Offshore Investment Leverages NZ Geothermal Power

Offshore Investment Leverages NZ Geothermal Capabilities

Mighty River Power has further advanced its offshore geothermal development programme with the announcement that its international partner, GeoGlobal Energy (GGE) LLC, has acquired an interest in a US geothermal energy development company, EnergySource LLC.

EnergySource is building a 49.9MW geothermal power station in the United States. The station, known as Hudson Ranch Power I, is to be located in the Salton Sea area of the Imperial Valley in southern California. The Salton Sea is one of the largest and hottest geothermal resources in the United States.

GGE’s investment of up to $US107 million provides most of the equity for the Hudson Ranch I project, and secures a 20 per cent shareholding in the parent company EnergySource, which holds other geothermal lease properties in the Imperial Valley.

President of GGE Michael Van Vleck said that Mighty River Power’s New Zealand geothermal experience, along with the development experience of the GGE team, was instrumental in forging the partnership with EnergySource.

“The Hudson Ranch Power I project will be using technology almost identical to that used at New Zealand’s Kawerau and Nga Awa Purua geothermal power stations,” said Mr Van Vleck.

“Mighty River Power is the only company in the world to have built geothermal power stations within the past five years that use this particular technology, and the success of the Nga Awa Purua and Kawerau projects was an important factor in EnergySource selecting GGE as an investor in the Hudson Ranch Power I Project.“

Mighty River Power Chief Executive Doug Heffernan said that the partnership was a great opportunity to take the skills and experience that Mighty River Power had developed over the past five years on to the world stage.

“This underscores our strategy of leveraging the company’s – and New Zealand’s –competencies in geothermal energy through our international geothermal energy development programme. Mighty River Power is one of the world’s 10 largest geothermal operators and has relatively rare and highly sought after competencies in a niche sector of the global power industry.”

To support this strategy, the Company recently increased its commitment to the GGE Fund to $US250 million reflecting the success of the GGE business strategy in Chile and the United States. Individual investments proposed by GGE, such as EnergySource, require specific approval. Media Release 180510 2

Mighty River Power is at this stage the sole and cornerstone capital investor in the GGE Fund and has a 25 per cent shareholding in GGE, the management company of the Fund.

Mr Heffernan says the company’s investment in geothermal projects via the GGE Fund is an attractive value adding growth opportunity that does not inhibit Mighty River Power’s ability to maintain and grow its domestic geothermal programme.

Last week Mighty River Power and the Tauhara North No.2 Trust officially opened their 140MW Nga Awa Purua Geothermal Power Station, just north of Taupo. In the same week the two partners also announced resource consents had been granted for the 110MW Ngatamariki Geothermal Power Station which is expected to be in operation by winter 2013. Completion of this latest project will mean a total investment of close to $1.5 billion in domestic geothermal developments since 2008 by Mighty River Power.

ENDS

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