Ormat Technologies (NYSE: ORA) is the largest pure-play geothermal energy company in the world. It builds plants that use hot underground water to spin turbines and generate electricity. This method of power generation is environmentally clean and able to produce 24/7, making it an ideal source of "base-load" energy. Ormat's geothermal facilities release very few greenhouse gases, and conserve underground resources by reinjecting used water back into the Earth to be reheated and used again.

Currently, the commercial viability of geothermal energy is dependent on renewable energy government legislation that subsidizes the costs of constructing geothermal plants, since startup costs for geothermal average $2500 per kilowatt installed^[1] - around $1000 more per kilowatt installed than a regular gas turbine steam plant^[2]. Constructing plants is the most expensive part of geothermal energy, as plants must drill deep into the earth to access hot water. As geothermal energy companies often use the same drilling technology that oil companies use to prospect for oil, it can be expensive for them to procure the necessary equipment when oil prices are high and drill rigs are occupied drilling for oil.

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