The Status of World Geothermal Power Production 1990-1994

Abstract

The worldwide application of geothermal energy for non-electric use is reviewed This paper attempts update the previous survey carried out in 1990 by the same author and presented at the International Symposium in Hawaii For each of these updates data has been requested from countries and analysed to give a world wide perspective and for this latest update an has been made to collate additional information on Heat pumps and investments This paper has been prepared on the basis of the draft manuscripts and information provided to the committee which are referenced at the end of this paper However some of these papers may not have been published in these proceedings, or the data or titles may have changed after the reviewing process. The numbers in this report should therefore be considered preliminary, it is intended to publish the final analysis at a later date. However what is evident from the papers received, is that there is a large potential for the development of moderate enthalpy direct use across the world which is not currently being exploited due to financial constraints and the low prices of competing forms of energy. A preliminary estimate of the installed thermal power at the end of 1994 (1990 in brackets) from the current returns is 8207 MWt (8.064 MWt) 35,998 kg/s (1,800 kg/s) of fluid and the thermal energy used 105,475 TJ/y (61,747 TJ/y).