Mobilizing Risk Capital to Unlock the Global Potential of Geothermal Power
Geothermal heat is increasingly being used around the world to produce electricity in an environmentally friendly way. Current technology could potentially produce more than 70 GW of power, but only about 15 percent of that capacity is currently de...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Brief |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2017
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/227681488436151787/Mobilizing-risk-capital-to-unlock-the-global-potential-of-geothermal-power http://hdl.handle.net/10986/26190 |
| Summary: | Geothermal heat is increasingly being
used around the world to produce electricity in an
environmentally friendly way. Current technology could
potentially produce more than 70 GW of power, but only about
15 percent of that capacity is currently developed and
operating. Most of the high-temperature geothermal resources
that are suitable for power generation are located in areas
along the global Ring of Fire, a string of volcanoes and
seismic areas that stretches 25,000 miles across the globe.
It extends from the Indonesian archipelago through New
Zealand, the Philippines, and Japan; along the western coast
of the Americas and the Caribbean; and through the Rift
Valley in Africa, stretching toward Europe. Geothermal power
can be very reliable. Because it is non-intermittent and has
relatively low operational costs, it is an ideal option for
generating base load power. Geothermal power can also serve
as a hedge against the volatility of commodity prices,
stabilizing systems costs and improving generation mixes.
Geothermal produces a small fraction of the carbon dioxide
produced by burning fossil fuels. When developed in line
with industry standards, it can also provide significant
local environmental benefits by offsetting generation
options such as coal or diesel, which produce more pollution. |
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