Note 10 - Long-term Debt and Credit Agreements (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2014

Disclosure Text Block [Abstract]

Schedule of Long-term Debt Instruments [Table Text Block]

	December 31,
	2014			2013
	(Dollars in thousands)
Limited and non-recourse agreements:
Loans:
Non-recourse:
Loan agreement with TCW (the Amatitlan power plant)	$	-		$	31,509
Limited recourse:
Loan agreement with OPIC (the Olkaria III power plant)		282,620			299,946
Senior Secured Notes:
Non-recourse:
Ormat Funding Corp. ("OFC")		67,206			90,840
OrCal Geothermal Inc. ("OrCal")		55,050			66,156
Limited recourse:
OFC 2 LLC ("OFC 2")		272,477			144,450
		677,353			632,901
Less current portion		(52,363	)		(51,514	)
Non current portion	$	624,990		$	581,387
Full recourse agreements:
Senior unsecured bonds	$	250,289		$	250,596
Loans from institutional investors		21,887			32,868
Loan agreement with DEG (the Olkaria III power plant)		31,580			39,474
Loan from a commercial bank		-			10,000
Revolving credit lines with banks		20,300			112,017
		324,056			444,955
Less current portion		(39,416	)		(28,875	)
Non current portion	$	284,640		$	416,080

Schedule of Maturities of Long-term Debt [Table Text Block]

	(Dollars in thousands)
Year ending December 31:
2015	$	91,779
2016		69,060
2017		316,017
2018		59,186
2019		50,889
Thereafter		414,479
Total	$	1,001,410