Risk Mitigation and Insurance Schemes Adapted to Geothermal Market Maturity: Presentation of the Findings of the GEORISK Project

Geothermal project development has several risky components, the most important one being the resource risk. Beyond exploration, the bankability of a geothermal project is threatened by this geological risk. De-risking tool such as risk insurance funds for the geological risk already exist in some European countries (France, Germany, Iceland, The Netherlands, Denmark and Switzerland). The geological risk is a common issue all over the world. Outside Europe, the Geothermal Development Facility (GDF) for Latin America and the Geothermal Risk Mitigation Facility (GRMF) for Africa offer some risk mitigation tools. With the notable exception of these regions, project developers have very little capability to access financial de-risking for their project. The establishment of such risk insurance all over the world to cover the exploration phase and the first drilling (test) is key for a large-scale development of deep geothermal projects. But it appears clear that a de-risking scheme must be designed, especially with the involvement of private financers, according to the market maturity of the sector in each country and region.