Geothermal Development in the U.S.A. and Future Directions

Abstract

The geothermal industry presently has an operating generation capacity of about 2,300 MWe, and generates about 17,000 billion KWH per year in the U.S. Although the domestic market is stagnant due to restructuring of the electricity industry and to the very low competing price of natural gas, the industry is doing well by developing geothermal fields and power plants in the Philippines and Indonesia. The industry strongly supports the DOE R&D program to develop new and improved technology and help lower the costs of geothermal power generation.