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

middle Stage | resource confirmation, Field development, and completion of Production 
drilling.
After seeing successful results from test drillings and initial production drillings, suppliers of 
debt financing will increasingly view the project as capable of supporting a short- to medium-term debt 
obligation. Construction debt, sometimes convertible to longer term debt, is by far the most widely 
employed source of financing for the completion of the drilling program (and often the power plant), 
usually through a loan with a maturity of two to three years, according to Bloomberg New Energy 
Finance. In developed markets, such as the United States, spreads over LIBOR have recently been 
about 325 to 400 basis points (3.25 to 4 percent) for such loans (BNEF 2011). However, the remaining 

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