defendants in these types of lawsuits.  While a certain amount of insurance coverage is available for expenses or losses associated with these lawsuits, this coverage may not be sufficient for certain litigation.  For information on our recently dismissed and ongoing securities class actions, see “Commitments and Contingencies” in Note 21 to the consolidated financial statements contained in Item 8 of this Annual Report.

ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

None.

ITEM 2. PROPERTIES

We currently lease corporate offices at 6140 Plumas street Reno, Nevada 89519. We also occupy an approximately 807,000 square foot office and manufacturing facility located in the Industrial Park of Yavne, Israel, which we lease from the Israel Land Administration. See Item 13 — “Certain Relationships and Related Transactions”. In Turkey, we established and leased a facility to locally produce power plant components to our local customers.

We believe that our current offices and manufacturing facilities will be adequate for our operations as currently conducted.

Each of our power plants is located on property leased or owned by us or one of our subsidiaries or is a property that is subject to a concession agreement.

Information and descriptions of our plants and properties are included in Item 1 — “Business”, of this Annual Report.

ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

The information required with respect to this item can be found under “Commitments and Contingencies” in Note 21 of the consolidated financial statements contained in Item 8 of this Annual Report and is incorporated by reference herein.

ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

Not applicable.

PART II

ITEM 5.  MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

Market for Our Common Stock

Our common stock has traded on the NYSE under the symbol “ORA” since November 11, 2004. Prior to November 11, 2004, there was no public market for our common stock. Effective on February 10, 2015, our common stock also began trading on the TASE under the same symbol.

Record Holders

As of February 23, 2022, there were 15 record holders of our common stock, including Cede & Co., the nominee of the Depository Trust Company. The number of record holders may not be representative of the number of beneficial owners of our common stock, whose shares are held in street name by banks, brokers and other nominees.

Dividend Policy

We have adopted a dividend policy pursuant to which we currently expect to distribute at least 20% of our annual profits available for distribution by way of quarterly dividends. In determining whether there are profits available for distribution, our Board will take into account our business plan and current and expected obligations, and no distribution will be made that in the judgment of our Board would prevent us from meeting such business plan or obligations.

Stock Performance Graph

The following performance graph represents the cumulative total shareholder return for the period December 30, 2016 through December 31, 2021 for our common stock, compared to the Standard and Poor’s Composite 500 Index, S&P Global Clean Energy and PBW - Invesco WilderHill Clean Energy ETF. The chart assumes $100 was invested at the close of market on December 31, 2016 in our common stock and the stocks of the groups of companies shown below, and assumes the reinvestment of any dividends. The stock price performance on the following graph is not necessarily indicative of future stock price performance. On February 23, 2022, the closing price of our common stock as reported on the NYSE was $62.92 per share.

Comparison of Cumulative Returns for the Period December 31, 2016 through December 31, 2021

Equity Compensation Plan Information

For information on our equity compensation plan, refer to Item 12 — “Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters”.

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

None.

Sales of Unregistered Equity Securities

None.

ITEM 6. [RESERVED]

ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS 

You should read the following discussion and analysis of our results of operations, financial condition and liquidity in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes. Some of the information contained in this discussion and analysis or set forth elsewhere in this Annual Report including information with respect to our plans and strategies for our business, statements regarding the industry outlook, our expectations regarding the future performance of our business, and the other non-historical statements contained herein are forward-looking statements. See “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.” You should also review Item 1A — “Risk Factors” for a discussion of important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results described herein or implied by such forward-looking statements.

General

Overview of Fiscal Year 2021 Revenues

Recent Developments

The most significant recent developments for our company and business during 2021 and 2020 to date are described below.

COVID-19 Update

The Company has implemented significant measures and continues to make efforts in order to meet government requirements and preserve the health and safety of its employees. The Company’s preventative measures against COVID-19, including, most recently, the spread of variant strains, including working remotely when needed and adopting separate shifts in its power plants, manufacturing facilities and other locations while working to continue operations at close to full capacity in all locations. Since the end of the second quarter of 2021, the Company has experienced an easing of government restrictions in a number of countries, including Israel, but uncertainty around the impact of COVID-19 continues. With respect to its employees, the Company has not laid-off or furloughed any employees due to COVID-19 and has continued to pay full salaries. We will continue to monitor developments affecting both our workforce and our customers, and we have taken, and will continue to take, health and safety measures that we determine are necessary in order to mitigate the impacts. To date, as a result of these business continuity measures, the Company has not experienced material disruptions in our operations due to COVID-19, but has nevertheless experienced the following impacts on our segment operations: