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Mitsubishi Hitachi JV eyeing Africa and Latin America for geothermal growth

Mitsubishi Hitachi JV eyeing Africa and Latin America for geothermal growth Mitsubishi turbine at the Hellisheidi geothermal power plant, Iceland (source: flickr/ ThinkGeoEnergy, creative commons)
Alexander Richter 25 Nov 2016

Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems, a leading company in the geothermal turbine market, will focus on Africa and Latin America as growth markets for its geothermal business, as reported by Bloomberg today.

Following the recent publication of an IFC document on the investment potential for renewable energy sources in the emerging markets, Africa, East Asia and Latin America are the key markets for development in the coming years. This is no surprise as we have been reporting on these markets as the key growth markets for the geothermal sector before.

With Japanese turbine suppliers dominating the turbine market for geothermal projects, it is no surprise to read today in Bloomberg, that the Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems joint venture is eyeing Africa and Latin America as its key focus markets.

The company hopes to export its turbines to these markets, backed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Countries that the company is specifically targeting are Kenya, Ethioipia, Mexico, Nicaragua and Ecuador, so Yoshio Minato, the geothermal area manager for MHPS in the interview with Bloomberg.

IFC_Investment_geothermal_emergingmarkets2016

JICA has been a crucial tool for Japanese players to get access to turbine contracts, as it has financed geothermal drilling which allowed projects in these markets to be developed to a point that turbines were needed for the construction of a plant.

JICA, so Bloomberg, has also been directly involved in test drilling, e.g. in Ecuador and Djibouti.

Today, based on data by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, Japanese turbine producers represent around 65% of turbines based on total installed geothermal power generation capacity.

Source: Bloomberg