Ormat and Sunday Solar Partner Up In Sunny $195 Million Deal

More news under the sun: Ormat, the geothermal energy company (NYSE:ORA) founded in Israel has entered into a $195 million deal with Sunday Solar, reports the Cleantech forum. Ormat’s Israeli subsidiary plans on working with Sunday Solar to install $195 million worth of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems in Israel.

It’s Ormat’s first commercial project in the solar energy market, and with Sunday will build and operate solar energy systems with a capacity of 36 megawatts. Sunday will contribute property and roofing rights. In the terms of the deal, Ormat will own 70 percent of each PV system.

Before entering the joint venture, Ormat agreed to jointly install solar systems on a factory in Yavne, Israel. Sunday has plans to provide solar energy power plants around the world.

In other news, despite resistance from Greenpeace activists the Ormat spinoff company Opti Canada (TSE:OPC) as of last week, saw a 12% rise in its stock’s shares, according to Reuters. After worth barely nothing, the price rose after the Long Lake Project in the Alberta oil sands restarted. Good news for shareholders like Michael, who wrote an Op-Ed on Green Prophet to counter what he feels is our unjust criticism of Opti Canada and the tar sands projects.

According to Reuters: “Opti owns a 35 percent stake in the Long Lake oil sands project in northern Alberta. Partner Nexen Inc said on Thursday that it had completed a month-long turnaround at facility and was ramping bitumen production up to the 12,000 to 15,000 barrel a day level that it had produced before the shutdown began.”

Speculators say the jump in the stock may be due to rumors that a Chinese bidder may take over the company.