New Islandsbanki Report Looks at US Geothermal Industry

February 10, 2011 - In a report released today at the GEA Geothermal Energy Finance Forum in New York, Icelandic Íslandsbanki released a report providing an overview on the U.S. geothermal energy industry.

The bank further announced the establishment of subsidiary in New York that will focus on geothermal energy in the Americas.

The report highlights the fact that the current operating geothermal power capacity is tightly controlled as the top four operators represent 85% of total capacity installed in the U.S.

By capacity, developers listed on Canada's Toronto Stock Exchange represent about 25% of planned capacity in the United States.

Looking at operating capacity, the leading companies (in that order) are Calpine, Ormat, Terra-Gen, CalEnergy, NCPA, and Enel North America. Other companies are representing an operating capacity of less than 50MW.

The top developers by capacity in development are (in that order) Ram Power, Gradient Resources (formerly Vulcan Power), Calpine, US Renewables Group, Raser Technologies, Idatherm and Magma Energy. The list then shows player of a total capacity in development of less than 170MW.

The report also highlights that in the next 1-2 years only additional 136MW will come online. Among them the 49.9MW Hudson Ranch project of Energy Source (formerly CHAR), the 35MW Geysers project of Ram Power, Ormat's 15MW Jersey Valley project, 15MW Lightning Dock (Raser), the 12MW extension of Soda Lake (Magma Energy) and the extension by 8MW at Puna (Ormat). Other companies represent small capacities of less than 1MW.

By capacity about 61% of operating capacity is controlled by publicly listed companies. For developers with capacity in development about 53% are publicly listed.

Last but not least the report provides an overview on the international activities by U.S. companies.

The report can be downloaded via Íslandsbanki's website at: www.islandsbanki.is/energy