All Entries in the "Opinion" Category
Opinion: Draft regulatory framework could boost GT exploration in Europe
Dave Forest writes for oilprice.com: “I’ve received a copy of a new regulation framework for geothermal energy in Europe. Geothermal is still an infant industry. In many countries, governments lack even a basic mechanism for granting licenses on geothermal projects. There just isn’t any legal-work around giving a company rights to hot groundwater. There’s a [...]
Opinion: Start-up costs, financing, even earthquakes remain geothermal barriers
From the Vancouver Sun and Reuters, “Technology to generate energy by harnessing the Earth’s inner heat is finally earning respect and looks on track to test ways to expand the industry, thanks to new U.S. government funding. But steep start costs and financing remain barriers, and new geothermal technology to pump cold water into hot [...]
Opinion: Government dollars supporting “alternative alternatives”
From Business Week, with wind and solar capacity rising, other alternatives that do not depend on favorable weather – geothermal, wave, and biomass – are seeing government backing worldwide. The result is, as Scott Mackin of Denham Capital Management said “The subsidies were the main reason we invested.” in Hamburg-based Novus Energy, which operates two [...]
This Week in Geothermal Opinion: Interior Department must come to the aid of geothermal and solar industries
Stacy Feldman of solveclimate.com writes “The Obama administration’s federal stimulus package propelled the geothermal and solar energy industries to record growth in 2009 while most of the economy struggled. But industry anxiety is rising over the lack of a long-term policy signal from Washington. This week, trade groups again warned lawmakers that relying solely on [...]
This Week in Geothermal Opinion: U.K. GT developers need a higher RHI, refined focus
Ryan Law, managing director of Geothermal Engineering, told New Energy Focus that the U.K.’s Renewable Heat Incentive – released for consultation last week – needs to be refined to encourage a wide mix of renewable heat. “Geothermal heat providers need RHIs to be set at a higher level to attract more investment for both the [...]
This Week in Geothermal Opinion: Does geothermal drilling cause earthquakes?
In an article published in Renewable Energy World, the Geothermal Energy Association’s (GEA’s) Karl Gawell responds to the question with “The answer is no, geothermal drilling does not cause earthquakes. Geothermal energy facilities have been providing clean renewable power to America’s electricity grid for nearly fifty years without any significant earthquake events.” While readers here [...]
This Week in Geothermal Opinion: Geothermal energy’s footprint is miles underground
Robert McDonald, of the Nature Conservancy’s Emerging Strategies Division, tells Greenwire’s Phil Taylor “Out of the renewable technologies, geothermal is a very compact way to generate energy. But it is one that’s often missed in the discussion of renewables.” A study released last summer that was led by McDonald found that future geothermal developments will [...]
This Week in Geothermal Opinion: GEA has high hopes for geothermal energy
Karl Gawell, executive director of the Geothermal Energy Association tells Paul Glader of the Wall Street Journal that the industry is adding 144 geothermal power plants in 14 states, says. That’s up from 121 projects on the books last March and a 73% increase from the 83 projects underway two years ago. “We’ve added 200 [...]
This Week in Geothermal Opinion: Mergers opens doors to capital for small geothermal firms
In and interview with The Energy Report, Steven Li, Senior VP of Technology & Clean Tech at Raymond James says “It’s pretty simple. The bigger you are, the more institutionally relevant you become. It opens up doors to accessing the capital markets.” “By merging, you have a company that has a market cap that is [...]
This Week in Geothermal Opinion: Innovation breeds optimism
In a wide-ranging piece on clean technologies in Canada for 2010, Tyler Hamilton of thestar.com says the decade “kicks off a decade that will witness large-scale transformation of the world’s energy sector.” On geothermal, he says “Watch for a renewed push by the power authority to finally get such projects moving. In British Columbia and [...]
