Messaging by the geothermal industry an outside perspective
Drilling rig on site of 30 MW Bald Mountain geothermal project (source: Oski Energy)
Alexander Richter
23 Oct 2013
A recent podcast of Greentech Media's Energy Gang discusses if "the geothermal industry has failed in its messaging", looking at what contributes to the slow growth of the industry in the U.S., a rather interesting outside perspective.
In a recent podcast by Greentech Media, the host Stephen Lacey, who has been covering the geothermal industry over the years e.g. with Renewable Energy World and now GreentechMedia, targets a rather hot topic.
“Has the Geothermal Industry Failed in Its Messaging?”, he called a recent discussion with his “Energy Gang”. In the show he actually had interviewed me on why things have not been moving in the U.S. and about the drilling risk of geothermal.
So while he confirms the fact that there is an “immense potential for geothermal energy”, he makes the point that the industry, despite that potential, has only grown incrementally over the years and failed to attract strong investment flow, particularly in the U.S. So the podcast tries to answer what keeps the growth so slow.
It discusses the industry’s two main problems: drilling risk and messaging, which according to the show are “both holding back growth”.
But the probably most interesting thing I heard in the show was the notion of how the oil industry is covering risk. They are able to use losses in wells in tax write offs from profits. Which – having heard before – sounds good in theory, but essentially the geothermal companies active in the market are likely too small for this to work. I would like to follow this up though and maybe discuss this with some policy folks in the U.S. to learn more about if this is something that could help the industry.
To listen to the podcast use the link below, the geothermal part starts at minute 2:45.
Source: GreentechMedia
