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Successful 2nd edition of IGC Invest Geothermal Finance & Investment Forum

Successful 2nd edition of IGC Invest Geothermal Finance & Investment Forum IGC Invest Geothermal Forum 2019, Frankfurt (source: IGC.events)
Alexander Richter 1 Apr 2019

The 2nd edition of IGC Invest Geothermal - the Geothermal Finance & Investment Forum - was successfully held in Frankfurt/ Germany bringing together the finance world, developers, suppliers and consultants.

Under the IGC.events cooperation, ThinkGeoEnergy and Enerchange successfully held the 2nd edition of the IGC Invest Geothermal – Finance & Investment Forum in Frankfurt, Germany last week.

Drawing an international audience from around the world it brought together a wide variety of investors, banks, developers, technology suppliers, consultants and other market participants.

This year the event was split into four different key sessions, discussing approaches and challenges of investments into the early stages of geothermal development, structure of geothermal finance & program support, development approaches to improve project & financial success, as well as projects beyond electricity in efforts to diversify investments.

The audience learned from two investment funds on how they approach the market and their investments into the sector, while the developers Zorlu Enerji and Pertamina Geothermal Energy provided their view of financing project developments in Turkey and Indonesia.

The different approaches to de-risking and fostering geothermal project development were described by representatives of development banks KfW and the Inter-American Development Bank that are active in Latin America and the Caribbean , while the audience further learned about the approach chosen by Mexico in the previous administration, as well as the work in geothermal by U.S.-based OPIC.

The lunch break saw fruitful one-on-one discussions of different groups and companies discussing a variety of ideas and business opportunities.

The afternoon started off with a session looking at different innovative approaches to development both in funding, the use of smaller-scale power plant technology, an approach to speed up development with slim-hole development, as well a new technology approach to utilise geothermal energy.

The second session in the afternoon looked at how investments and the business of geothermal could diversify beyond electricity. The audience learned about financing greenhouse operations, the extraction of Lithium from geothermal brine, the diversified approach to a wider geothermal portfolio by Storengy, and the rather interesting geothermal park development by Oserian Development Company in Kenya.

The conference day was closed by a round up discussions that summarized key elements of the day and ended in – in my experience – the likely most interactive discussion involving the audience that I have ever experienced at a conference.

We ended the conference day in a social setting enjoying local cuisine in Frankfurt continuing lively discussions late into the evening.

A fantastic event that provided again a great platform for discussions and the exchange on topics related to geothermal financing and how we can attract more investments into the earlier stages of development.

We thank our sponsors and partners, Watson Farley & Williams, Storengy, Rödl & Partner, and the European Geothermal Energy Council (EGEC).

Details about next year’s event are to follow shortly.