Hawaii’s Kilauea Volcano Threatens Crucial Israeli-Owned Power Plant
(JTA) — Lava from the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii is threatening a geothermal power plant owned by an Israeli company.
The Puna power plant supplies 25 percent of the island’s electricity, the daily business website Calcalist reported.
Eruptions from the volcano began on May 3.
On Wednesday, molten lava from the volcano had reached within 200 meters of one of Puna’s 11 geothermal energy well pads, and burned down a disused building, Haaretz reported.
Ormat Technologies, which owns a 63 percent stake in the plant, announced it had taken several precautionary measures to protect the plant, including shutting down the geothermal wells, and that it so far has escaped serious physical damage.
The company was founded in Israel in 1965 and is headquartered in Reno, Nevada. Ormat operates other geothermal power plants in the U.S., Kenya, Guadalupe, Guatemala and Honduras. It is listed on both the New York Stock Exchange and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.
Puna carries a $100 million insurance policy against volcano and earthquake damage, according to Haaretz.
Contact Haley Cohen at [email protected]
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30