Ormat Technologies Inc., which specializes in designing and developing geothermal and recovered energy-based power plants announced Thursday that it has been awarded two major contracts with energy providers in the United States. The Israel-based company inked a $21.4 million engineering, procurement and construction contract with Nevada-based Thermo No. 1, a subsidiary of US energy giant Cyrq Energy Inc., to increase the efficiency of latter's existing geothermal project in Utah, a company statement said. The project is expected to be completed by mid 2013. Related stories: EU Study: Clean energy is cost effective Facebook, Greenpeace reach energy truce "We are very happy to continue the cooperation with Cyrq Energy… The project will incorporate Ormat’s low operating cost design features which have been developed for small or remote installation and are successfully operating in our recent installations and will benefit this project greatly," the company said. David Kay of Cyrq Energy added: "We are pleased to continue the strategic partnership with Ormat on this project. The construction of Thermo1 will prove commercial viability of this resource and is the first step in our development of several additional plants in the Thermo area." Last week Ormat announced that its US-based subsidiary Ormat Technologies will develop its very first 10-megawatt solar photovoltaic farm near one of its geothermal plants in California, following the signing of a 20-year power purchase agreement with the local community-owned utility Imperial Irrigation District. "While Ormat’s roots in solar energy go back more than 40 years, we have recently reinitiated our development efforts in solar projects as a way to expand our renewable energy portfolio," Ormat Technologies COO Yoram Bronicki said. "Developing projects in a cost-effective way and with an acceptable tariff, without the strong dependence on tax incentives, is vital for us to further expand our solar activity in a meaningful way." Follow Ynetnews on Facebook, Twitter and Google+