Orix will take a 22.1% stake as early as July in Nevada-based Ormat Technologies, which designs, builds and sells geothermal power plants and equipment. The New York-listed company also operates plants in the U.S., Central America and Africa. The company reported revenue of $662.6 million last year, an 11% increase. It is the world's top maker of binary geothermal equipment, which can generate power even at lower temperatures.

This will mark Orix's first investment in a geothermal company. The group already operates a geothermal plant via the Suginoi Hotel in Japan's Oita Prefecture, which it acquired in 2002. It has partnered with Japanese municipalities in the field as well. The company anticipates growing demand for geothermal power as a form of renewable energy that does not depend on weather.

Orix has been expanding its renewable-energy operations through investments in other enterprises. It bought into an Indian wind power project in March 2016 and a Vietnamese hydroelectric company that September.

(Nikkei)