Geothermal technology offers renewable energy that comes from under the earth. The energy is baseload, dispatchable, and 100-percent renewable. The industry is making slow-but-steady progress in various regions of the world. As attendees head to the Geothermal Energy Expo and Geothermal Resources Council Annual Meeting in this week, we ask our readers this issue’s Big Question.
Ian Crawford
Director of Communications, Geothermal Resources Council
In organizing the biggest annual event in the industry (the GRC Annual Meeting & the GEA Geothermal Energy Expo), the Geothermal Resources Council (GRC) gets an insight into current trends. From these, we can see that the biggest opportunities remain in Indonesia and The Philippines in Asia and in Kenya and Ethiopia in Africa.
However, the recent news that the Japanese government will allow drilling for geothermal resources in parts of national parks bodes well for the industry there. Also, new legislation in Mexico will potentially be a boon for geothermal energy.
I hope legislation will be passed to restore the Salton Sea in Southern California. This would involve the development of more than a GW of geothermal energy, providing a much-needed push for the industry in the United States.
In addition, the research into Enhanced Geothermal Resources (EGS) here in the United States, in particular at the Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy (FORGE) program, might provide the breakthrough for the industry that will make geothermal energy available anywhere in the world.