Alexander Richter, Founder & Principal, ThinkGeoEnergy

Global geothermal power generation capacity stood at 16,127 MW at the year-end 2022. The annual capacity additions remain below pre-covid times.

ThinkGeoEnergy are publishing an up-to-date list of the Top 10 geothermal countries based on installed power generation capacity as of year end 2022.

The ThinkGeoEnergy team have expanded their research activities and added capacity in desktop research for clients with a particular focus on updating existing extensive research on current geothermal power development around the world.

With the world seemingly getting back on track post-covid, general growth of geothermal power generation capacity remains at low levels. Only 8 countries added geothermal power generation capacity with a total of 16 additional plants. Kenya (83 MW), Indonesia (80 MW) and the U.S. (72 MW) showed the main growth. Nicaragua saw the addition of 10.4 MW just before year’s end. Other additions were reported in China, Philippines, and Japan.

The total installed geothermal power generation capacity at year-end 2022 stood at 16,127 MW, an increase of 286 MW over 2021.

Source: ThinkGeoEnergy Research (2023)

Top 10 geothermal countries year-end 2021:

1. United States* – 3,794 MW (updated our numbers as per the notes below)
2. Indonesia – 2,356 MW – additions at Sorik Marapi, Sokoria and a small binary plant at Lahendong
3. Philippines – 1,935 MW – a small binary plant was added
4. Turkiye – 1,682 MW – we adapted/ corrected our numbers, there were no additions in 2022
5. New Zealand – 1,037 MW – no changes
6. Mexico – 962.7 MW – no change
7. Kenya – 944 MW – addition of the 83.3 MW Olkaria I Unit 6 (with new additions in construction, the country should soon join the Geothermal GW Country Club)
8. Italy – 944 MW – no change
9. Iceland – 754 MW
10. Japan – 621 MW – smaller scale additions and corrections of numbers (of previously unrecorded numbers)

*The U.S. total installed and operational (nameplate) capacity stood at 3,961.8 MW, of which 65.5 MW are defined as “standby/ backup and as available for service but normally not used” (EIA), 101.9 MW are defined as “(OS) Out of service and NOT expected to return to service in next calendar year”. ThinkGeoEnergy exclude these standby and out of service plants and report 3,794.4 MW. Other sources (REN/ IRENA) would provide a capacity of 2,791.9 MW as average between net summer and winter capacity, which however would put up a different standard for reporting for the U.S. compared to other countries.

A total of 286.4 MW were added in 2022. Other countries represent an installed power generation capacity of 1,097 MW, bringing the total installed geothermal power generation capacity at the end of the year 2022 to 16,127 MW.

Alexander Richter
Alexander founded ThinkGeoEnergy in 2008. He has been a Director on the Board of International Geothermal Association (IGA) since 2013, its President 2016-2020, and Director-at-Large on the Board of the Canadian Geothermal Energy Association (CanGEA) since 2011. He has been a spokesperson for geothermal energy at many of the major geothermal and renewable energy events internationally. Alex is the Head of Business Development at Innargi A/S.

Original article   l   KeyFacts Energy: Geothermal news