The growing demand for electricity for data centers to develop AI has created an engine of growth for Israeli geothermal energy company Ormat Technologies Inc. (NYSE: ORA; TASE: ORA). The company has reported its first contract in the field, which will come into effect in 2030. Ormat’s share price is currently up 5.77% on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE).
Ormat has signed of a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) to sell Switch, which provides AI, cloud and enterprise data centers, to provide, 13 MW of clean, renewable energy from its Salt Wells geothermal power plant in Nevada. Ormat has the option to further expand the facility’s output to Switch by adding an approximately 7 MW Solar PV facility.
Ormat is a renewable energy company, operating mainly in the geothermal sector, through two sectors: the electricity sector, in which it builds, owns and operates power plants, and the products sector, in which it builds power plants for others, while at the same time operating in the field of energy storage.
Ormat CEO Doron Blachar tells "Globes," "Switch is a large company in the data centers sector. It was looking for renewable energy, and what's special is that it wanted certainty, so it looked at existing plants that are ending contracts and there is complete certainty that the plant is working. The contract is the first and also constitutes a platform for future stations."
Over the entire period the contract is worth an estimated more than $200 million and is only the first in the field. Ormat identifies the potential for an agreement of more than 100 additional megawatts in similar frameworks, referring to Ormat's active stations that are currently operating and will end their contracts in the coming years.
Blachar adds, "From Ormat's perspective, the size of the data center market that is being built is enormous. The increase in demand for electricity in the US is very high, and from our perspective the market is almost infinite. Any electricity that I know how to produce, I can sell. If we hadn't signed with Switch, we would have signed with another company in the field. The fact that data centers are signing a contract today for another four years indicates their demand for energy, and the fear that they won't have enough."
The stock has risen 80% over the past year
One of the most talked-about sources of electricity for data centers is nuclear energy, and the US government is pushing hard to build such reactors. However, this is a process that requires approvals from various authorities and takes a long time, and in any case, it is likely that the electricity will come from other types of energy, such as Ormat's geothermal sources.
According to Ormat's guidance, it will end 2025 with revenue of $960-980 million and EBITDA of $575-593 million, results that reflect growth of 9.1%-11.4% in revenues and 4.5%-7.7% in EBITDA compared with 2024.
Ormat is dual-listed on the NYSE and TASE, with a market cap of $7.2 billion, after an 80% increase in its share price over the past year. According to "The Wall Street Journal," 11 analysts are covering the stock, of whom eight are positive and three are neutral. The average price target is $123, a modest 3.3% premium to the current market price.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on January 13, 2026.
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