US Geothermal (HTM)

[rechnerhand]

U.S. Geothermal Provides Mid-Year Update

Neal Hot Springs, Oregon

reflecting a 27% increase

San Emidio, Nevada

this was offset by second quarter generation falling short of prior year generation by 13% as a result of an extended outage taken in April.

The extended outage was required to perform a one-time warranty modification to the turbine that added a squeeze film damper, or 5th bearing, to the unit to reduce vibration. Squeeze film dampeners were also previously added successfully to the three units at Neal Hot Springs in 2013.

Raft River, Idaho

reflecting a 7% increase

The total generation from all of our units for the first half of 2014 was 173,272 megawatt-hours, compared to 150,341 megawatt-hours for the first half of 2013, reflecting a 15% increase over the prior year period", said Dennis Gilles

El Ceibillo, Guatemala

As a result, we now believe that the underlying resource plume is much more expansive than was previously thought, and to fully access it for maximum production, additional surface leases were required. We have successfully negotiated a new lease, which increases our surface lease position from 17 acres to 97 acres.

San Emidio, Nevada

As a result of the delays experienced in permitting these additional wells, we have determined that it is not possible to complete the Phase II project within the development time frame required in the existing 19.9 megawatt NV Energy power purchase agreement ("PPA"). If this additional drilling is successful, a new PPA will be obtained.

WGP Geysers, California

We applied for a 12 month extension for the Sonoma County Conditional Use Permit to construct the 26 megawatt power plant, and it was approved on June 12.
An application was also made to the Sonoma County Air Quality Board for a permit to conduct flow tests on the four production wells drilled in 2009. The Air Quality permit was approved on June 19th.

MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS

We have one acquisition where we have agreed to terms and are finalizing documentation, and if completed we would expect to announce later this summer. We have also completed our initial due diligence and have offers pending on a few other opportunities, and are in active due diligence on several other excellent opportunities as well. We are optimistic that several of these will come to fruition. We also continue to evaluate other strategic growth opportunities.

REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT UPDATE

Senate Bill S-2260 would extend the current tax credits available to new geothermal plants for an additional 2 years. Under the proposed bill, plants that begin construction by December 31, 2015 would be eligible for a 30% Investment Tax Credit ("ITC"), or alternatively a 10 year Production Tax Credit ("PTC").
Senate Bill SB-1139 has been introduced to legislate that 500 MW of the replacement must come from new geothermal development.
Similarly in Nevada, SB-123 was approved and signed into law, requiring the closure of ~1200MW of coal plants, and required that the energy be replaced with at least 600 MW from renewable energy facilities. NV Energy is planning to issue three 100 MW RFP's beginning in late 2014.

"Natural gas prices in the United States are seeing a recovery from their recent lows. These rising gas prices are expected to create additional demand for renewable energy within the western United States, particularly for non-intermittent resources, such as predictable and dependable, base load, geothermal power. With a strong potential for improving regulatory support for geothermal energy, we are very optimistic that we will see an increase in demand, and with the anticipated approval of the Federal incentives, that we will correspondingly be able to offer new geothermal resources at competitive and attractive prices", said Dennis Gilles, Chief Executive Officer of U.S. Geothermal Inc.. "The expansion of our generation pool and development pipeline, should position us well for this anticipated opportunity."

Ohhhh yeahhhhh!!!!

http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/us-geothermal-provides-mid-year-update-tsx-gth-1929239.htm