Global geothermal power and heat pump market offering a propitious growth rate of 14% by 2015.

The energy derived from the earth’s crust is geothermal energy which is a renewable source of energy.The heat obtainable underneath is called as geothermal heat, which is utilized to generate power by drilling wells and deploying various technologies such as dry steam, flash steam, and binary cycle.Direct use in space heating, aquaculture, horticulture, swimming pools, and spa treatments are some major utilization of geothermal heat.

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The global geothermal energy market including power generation and direct use in terms of installed capacity is expected to grow from 61,200 MW in 2010 to 120,300 MW in 2015 at an estimated CAGR of 14% for the same period. Europe leads the geothermal market with a share of 37% followed by Americas and Asia with 32% and 27% share respectively for geothermal energy supply.

The global geothermal electricity market is expected to grow from installed capacity of 10,500 MW in 2009 to 19,200 MW in 2015, at an estimated CAGR of 12.4% and the global geothermal direct use installed capacity is expected to grow from 50,500 MW in 2010 to 101,100 MW in 2015 at an estimated CAGR of 14.9% for the same period.

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The global cumulative installations of geothermal heat pumps are expected to grow from 2.94 million in 2010 to 5.66 million in 2015 at an estimated CAGR of 14% for the same period. The major countries using geothermal heat pumps are Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and U.S. The major portion .i.e. around 67% of geothermal energy available for direct use is utilized by geothermal heat pumps for space/district heating requirements.

Due to the natural occurrence of geothermal resources having source temperature above 90oC due to geological activities, the Americas region is leading in geothermal power installed capacity globally with 43% share. It is followed by Asia Pacific at 41%. Europe leads in geothermal direct use installed capacity with a share of 42%. It is followed by the Americas with 30% share due to availability of resources having source temperature under 90oC.

The major countries involved in geothermal power generation are U.S. followed by Philippines, and Indonesia, whereas in geothermal direct use, U.S. is followed by China and Sweden in 2010.

The main driving factors in the geothermal market are environment-friendliness and lower operating and maintenance cost when compared to conventional fuels. The favorable policy and regulation framework and recent investment activities by governments and venture capitalists are boosting the development of the geothermal energy market. However, the growth in the market is impacted by higher initial cost and limited geographical availability of resources. All these reasons make Europe and Americas leading regions in direct use and geothermal power generation respectively.

The major players in geothermal power industry are Enel (Italy), First Gen (Philippines), Ormat Technologies (U.S.), Reykjavik Energy (Iceland), and Magma Energy Corp. (Canada) and the major players in the geothermal heat pump are Climate Master Inc. (U.S.), Waterfurnace International Inc. (U.S.), Ochsner (Germany), and Florida Heat Pumps (U.S.).