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

Overcoming Institutional Capacity Constraints
Although geothermal resources have been used for electricity production for more than a century, 
technical and institutional capacity to implement such projects is still lacking in a number of countries, 
many of which have some of the best geothermal resources on the planet. The low implementation 
capacity manifests itself in lack of supporting policies and institutions, which are further weakened 
by the lack of adequate resource information and insufficient exploration activity. To be an effective 
counterpart for the private sector and the IFIs, the government has to formulate strategies and 
strengthen its agencies to advance its geothermal development objectives. 
The international community extends technical assistance (TA) to developing countries through 
a number of different avenues. Much of the technical assistance for geothermal development is 
associated with multilateral and bilateral development assistance (Box 3.2).