Ormat Technologies, the world’s largest geothermal operator, is betting its next six decades on Ormat enhanced geothermal systems, a technology that could let it build clean power plants almost anywhere hyperscalers demand them.
Chief executive Doron Blachar told Fortune the company sees ‘endless demand’ from artificial intelligence data centres and is racing to prove the economics of enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) work at commercial scale.
‘We have the hyperscalers and the AI demand,’ Blachar said. ‘The more electricity we can generate, the more we sell.’
Two Nevada pilots to prove Ormat enhanced geothermal systems at scale
Ormat is running two separate EGS pilot projects in Nevada. One is at its Blue Mountain plant, in partnership with geothermal startup Sage Geosystems. The other is at its Desert Peak plant, with SLB, the world’s largest oilfield services company.
According to Utility Dive, the first phase of the SLB pilot at Desert Peak could be operational as early as late 2026, ahead of the broader pilot completion timeline Blachar described. Blachar has said the full pilots could be online by late 2027.
EGS combines traditional geothermal energy with modern oil-drilling and fracking techniques to tap deeper, higher-temperature underground reservoirs. The approach would allow Ormat to build plants far beyond the volcanic hotspots it has relied on for 60 years.
Ormat is also working with Google and data centre developer Switch. Each EGS project with a hyperscaler could reach 500 megawatts, Blachar said, compared with the roughly 100 megawatts of conventional geothermal the company was adding per year.
‘Once they finish, we will start developing EGS projects,’ he said.
Revenue up 43% as company targets 15-17% annual capacity growth
Ormat posted revenues of $662.7 million for the first half of 2026, up 43% year-on-year, on a net profit of $71.2 million, up 4%.
Utility Dive also reports that Ormat expects to grow its energy generation and storage capacity by 15% to 17% annually through 2028, through conventional geothermal and battery storage alone, before any EGS contribution is counted.
The company’s existing power portfolio stands at 1.85 gigawatts worldwide, enough to power 1.4 million US homes. Its 2028 capacity target through traditional means is up to 2.8 gigawatts.
Ormat’s stock has risen almost 20% over the past 12 months, bringing its market capitalisation to around $6.75 billion. That compares with EGS-focused rival Fervo, which went public in May with what was described as the biggest clean energy IPO in US history, reaching a market cap of $10 billion before falling to around $5 billion following a series of setbacks.
Blachar is quick to note Ormat is profitable regardless of whether its EGS pilots succeed.
‘There is no company in the industry that can take advantage of EGS better than Ormat,’ he said. ‘We have been here for 60 years. We are big in power plants. We know how to build them efficiently and how to operate them.’
Ormat this year launched its Ormega100 unit, a standardised power plant design intended to scale economically with EGS. The company has also acquired new acreage in New Mexico, Oregon, and Idaho, and Blachar said he is bullish on Texas.
Outside the United States, Indonesia is Ormat’s largest targeted growth market, though Blachar said permitting processes there are slower and the company is ‘much more cautious’ than in the US.
Blachar joined Ormat in 2013 as chief financial officer and became CEO in 2020. The company was founded in Israel before moving its headquarters to Reno, Nevada.
If the Desert Peak first phase hits its late-2026 target, it would give Ormat its earliest commercial proof point for enhanced geothermal systems before the broader pilot programme concludes.
