Southeast Asia: Geothermal Energy is Major Player in Region

Renewable Energy Market Analysis: Southeast Asia (IRENA)

Geothermal Energy Highlights:

Geothermal capacity has been deployed since the 1970s; over 2.5 GW was installed in 2000, increasing to 3.4 GW in 2016. The Philippines, the world’s second-largest producer of geothermal electricity after the United States, leads the region with nearly 2 GW deployed in 2016. Capacity in the Philippines remained largely stable between 2000 and 2016, with much of the regional growth coming from Indonesia, where capacity rose from 525 MW to 1,534 MW in the same time frame. Recently, Malaysia has also forayed into geothermal energy: its first plant is scheduled to be operational by May 2019.

Overall, geothermal is the only technology that has seen a slight increase in weighted average investment costs, from USD 2,937/kW in 2014 to USD 3,185/kW in 2016. Geothermal costs are highly dependent on the quality and quantity of the resource (and associated economies of scale) and the technological options chosen to develop a site. The observed increase in investment costs of 8% is most likely because of the quality of sites being developed in 2014 and 2016.

The weighted average LCOE of geothermal projects increased slightly from USD 0.06/kWh in 2014 to USD 0.064/kWh in 2016, a 7% increase in LCOE mirroring almost one to one the observed increase in investment costs during
the period.

Weighted average geothermal capacity factors declined slightly from 86% in 2014 to 84% in 2016, most likely in line with the development of more challenging projects in the region.

Read More........