Geothermal handbook: PlanninG and Financing power Generation t e c h n I c a L r e p o r t 2 / 2

dEvELOPMENT ASSISTANCE.
Official Development Assistance (ODA) available from multilateral and 
bilateral development banks, as well as from climate finance facilities, has a key role to play in 
supporting geothermal energy development. The concessional nature of capital supplied by climate 
finance vehicles, such as the Clean Technology Fund (CTF) and the Scaling-up Renewable Energy 
Program (SREP), coupled with the involvement of major international development organizations, such 
as multilateral development banks (MDBs), creates unique opportunities for leveraging capital from 
various other sources to support low carbon investments. 
Considerable efforts and resources in recent years have been devoted to attempts to set up funds that 
use concessional financing to mitigate geothermal resource risk. Two significant programs, the Europe 
and Central Asia (ECA) GeoFund and ArGeo, supporting the development of such funds have been 
initiated under the auspices of the World Bank. In both cases, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) 
has been the main source of concessional capital. The design and operation of these programs has 
helped the international community learn valuable lessons and develop a better understanding of the 
available options for the future.
Key principles underlying the design of a successful global or regional MDB-supported facility to 
promote geothermal development have emerged from this experience that can be summarized as 
follows: