Earnings are up at Sparks-based Ormat Technologies Inc., and the developer of geothermal and recovered-energy systems is setting the stage for more earnings growth.
The company reported last week that it earned $7.9 million on revenues of $60.3 million.
This compares with net of $3.9 million on revenues of $53.9 million a year earlier.
In response to the higher earnings, Ormat's board raised the company's quarterly dividend by a penny, boosting the payout to 4 cents a share.
In nearly the same breath, Ormat said it's struck a deal to build a new geothermal plant at Steamboat, just south of Reno, and sell the production to Sierra Pacific Power Co.
Terms of the 20-year contract weren't disclosed.
Ormat said the plant, which is projected to come on line in 2008, will generate between 15 and 25 megawatts of power.
Ormat also is talking with Sierra Pacific about two other geothermal projects.
In Southern California, meanwhile, Ormat signed a new five-year contract to sell production from geothermal plans in Imperial County.
The contract raises the price paid to Ormat by Southern California Edison to $62.74 a megawatt-hour from the current $53.70 and calls for 1 percent annual rate increases after the contract takes effect a year
from now.
