Big sales a tough act for Ormat to follow

A great first quarter in 2009 came back to bite Reno's Ormat Technologies in the first three months of 2010.

The publicly held geothermal company said last week that its revenues for the quarter fell to $82.7 million from $99.3 million a year earlier. Net income fell to $1.8 million from $14.5 million in the first quarter of last year.

Ormat sells equipment in plants that generate electricity from geothermal and energy that's recovered from industrial operations. It also operates geothermal and recovery-energy systems for its own account, selling the electricity to utility companies.

Sales of equipment were unusually high in the first quarter of 2009, totaling more than $37 million, and margins were strong, said Dita Bronicki, chief executive officer of Ormat.

In the first three months of this year, product sales declined to $16.5 million and margins weakened.

On the other side of the business, Bronicki said sales of electricity from Ormat-owned plants rose 6.5 percent from a year ago and totaled $66.1 million in the first quarter.

She said Ormat added to its portfolio of geothermal properties during the quarter. Among the major acquisitions: A prospect at Hot Sulphur Springs in northeast Nevada that's contracted to produce 40 megawatts of electricity and begin operation in 2012.

The company holds approximately 300,000 acres of geothermal leases for exploration in the United States.