Following the deal, Ormat has received the first payment of $15m, while the remaining amount is expected to be paid during the second quarter of 2014 after all the conditions are satisfied.
The deal also includes a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Imperial Irrigation District (IID) for supply of 10MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) energy by the project.
Ormat chief executive officer Dita Bronicki said the development of the Heber Solar project was to benefit from the synergies between the company’s existing geothermal assets and solar development, to apply its development and experience as engineering, procurement and construction contractor in utility scale solar plants and to develop profitable projects.
"The development up to this point and the transaction that we have just concluded with RET Holdings allowed us to accomplish all three goals," Bronicki added.
"We plan to continue monitoring the solar market and pursue opportunities for developing PV plants in locations where we can offer competitively priced power generation."
RET chief executive officer and chairman John Bohn said, "RET is pleased to acquire this high-quality asset and looks forward to growing its business with new and existing asset partners."
