| Abstract |
I discuss suggested alternatives for reducing the financial risks of geothermal development and propose a modeling approach to the prediction of the busbar cost, and to the evaluation of the financial options. In recent years, geothermal energy has emerged as a promising energy source and has received serious attention from developers and potential users. Still, despite apparent environmental advantages of this resource, including its potential cost competitiveness and ic acceptance, the develment and use of geothermal energy has been rather slow. Main impediments to the development of this resource have been financial, environmental, technical and in some cases, regulatory uncertainties. Since geothermal power is unique in that the user facility is tied to a single fuel at a single site, these uncertainties are of particular concern to potenti users. The areas of uncertainty are well known. During the last few years, several workshops and various studies have addressed potential risk s and in particular, the financial risks of geothermal energy. From these discussions several viewpoints regarding the adequacy of available measures for reducing the financial risks of developing and using geothermal energy have emerged. These measures range f rom cont r actual agreements between developers and users that would place the risk of reservoir loss on the supplier, to government-sponsored insurance programs that would basically ask the taxpayers to shoulder the financial risks of developing geothermal energy. I will discuss these options and their advantages and disadvantages. |