"Mainly for this reasons, geothermal contributed 1% of the world's electricity last year. Some 20 countries are currently producing from it to some extent. Only two countries, Iceland and the Philippines, have greater than 15% reliance.

"In other words, geothermal energy will never take over the world. But it's already a profitable business for its leaders. Only a fraction of the globe's opportunities have yet been tapped in.

"And developers enjoy enormous tax advantages, including here in the US, where the Obama administration has enacted favorable new rules.

"The largest geothermal field in the world is The Geysers, in California. Similarly, much of the world's other promising areas of development are also on the Pacific Rim, where volcanic activity is historically reliable.

"Ormat currently owns and operates a dozen geothermal power stations worldwide with roughly 600 megawatts of capacity and has another eight in various stages of development.

"Seven of the operating projects and seven of those under development are located in the US, mostly in California and adjacent Nevada.

"The remainder is mostly elsewhere on the Pacific Rim, including Guatemala, Indonesia, New Zealand and Nicaragua, with the only exception Olkaria III in Kenya.

"The company has built plants with another 600 megawatts of capacity for utilities and other developers. And it has a sizeable presence in the recoverable energy field, basically capturing waste heat and converting to electricity.

"Waste heat is a common byproduct from industrial processes, and the converted electricity can generally be used on site without any additional fuel consumption and zero emissions, though it can also potentially be sold back to the overall grid.

"Unlike many players in its industry, Ormat is no fledgling, having survived and thrived for more than four decades. Neither is it a minnow in the global marketplace with a market capitalization of roughly $1.26 billion and annual revenue of $252 million.

"Finally, despite an asset-heavy focus, long-term debt is only 42% of equity, with no major maturities due in the next five years.

"And the company has $222.5 million in unused bank credit. That adds up to considerable financial power and the ability to keep its balance during the current recession.

"Management's outlook for 2009 looks for growth of between 11% and 15% in revenue from owned projects. Reflecting the general meltdown in renewable energy stocks, Ormat's shares currently sell for less than half their late 2007 high and just 1.42 times book value.

"The shares sell for 24 times the low-ball Wall Street earnings estimate for 2008 but barely 10 times the high estimate for next year.

"That's actually quite cheap for a company that grew earnings per share by 60% in 2008 and for which even the lowest projection for five-year annual earnings growth is 30%."

Steven Halpern's TheStockAdvisors.com offers a free daily overview of the favorite stock picks and investment ideas from the nation's leading financial newsletter advisors.