Press Releases
Geothermal Development Facility for Latin America: Second Call Results
The Geothermal Development Facility for Latin America’s (GDF) second call has concluded this October with an announcement of grant awards. In conjunction with the awarding of successful grantees, the GDF also organized and participated in several conferences supporting energy reform, including a technical assistance forum in conjunction with the GEOLAC 2018 conference in Mexico City, where it was awarded the Best Financing Program award for the second year in a row.
The GDF is pleased to announce seven grantees spanning across Central and South America. As a result of this initiative, surface studies in amounts of up to €600K will be funded in Chile, Peru, Nicaragua, and Guatemala, while exploratory drilling campaigns up to €5.8M will be funded in Chile and Guatemala.
These seven projects were chosen from a pool of fifteen applications. Similarly to the first round, the GDF sought out projects with the highest viability for geothermal energy production, and which will not only benefit local economies by creating jobs but will also benefit the environment by decreasing carbon dioxide and other harmful emissions. The fifteen applicants were evaluated in an exhaustive two-step process, consisting of both technical and financial reviews. The seven chosen projects are now invited to sign grant agreements with GDF.
The €13M in total grant awards approved during this second call comprises approximately 23 percent of the GDF’s original €55M fund, which is expected to catalyze €1.6B in future geothermal investments in Latin American. The total anticipated amount of energy generation supported through the first and second calls is expected to reach 520MW. Furthermore, with a new, third call for applications scheduled in December 2018, the GDF anticipates surpassing its original goal of seeding 350 MW of geothermal power in the region. Due to its success and to continuing interest in—and government reforms toward—renewable baseload and geothermal energy, the GDF will continue to discuss increasing its funding beyond the initial €55M seeded by KfW and the EU.
1st Call Results for Geothermal Development Facility for Latin America (GDF)
The Geothermal Development Facility for Latin America (GDF) is pleased to announce grant awards for the first call of proposals. The results are:
4 Confirmation Drilling grants have been approved for:
- Colombia
- Guatemala
- Honduras
4 Surface Studies grants have been approved for:
- Bolivia
- Chile
- Ecuador
- Guatemala
These awards total an approximate cumulative funding of 22 million EUR from GDF, leveraging up to 1.6 billion EUR in future investments and generating at least 285 MW of projected capacity. Grant Agreement proceedings will begin immediately with approved applicants and the GDF looks forward to a successful round of negotiations. The 2nd round shall begin during the 4th quarter of 2017.
For more information, info@gdflac.com
Contact: Alan Beard, 703-752-5880 Extension 115
Results from the First Call for Expressions of Interest
The German government’s KfW Development Bank in conjunction with the European Union has launched a €55 million geothermal power fund for Latin America to focus on early stage development managed by Washington, DC-based, IDA Fund Management, LLC. Known as the Geothermal Development Facility (GDF), the goal is to be a catalyst to 350 MW of installed geothermal power capacity in Latin America over the next ten years. GDF will achieve this by providing feasibility study funding of as much as €600,000 and exploratory drilling funding for up to €5.8 million per project to qualified applicants in Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala. GDF expects to close a second round of significant funding from KfW and other Development Finance Institutions later this year.
An Expression of Interest was sought in January 2017, to which 25 parties submitted information. In this two-step process, GDF is now announcing that it has now selected 13 applicants to complete Call for Proposals. Final grant approvals for the selected proposals should be finalized in the 4th quarter of this year. GDF has been pleased with the overwhelming interest in the marketplace for this important early stage funding. To that end, its managers hosted a Technical Assistance Forum at GEOLAC in Mexico City in April where they reviewed the early results of GDF and discussed the outlook for the rest of the year. It is anticipated that late this year a second Expression of Interest will be initiated where new applicants and some of those that weren’t selected in the first round will apply.
About IDA Fund Management
GDF is managed by IDA Fund Management a consortium of Interlink Capital Strategies, a Washington, DC-based management consulting firm and financial advisor well known in the Export Credit Agency (ECA) and Development Finance Institution (DFI) space, and Dewhurst Group, LLC, a Washington, DC-based geothermal exploration and development company with offices in Latin America.
For more information, info@gdflac.com
Contact: Alan Beard, 703-752-5880 Extension 115
GEOLAC 2017 – The Geothermal Congress For Latin America And The Caribbean
The Technical Assistance Forum (TAF) was conducted by the GDF Latin America’s Fund Manager. The TAF took place at the 2017 Geothermal Congress for Latin America and the Caribbean (GEOLAC). The main objective was to bring together representatives of respective partner governments and developers, with representatives of the donors and financiers.
The TAF is affiliated with GEOLAC specifically to allow for synergies between commercial and financial aspects of geothermal development.
The full agenda can be found at: http://newenergyevents.com/geolac/