Growing concerns about climate change, skyrocketing fossil fuel prices, and a desire for energy independence have pushed the search for renewable energy sources into high gear. While significant effort has been put into harnessing conventional geothermal resources, commercial development of EGS is just beginning. Conventional geothermal power plants are limited to the few areas where suitable hydrothermal resources exist; however, EGS can be implemented over vast areas of the globe where hot dry rocks are found. In addition, EGS is the lone source of renewable energy which can provide long-term, baseload power and has proven to be technologically feasible.

The report identifies the current status and future potential of EGS and discusses the factors which are encouraging or hindering its commercialization. A major objective of this report is to provide industry participants with the knowledge they need to begin considering the development of or purchase of power from EGS.

Topics covered in the report include:

• Overview of what geothermal energy is and the history behind its development
• Analysis of the current use of geothermal energy for power generation
• Discussion of the generation technologies which can be used to convert hydrothermal resources into electricity
• Overview of what EGS is and the historical development of the technology
• Evaluation of the major EGS demonstration projects which have been undertaken during the last three decades
• Analysis of the potential for EGS to provide significant amounts of baseload power
• Discussion of the environmental benefits and impacts of EGS
• Discussion of the barriers to commercial development of EGS
• Profiles of government initiatives to support development of EGS
• Profiles of key EGS power project developers

The Commercialization of Enhanced Geothermal Systems report comes in Adobe Acrobat PDF format and is available via electronic download, CD-ROM, or Hardcopy for $299.