With 376 MW of installed capacity in the world, and 39 MW of new capacity in construction (16 projects), the heat recovery market is still at an early stage but has long passed the demo/prototype phase. The main application is largely heat recovery from Diesel or gas engines and turbines, with 65% of the total installed capacity.

ORMAT has been very active in this field with 24 plants around 3-8 MW installed along gas pipelines in the USA and Canada. Turboden follows with 9 plants of average size around 1 MW. Using exhaust heat from combustion engines or turbines is easier than industrial heat recovery and was the low-hanging fruit for a long time, but engines are becoming more efficient and this application is not considered as renewable in many countries developing energy