Sierra Geothermal Power Announces Director Appointment

  Sierra Geothermal Power Corp. (TSX VENTURE: SRA) announced today the appointment of Mr. Bryan Bertacchi, MBA, P.Eng, to its Board of Directors. Mr. Bertacchi replaces director Mr. Joel Ronne who voluntarily resigned from the Board on December 13, 2009. Mr. Ronne will continue to act as Sierra's Chief Operating Officer.

Mr. Bertacchi has more than 25 years of experience in the power sector, including 10 years in the geothermal industry with Calpine Power Company. Mr. Bertacchi was Area Executive and Vice President for the Calpine Western Region and was Chief Operating Officer of Calpine Power Income Fund, at the time a Calgary-based, Toronto Stock Exchange-listed trust. Mr. Bertacchi has extensive experience in geothermal project development, geothermal plant operations and maintenance, working with elected officials, Original Equipment Manufacturers, engineering firms, Equipment Procurement Construct contractors, lenders and rating agencies and extensive experience within the California Market.

"Mr. Bertacchi is an excellent addition to our Board of Directors. His geothermal and technical background nicely complements the broad capabilities of our existing directors. Mr. Bertacchi experience will be extremely valuable as we move closer to becoming an independent power producer by 2012," said Gary R. Thompson, President and CEO of Sierra Geothermal Power. "On behalf of the board, I want to personally thank Mr. Ronne for his years of service as a director of SGP and look forward to his continued contributions in his role as COO."

Since 2008, Mr. Bertacchi has been the CEO of Danville, California-based Radback Energy Inc., a project development company specializing in conventional and renewable resources. Radback Energy was contracted by Pacific Gas and Electric Company of San Francisco to permit its new Humboldt Bay 163 MW power plant which is now under construction in California. Radback also has a contract with Pacific Gas and Electric Company to develop and construct a new 600 MW power plant in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Prior to his role as CEO of Radback Energy Inc., from 2005 to 2007 Mr. Bertacchi was employed directly by Pacific Gas and Electric Company and by Northern California Power Agency. His service as a Vice-President of California-based Calpine Power Company was from 1999 to 2005. In addition, from 2001 to 2005 he was concurrently the COO of Calgary-based Calpine Power Income Fund.

Mr. Bertacchi is a registered Professional Engineer (Mechanical) in the state of California. He completed his undergraduate studies in Electrical Engineering from California Polytechinic State University and graduated with a Master of Business Administration from Saint Mary's University in 2005.

Mr. Bertacchi's appointment is subject to approval by the TSX Venture Exchange.

About Sierra Geothermal Power Corp.

Sierra Geothermal Power Corp. is a renewable energy company focused on the exploration and development of clean, sustainable geothermal power. The Company is based in Vancouver, British Columbia and listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol SRA. Its portfolio of geothermal projects located in Nevada and California exceeds 365 square kilometres or 90,000 acres and has a combined total estimated capacity of greater than 500 MW. SGP intends to finance development by utilizing a combination of corporate equity, joint venture partnerships and project debt, with the support of US government grants and loan guarantees. To find out more about Sierra Geothermal Power Corp. (TSX VENTURE: SRA) visit our website at www.sierrageopower.com.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Gary Thompson, P.Geo, President, Chief Executive Officer and Director

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are projections of events, revenues, income, future economic performance or management's plans and objectives for future operations. In some cases you can identify forward-looking statements by the use of terminology such as "may", "should", "anticipates", "believes", "expects", "intends", "forecasts", "plans", "future", "strategy", or words of similar meaning. Forward looking statements in this news release include statements about the company's belief that Mr. Bertacchi's extensive experience will aid us in achieving our goal of becoming a power producer by 2012, and the company's intent to finance the development of its portfolio of projects through a combination of equity and/or joint ventures. These statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including the risks inherent in our industry, the poor capital markets and other risks identified by us in our periodic filings on SEDAR (which can be viewed at www.sedar.com). Any of these risks could cause our or our industry's actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.

While these forward-looking statements and any assumptions upon which they are based are made in good faith and reflect our current judgment regarding the direction of its business, actual results will almost always vary, sometimes materially, from any estimates, predictions, projections, assumptions or other future performance suggested in this press release. Except as required by applicable law, including the securities laws of Canada, we do not intend to update any of the forward-looking statements to conform these statements to actual results.

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Contacts: Sierra Geothermal Power Corp. Gary Thompson President & CEO [phone] or 1-800-563-5631 [e-mail] Sierra Geothermal Power Corp. Anthony Srdanovic Investor Relations [phone] [e-mail] www.sierrageopower.com