U.S. EIA projects slow growth for geothermal in U.S. despite competitiveness
Soda Lake geothermal plant by Cyrq Energy, Nevada (source: Cyrq Energy)
Alexander Richter
9 Jan 2017
Geothermal energy continues to be a competitive source of electricity in the U.S. while mostly limited to certain states, so a new report by the U.S. Electricity Information Administration (EIA) that also projects only slow growth for geothermal development.
Last week the U.S. Electricity Information Administration, published its Annual Energy Outlook 2017 report with energy projections to 2050.
EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook provides modelled projections of domestic energy markets through 2050, and includes cases with different assumptions of macroeconomic growth, world oil prices, technological progress, and energy policies. With strong domestic production and relatively flat demand, the United States becomes a net energy exporter over the projection period in most cases.
One thing becomes very clear and that is that geothermal does not play a big role in the projections. It draws though a continued positive picture on the competitiveness of geothermal energy based on a levelized cost of electricity generation (also including tax credits). With regards to projections about the addition of geothermal power generation capacity, geothermal is seen as continuing its growth but that rather slowly. EIA projects only around 800 MW in capacity addition until 2022.
Source: EIA (pdf)
