The total developments in Japan are 530 MW spread between over 10 plants with many of these plants involving two or more of the above companies. A description of the various geothermal generation technologies is detailed in the Technology section. The majority of the World's geothermal power stations are base load stations meaning that they operate 24 hours a day 365 days. The world map illustrates where geothermal reources are currently being utilised. The red dots indicate power generation which includes small scale, rural development as well as large scale power plants.
Direct use is also applicable to the red dots.
The blue dots indicate both high temperature and medium to low temperature resources where direct use of the geothermal heat is being applied. Many high temperature resources are found in the 'Ring of Fire' which includes most countries of the Pacific Rim. Others are located close to other crustal plate margins or at rifting locations such as the Rift Valley in Africa. These high temperature resources offer the best potential for geothermal development, and this is discuss in more detail in the following section.