In 2011 the geothermal industry is developing 123 confirmed geothermal projects. When accounting
for projects not confirmed (i.e. “unconfirmed”) by the developing companies this number increases to
146 projects. The geographic spread of confirmed geothermal projects alone is significant, with
projects in various phases of project development located in 15 different states. While the economic
downturn of 2008 adversely impacted the rate of geothermal resource development,
the geothermal industry has maintained steady growth in the US through 2010 and into 2011. The total
number of geothermal projects-under-development reported in 2011 increased 12% over 2010. Altogether,
these projects are developing approximately 5102 – 5745 MW of geothermal resources.
GEA's 2011 US Geothermal Power Production and Development Update provides a detailed
analysis of US geothermal projects in development, including individual project data by state and
discussions of the status of 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and other federal
funding for geothermal development.
Number of Geothermal Projects in Development by State and Phase
Developing Projects by State:
The projects listed for each state are categorized by the following phases:
Phase I: Resource Procurement and Identification (i.e. identifying resource, secured rights to resource, pre-drilling exploration, internal transmission analysis complete).
Phase II: Resource Exploration and Confirmation (i.e. exploration and/or drilling permits approved, exploration drilling conducted/in progress, transmission feasibility studies underway).
Phase III: Permitting and Initial Development (i.e. securing PPA and final permits, full size wells drilled, financing secured for portion of project construction, interconnection feasibility study complete).
Phase IV: Resource Production and Power Plant Construction (i.e. plant permit approved, facility in construction, production and injection drilling underway, interconnection agreement signed).
Unconfirmed: Project information obtained by GEA from publicly available sources but not verified by the project developer
NOTE: GEA is reporting project information that is provided by developers or public sources. We do not independently verify the data provided or warrant its accuracy. For more background on
how project information is reported, see GEA's Geothermal Reporting Terms and
Definitions.
To properly identify a projects “project type” please refer to the following key:
- CH Unproduced: Conventional Hydrothermal (Unproduced) Resource
- CH Produced: Conventional Hydrothermal (Produced) Resource
- CH Expansion: Conventional Hydrothermal Expansion
- Coproduction: Geothermal Energy and Hydrocarbon Coproduction
- Geopressured: Geopressured System
- EGS: Enhanced Geothermal System
Planned Capacity Addition (PCA) and Resource Capacity Estimates:
At each project phase the geothermal resource capacity estimate (Resource) may be thought of as the MW value of the total recoverable energy of the subsurface geothermal resource. It should not be confused with the Planned Capacity Addition (PCA) estimate, which is defined as the portion of a geothermal resource that “the developer deems to be viable for the economic production of electricity under existing economic conditions.”