The global geothermal power market is expected to witness significant growth owing to increasing importance for sustainable energy sources. Rapid urbanization and industrialization across various emerging markets such as Brazil, China, India, and Mexico have raised the demand for electricity. The growing manufacturing sector in these markets is a major factor driving electricity demand. This trend coupled with growing importance for renewable electricity generation is expected to drive market growth. Government initiatives such as financial benefits and tax rebates to promote sustainable energy generation are expected to have a positive impact on the market. In 2014, Mexico passed legislation enabling private investments in the power sector in order to increase power generation. Leading geothermal markets in terms of production include the U.S., Philippines, Indonesia, Mexico, and Japan. The presence of large geothermal reserves is a major factor driving geothermal production in these markets. The U.S. is a major geothermal power producer in North America with an estimated capacity of more than 3,300 MW in 2013. Planned capacity expansions in existing power plants coupled with upcoming geothermal projects are expected to drive the geothermal power market growth in the region over the next six years.
Technological advancements and the presence of a large number of geothermal reserves in the region are expected to further complement the market growth. Policy barriers and inadequate transmission infrastructure in the region are expected to pose challenges to the North American market. Asia Pacific is expected to register considerable growth owing to large scale geothermal production in Philippines, Japan, and Indonesia. Growing electricity demand in China and India coupled with increasing government intervention to produce electricity through renewable resources is expected to further augment the market growth in the region. Feed-in-tariffs in Japan are expected to drive geothermal production in the region through small scale projects which in turn is expected to complement the Asia Pacific market growth. The geothermal power market in Africa is expected to be driven by the growing geothermal power generation in Kenya and Ethiopia. Some of the major companies operating in the global geothermal power market include Calpine, Enel Green Power North America Inc., Gradient Resources, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Terra-Gen Power LLC, US Geothermal, Toshiba International Corp., EthosEnergy Group and ThermaSource LLC.