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Front Matter Front Matter (pp. i-iv) -
Table of Contents Table of Contents (pp. v-vi) -
Executive Summary Executive Summary (pp. 7-8) -
1. Introduction 1. Introduction (pp. 9-10)In September 2010, the Pembina Institute was commissioned by the Government of the Northwest Territories Department of Environment and Natural Resources to complete an inter-jurisdictional review of geothermal energy legislation and policy. This report contains the results of the review as well as interviews with geothermal energy experts around the world. This report will support discussions on the development of geothermal energy policy in the Northwest Territories (NWT).
The purpose of the study is to document the key policy issues associated with geothermal energy development and make recommendations for developing a regulatory framework for geothermal energy in the NWT.
The...
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2. Background 2. Background (pp. 11-19)Geothermal energy is playing an increasingly important role in the world’s energy supply. There are over 10,000 MW of installed capacity electricity generation worldwide, an increase of 20% between 2005 and 2010, and this is projected to grow to 18,500 MW by 2015.² World-wide, at least 27,825 MW of direct heat is supplied from geothermal systems.³ Altogether 24 countries now convert geothermal energy into electricity and 72 countries use geothermal for direct heating. Approximately half the world’s existing geothermal generating capacity is in the United States and the Philippines, and Indonesia, Mexico, Italy, and Japan account for most of the...
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3. Jurisdictional review 3. Jurisdictional review (pp. 20-37)The following chapter provides an overview of geothermal energy development and regulations in a number of countries in the world. The review is focused on seven countries, providing a summary of the resource potential, installed capacity, geothermal legislation, resource ownership regulations, leasing processes and royalty systems. The countries reviewed are: United States, (federal lands plus the states of Nevada and California), Canada (province of British Columbia), Australia, New Zealand, Iceland, Italy and Germany. These countries were selected because of their significant development of geothermal resources (United States, New Zealand, Iceland and Italy) or because of unique or recent development of...
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4. Lessons from other jurisdictions 4. Lessons from other jurisdictions (pp. 38-47)Several key themes emerge from the jurisdictional review of legislation and policy for geothermal energy development. These themes are combined with the results of interviews with geothermal experts in the jurisdictions. For a list of interviewees, see Appendix A. These themes are categorized under the following headings: definition of geothermal energy; legislation; resource ownership; tenure and leasing system; fees and royalties; research; and fiscal and non-fiscal incentive policies.
A clear definition of geothermal energy can help determine whether geothermal energy can be regulated under existing mining, petroleum or water legislation, or whether new legislation is necessary. There are multiple definitions...
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5. Recommendations 5. Recommendations (pp. 48-50)This report presents the results of an inter-jurisdictional review of geothermal policy in nine jurisdictions, and interviews with 13 geothermal experts. The results are categorized into key themes in relation to geothermal legislation, tenure issuance, royalties, research and fiscal and non-fiscal incentive policies. From these results, the following recommendations for the NWT are warranted:
Geothermal energy development needs to be evaluated as a source of heat and power for communities in the NWT. The Government of the Northwest Territories could initiate a planning exercise to define a vision for geothermal energy use in the Territory. The planning exercise, conducted in...
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6. Appendix A: List of interviewees 6. Appendix A: List of interviewees (pp. 51-51)