RE: RPG valautionEnel's got the wonderful Italian geothermal plants near Larderello, which show us that geothermal properties will be able to produce for 100 years or more. But don't overrate their geothermal activity in the US. Enel has put one 50 MW geothermal plant at Salt Wells into operation. The Geothermal Energy Association Report about US geo development, released this month, lists minimal planned activity for Enel in the near future. Enel has 4 projects in the "unconfirmed" category, the earliest stage of development (for comparison, Ram's planned venture with Imperial Irrigation District is also listed in the "unconfirmed" category).
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Ram, in comparison, has numerous properties (20 or so), in the Phase 1, 2 and 3 categories of the GEA. Their pipeline in North America is better, larger and more advanced than any other company, large or small--that includes Magma, Ormat and Calpine and anybody else you can name.
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Why should Ram be valued more aggressively than Enel? 1) It's a pure play geothermal company--geo has the best economics. The solar and wind portions of Enel's portfolio depend on massive government subsidies, which could be revoked at any time. And even with subsidies the solar and wind profit margins are weak. 2) Ram, because of its size and portfolio, can grow faster than Enel. In the next 5 years I expect much faster growth than Enel's 15% per year. Look at the MW we're going to add: 36 MW in 2011 (SJT 1), 36 MW in 2012 (SJT 2), 76 MW in 2013 (Geysers and Orita 1), 82 MW in 2014 (Orita 2 and Clayton Valley 1). Ram can add 75% growth in MW (and consequently EBITDA) per year.