The Geothermal Energy Association said that the U.S. geothermal industry added about 91 MW of new capacity in 2011.

The Annual U.S. Geothermal Power Production and Development Report shows that the industry currently has 3,187 MW of installed capacity, more than every other country in the world. Eight states have geothermal generating projects, including Alaska, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming. Another seven states – Arizona, Colorado, Louisiana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Texas and Washington – all have geothermal capacity in development.

California ranks first in overall installed capacity with 2,615 MW currently online and nearly 2,000 MW of capacity in development. Nevada has the most projects currently in development with 59.

Four different companies installed geothermal projects in 2011. Energy Source completed its 49.9 MW Hudson Ranch I project in Imperial Valley, Calif. during the first quarter of 2012, while Ormat Technologies finished 26 MW worth of projects over the past year. Terra-Gen completed a 1.9 MW expansion project in Nevada, and U.S. Geothermal expanded electricity generation at its San Emidio resource that replaced old generating equipment at the site with a new 12.75 MW power plant.

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