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