Sustainable Finance: A Bibliometric Study of Real Options as a Financial Tool for Making Geothermal Renewable Energy Feasible

Abstract

The finance, investment, and renewable energy (RE) sectors are fundamental to any climate change program and the relationship among them has been a topic of growing interest. Financial assessments have hampered geothermal energy development and a real options approach could contribute to making it more feasible. This article aims to expand the understanding of investments and real options in geothermal power plants, selecting relevant studies on the subject and performing their bibliometric analysis. The real options theory is known for increasing the value of projects under uncertainty by modelling their flexibility in response to changes in their environment. It could be used to address environmental issues in the context of geothermal energy, which is a source of continuous low-carbon energy and heat. A structured process was used for the selection and analysis of the studies. The Pro Know-C literature was searched on the Scopus and WoS databases, with investment analysis and renewable energy as core topics. The articles found were systematically sorted, resulting in a bibliographic portfolio (BP) of 25 articles, which supported the bibliometric analyses. The highlights of the bibliometric analyses are: a) journals - Energy Policy, Energy Economics, and Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews; b) authors - Ferreira, P. participated in 3 studies in the selected BP and Fleten, S. E. participated in more than 10 studies listed in the BP references; and c) articles - (Boomsma et al., 2012) and (Fernandes et al., 2011) led the ranking of academic relevance.