USA:

NREL Releases New Finance Report on Geothermal (NREL)

Geothermal Brief: Market and Policy Impacts Update (PDF), details the effects of federal support on geothermal project economics and technology deployment in the United States.

Timeline of federal geothermal
financial incentives (Source: NREL)

Using National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)'s Cost of Renewable Energy Spreadsheet Tool (CREST), analyst Bethany Speer analyzes how currently and recently available tax incentives (including the production tax credit, investment tax credit, 1603 Treasury grant, and accelerated depreciation schedules) affect geothermal power's levelized cost of energy.

The report also offers a qualitative assessment of the most recent U.S. loan guarantee program (Section 1705) and explores possible reasons why it was not more utilized by geothermal developers (e.g., high transaction costs and insufficient interest from commercial lenders).

The report concludes with a comparative analysis of the 1705 and the two previous loan guarantee programs offered to geothermal projects in the United States.

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