The Desert Peak geothermal field is located in the northern part of the Hot Springs Mountains about 6.4 km southeast of Brady's Hot Springs, near Fernley, Nevada. It is named for a prominent peak 3-5 km to the northwest of the geothermal area. There are no surface thermal indications at the area other than a few small occurrences of opal-cemented sand and travertine from inactive springs.

Three geothermal wells were drilled in the mid 1970s to depths of 1,372 m. Two of these produced a mixture of steam and water from fractured volcanic rock. Following additional exploration drilling in the early 1980s, the Western States Geothermal Company brought the Desert Peak double flash power plant on line in 1985, producing 9.9 MW from a 205C resource. The two production wells are located east-northeast of the power plant.

In July 2001, ORMAT Nevada, Inc. purchased the plant, which produces from two wells with an average depth of 3,683 feet and temperature of 312F. In 2004, the plant had a gross output of 62,345 MWh and a net production of 52,125 MWh. ORMAT Nevada, Inc. began evaluation of an area to the east of the present plant and production wells to determine feasibility of creating an artificial geothermal reservoir development as an Enhanced Geothermal System. In 2005, ORMAT Nevada, Inc. constructed a new binary power plant adjacent to the existing 9.9 MW dual flash geothermal power plant at Desert Peak. The new project, Desert Peak 2, consists of two binary power plants of 15 and 11 MWe. Power generated from this project will be sold to Nevada Power Company.