Global Geothermal Energy Complete Industry Report Ed 1, 2011
NRG Expert’s Geothermal Report contains a global assessment of Geothermal energy developments and deployments. 2010 appeared to be a weak year for geothermal with few projects commissioned and only in existing markets. However, this is not indicative of the state of the sector as a whole. As more money was invested in geothermal last year than the previous year. Several projects are now in the advanced stages of development, e.g. in the US alone there is 722 MW of project in phase 3 and 4, and support for the sector is strong. Specifically, Japan and Indonesia are relaxing rules on developing geothermal projects on protected land, which should open up more sites for development. Over the next five years high growth markets for the sector are expected to continue to be the top six main markets, Kenya, Iceland, Mexico and South America. For the latter, developers have already been awarded concessions to explore new sites in Argentina, Colombia, Chile and Peru. In the middle of 2010 the Chilean government announced plans to invest up to USD 200 million in geothermal projects and will grant over 170 geothermal concessions over the next two years, which should result in the country installing its first generation plant in the mid-term. Kenya and Mexico and the other six major markets are likely to commission projects in the advanced stages of development.
