Leading national geothermal trade and business associations have come together to establish the International Geothermal Business Coalition to accelerate development and harmonize efforts worldwide.
The Coalition is founded by the European Geothermal Energy Council, the US Geothermal Energy Association, the Canadian Geothermal Energy Association, the Australian Geothermal Energy Association, and the Chilean Geothermal Energy Association.
"Supporting a range of government policies that can provide support for the development of geothermal resources is our priority," says Philippe Dumas of the European Geothermal Energy Council. "We will call upon each country to assess the potential of geothermal and develop effective long-term incentives and policy supports for this growing renewable industry."
Geothermal power currently supplies the world with 10,715 MW of electricity in 24 countries on six continents.
This renewable energy could potentiallly supply over 300,000 MW of baseload energy.
"Geothermal energy can provide competitively priced, renewable, round-the-clock energy to the markets our organizations represent and beyond that. At the same time geothermal energy can be a part of the solution to growing concerns about securing sustainable, cost-effective energy sources," says Alexander Richter, Director of the Canadian Geothermal Energy Association.
Still, this industry has been lagging other renewable energies like solar and wind, and has received less attention in government policies. The Coalition will work to ensure that geothermal resources are not ignored in national and international energy plans.
"Given its unique and wide ranging benefits including its baseload capability, relative low cost to other generation technologies and that it doesn’t produce waste materials that need to be dealt with by future generations, it is vital that governments provide funding and support to develop their geothermal industries equal to, if not greater than, that provided to other technologies," says Susan Jeanes, Chief Executive of the Australian Geothermal Energy Association.
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