The current challenges of the industry in the U.S. and hope for 2012
Blue Mountain Faulkner-1, geothermal power plant, Nevada (source: Nevada Geothermal Power)
Alexander Richter
21 Jul 2011
In a recent interview with the New York Times, John McIlveen of Jacob Securities talks about the current challenges of the industry in the U.S., referring among others to poor execution in some projects, but believes in a turnaround next year.
In an article last week, the New York Times (via Greenwire) took a closer look at the current state of the geothermal energy industry in the U.S.
Following a series of news and companies seeing a drop in stock prices, the article looks in particular into the reasons some of those companies facing challenges at the moment. (to read the full article click here)
John McIlveen, a research director with Jacob Securities in Toronto, is being interviewed and said “that general market conditions have had an outsize impact on the geothermal industry, a capital-intensive field in which getting a new project off the ground can take five years and drilling each well can cost between $3 million and $10 million, depending on local conditions and other factors.
But poor execution on individual projects has been a big factor, too, he added.”
He then goes on to talk about the lack of expertise, which clearly has been a concern in the industry where most of its experts are reaching retirement age and not much young blood is ready to fill the potential void, particularly if the industry picks up development.
So while the drilling rig count doesn´t promise good news with lots of MW coming online in the coming 1-2 years, there is hope and John McIlveen sees “potential for an industry turnaround next year, as the major companies score some successes in digging themselves out of the present hole.
With a rough year under their belt, he predicted, “I think we’ll see some good news in 2012.”
Source: New York Times
