2j7YOwO

02 MARKET AND INDUSTRY TRENDS
three binary units; a 5 MW plant, installed by Turboden (Italy) in
co-operation with its parent company, Mitsubishi; and a 1.4 MW
plant installed at a medical facility in Kagoshima prefecture. 22 In
Tsuchiyu, Fukushima prefecture, a 400 kW unit was completed
as part of revitalisation plans following the loss of tourism to the
community’s hot springs following the 2011 nuclear disaster. 23 By
year’s end, construction also was under way for a 42 MW plant
in Akita prefecture. 24
In Tuscany, Italy, the hybridisation of Enel Green Power’s plant,
Cornia 2, was completed, with biomass combustion (using local
forest biomass) added to an existing facility to raise geothermal
steam temperatures from about 150°C to as high as 380°C.
Hybridisation of the plant is expected to improve power output
and efficiency by providing steam that is drier and of higher
temperature. This change added 5 MW of capacity to the plant,
and output is expected to increase by 30 GWh per year. 25
As geothermal technologies advance and as projects are
brought online in new locations, interest in the potential for future
geothermal developments continues to spread. For example,
plans appear to be gathering steam on the volcanic island of
Nevis in the Lesser Antilles. Construction was expected to begin
in 2016 on a 9 MW binary plant that could meet the power needs
of the island’s 12,000 inhabitants while displacing diesel imports
of 19 million litres (4.2 million gallons) per year. 26 The neighbouring
St. Kitts also is pursuing geothermal exploration. 27
Canada does not generate power from geothermal resources, but
a recent estimation suggests that there is substantial potential in
Alberta, Yukon and British Columbia, with sufficient resources in
British Columbia to meet the province’s entire power demand. 28 In
response to a large expected rise in industrial electricity demand,
geothermal power (including binary plants) has been proposed
as a cost-competitive alternative to the province’s proposed 1.1
GW “Site C” hydropower project. 29
Geothermal direct use – direct thermal extraction for heating and
cooling, excluding heat pumps i – was estimated at 272 PJ (75.5
TWh) in 2015. An estimated 1.2 GW th of capacity was added in
2015, for a total of 21.7 GW th. 30 Direct use capacity has grown
by an annual average of 5.9% in recent years, while direct heat
consumption has grown by an annual average of 3.3%. 31 The
data suggest that the average global capacity factor (utilisation)
for direct geothermal heat plants was 41% in 2014, down from
about 46% five years earlier. 32 This decline is explained largely by
a significant drop in indicated capacity utilisation for swimming
and bathing (subject to great uncertainty due to differences in
methods of operation), and to rapid growth in geothermal space
heating (7% annually), which exhibits below-average capacity
utilisation at 37%. 33
The single largest direct use sector is estimated to be swimming
pools and other public baths, which together accounted for
nearly 45% of total geothermal heat capacity in 2015 and a
similar share of heat use (9.7 GW th; 33.7 TWh); however, these
numbers are subject to uncertainty. 34 The second largest sector
is space heating (including district heat networks), which was
estimated at 8.1 GW th in 2015 (26.2 TWh). 35 These two broad
markets command around 80% of both direct use capacity and
consumption. The remaining 20% of direct use capacity and heat
output is for applications that include domestic hot water supply,
greenhouse heating, industrial process heat, aquaculture, snow
melting and agricultural drying. 36
Geothermal district heating continued its relatively dynamic
growth in Europe, with several new systems completed in
2015. Eight systems were brought online in France and one in
the Netherlands, with a combined installed capacity of nearly
100 MW th. 37 As of early 2016, more than 200 additional projects
were under development in Europe. 38
Many of the geothermal district heat systems being developed
in Europe are located in the Paris and Munich areas, where
low-temperature geothermal aquifers coincide with population
centres that together provide ideal conditions for geothermal
district heat development. 39 Among a string of new projects in
the Paris region is the new 10 MW YGéo project on the outskirts
of the city, which is expected to be completed in 2016. These
Paris projects tap into the Dogger aquifer that runs between
Tours and Colmar. The operating temperature is relatively low,
at around 66°C, but the YGéo system will be supplemented with
heat pumps for an additional 7 MW. 40
Interest in geothermal heat in Europe has expanded in recent
years. In the Netherlands, geothermal heat use commenced in
2008. Initially, it was used primarily to serve greenhouses, but use
of geothermal heat has grown notably since, rising to 100 MW th
as of 2014, with expansion into district heating. 41
The countries with the largest geothermal direct use capacity
are China (6.1 GW th), Turkey (2.9 GW th), Japan (2.1 GW th), Iceland
(2.0 GW th), India (1.0 GW th), Hungary (0.9 GW th), Italy (0.8 GW th)
and the United States (0.6 GW th). Together, these eight countries
accounted for about 80% of total global capacity in 2015. 42
In line with installed capacity, China utilised the most direct
geothermal heat (20.6 TWh). Other top users of direct
geothermal heat are Turkey (12.2 TWh), Iceland (7.4 TWh),
Japan (7.1 TWh), Hungary (2.7 TWh), the United States (2.6
TWh) and New Zealand (2.4 TWh). These countries accounted
for approximately 70% of direct geothermal in 2015. On a per
capita basis, direct use is by far most significant in Iceland,
at 22 MWh per person each year, followed by New Zealand,
Hungary, Turkey and Japan, all at 0.5 MWh per person or less. 43
i Direct use refers here to deep geothermal resources, irrespective of scale, as distinct from shallow geothermal resource utilisation, specifically groundsource
heat pumps. (See heat pumps discussed in Sidebar 4 of GSR2014.)
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