Geothermal market continues to expand

20 September 2013


The global geothermal market is steadily expanding with over 11 GW of projects under development in 70 countries, according to the Geothermal Energy Association (GEA).

In its latest report on the state of the market, GEA indicates that there are "strong growth signals" in the geothermal industry and that global installed capacity will reach 12 GW by the end of the year.

According to the GEA, developing countries, including Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda, are increasingly turning to geothermal energy in order to meet growing energy demand, while advanced technologies such as enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) are opening up new markets.

Additionally, developers are actively engaged with and exploring 27 GW of geothermal resource globally that could potentially develop into power plants over the next decade.

"The number of geothermal projects continues to grow as more and more countries recognize the potential economic and environmental benefits that geothermal power can bring," commented Karl Gawell, Executive Director of GEA.

"There are so many projects moving forward that just a year or two ago were ideas on paper. This demonstrates how quickly the geothermal industry is growing internationally," noted Ben Matek, the report's author.

Kenya is emerging as the fastest-growing geothermal market in the world, and like other countries in east and central Africa, is turning to geothermal energy in order to reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels. The country has approximately 1000 MW of new capacity under development, of which 296 MW is under construction.

Other key markets include Japan, where the government is attempting to remove barriers to geothermal energy development following the nuclear disaster a Fukushima.

In Costa Rica, the government is also removing barriers to development of geothermal resources in national parks.

Meanwhile in Indonesia, the world's largest geothermal energy market, regulatory barriers are still proving a problem to project development, says GEA. Indonesia has almost 4100 MW of capacity in the development pipeline, and 860 MW under construction.

 

 



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