On January 12, 2020, IRENA will hold it’s 10th General Assembly and a thematic meeting of the Global Geothermal Alliance (GGA) will coincide with the event. Heads of State and Government, Ministers, Member delegations and heads of regional and international organizations, public and private entities as well as civil society representatives, will come together to contribute to the energy transformation discussion.
The GGA seeks to improve geothermal energy dialogue and development.
IRENA (International Renewable Energy Agency), coordinated and facilitated the Global Geothermal Alliance. The GGA currently includes 46 member countries and 39 partner institutions. The agency was created for the purpose of enhancing the dialogue, cooperation and coordinated actions related to geothermal power among governments, intergovernmental organizations and financial institutions as well as academia.
Geothermal power is an impressive form of renewable energy. However, it remains one of the most underdeveloped and underutilized sources of clean power in the world. Currently, the total global installed capacity of geothermal power amounts to only about 14 gigawatts (GW) for electricity generation and 70 GW for heating.
High upfront investment costs, inadequate policy, regulatory frameworks, and knowledge gaps among investors and policy makers are some of the major barriers that have prevented the wide-scale adoption of this green alternative energy.
The Global Geothermal Alliance has also implemented joint geothermal projects.
The GGA believes that geothermal electricity offers an abundant, competitive and predictable renewable power source in a variety of areas for energy generation and for direct use applications via low and medium temperature resources, such as geothermal heating applications, in particular.
In regions where this renewable source of energy is available, it could significantly contribute to decarbonizing the heating sector and improving city air qualities.
To help better the way information on geothermal resource potential is communicated to interested investors, IRENA, The World Bank’s Energy Sector Management Assistance Progamme (ESMAP), and the International Geothermal Association (IGA), partnered and trained over 100 high-level stakeholders and geothermal professionals on the specifications of implementing the United Nations Framework Classification for Fossil Energy and Mineral Reserves and Resources 2009 (UNFC-2009) as a standard to geothermal power resources.
The joint project was implemented by Global Geothermal Alliance and also resulted in establishing
the application of the standard in selected geothermal fields in Ethiopia, Indonesia and the Eastern Caribbean.
