Geothermal covered at this year’s Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit
BNEF Summit 2012, program (source: BNEF)
Alexander Richter
14 Mar 2012
Bloomberg New Energy Finance's Summit 2012 at the end of this month will feature geothermal energy. The geothermal panel, focusing on the pacific rim and asset performance, will feature representatives from Toshiba, Origin Tata Power, OPIC and Scientific Drilling.
Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the leading provider of information and research in clean energy and carbon markets, is holding its Annual Summit at the end of this month in New York.
While topics are covering the complete spectrum of the clean energy sector, geothermal finds its way into the agenda once again. This year it will be covered on Day 3 of the Agenda at a “geographic” breakfast meeting.
I wanted to speak to Mark Taylor the geothermal research lead at Bloomberg New Energy Finance a little bit about the event and what will be covered as part of the geothermal element of the event.
Mark, you have been the geothermal lead at BNEF now for a couple of years, what do you think are the key things in mind in the industry right now?
“To me it seems the whole geothermal industry can be summed-up by the old Gershwin tune ‘Nice work if you can get it’. Not everywhere has economically viable geothermal resources, but in places that do they represent considerable opportunities for developers and investors. And for the governments or offtakers involved, rising oil prices, depleting hydro reservoirs and growing electricity demand makes utilising indigenous geothermal resources a welcome prospect. Oftentimes in the places with the best resources geothermal is not just the cheapest form of renewable energy, but the cheapest form of energy.
Chasing these opportunities has moved the industry focus away from the more-established markets to areas with tremendous resources and favourable market conditions, but to date have been underinvested.
Can you also share with us who will be representing the geothermal sector at the summit this year?
The industry will be represented by Akihiri Taniguchi, Group Manager for Renewable Energy Energy Engineering at Toshiba; Bret Mattes, CEO of Origin Tata Power; Ruth Ann Nicastri, Managing Director – Political Risk Insurance at Oversease Private Investment Corporation; and Bill Wade, CEO of Scientific Drilling.
Given the regional focus on the pacific rim at this meeting, what other regions are currently on the top of mind in the industry today?
“Growth potential along the Pacific Rim continues to attract new investment – total global new build asset financing for 2010 and 2011 was the highest ever recorded for the sector with $2.8bn and $2.2bn, respectively, and was largely driven by deals in Indonesia, the Philippines and New Zealand.
But similar opportunities exist – and are attracting considerable investment and new market entrants – in Central and South America (Peru, Argentina, Guatemala, Ecuador just to name some), the East African Rift region (Rwanda, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Uganda are looking into geothermal), Turkey and several island nations.”
