Tuesday, December 1, 2015

France: Minister Voices Support for Global Geothermal Alliance

Ségolène Royal supports the global geothermal alliance to accelerate the transition towards a low carbon economy (Ministry for Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy)

"Geothermal energy is not developed enough, whereas it is one of the concrete and accessible solutions that can be implemented right now to enter a low-carbon economy."

 Ségolène Royal, the Minister for Ecology,
Sustainable Development and Energy
This morning, representatives from Iceland and the Comoros, as well as the Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) attended a high-level meeting on the development of geothermal energy.

As a member of the Global Geothermal Alliance, France supports this initiative. Ségolène Royal, the Minister for Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy, says that geothermal energy is not developed enough, whereas it is one of the concrete and accessible solutions that can be implemented right now to enter a low-carbon economy.

In order to fast-track the development of geothermal energy, Ségolène Royal support the following actions:

  • Define clear objectives and the right regulatory framework. The countries of the Global Geothermal Alliance agreed on ambitious targets for 2030 in order to multiply by 5 the supply of electricity and multiply by 2 the production of heat from geothermal power.
  • Mobilize funding. This particularly involves developing innovative solutions to manage the geological risk. France is a leader in this field with the creation of the “GEODEEP” guarantee fund in 2015.
  • Develop technological cooperation. On this occasion, the Minister welcomed the cooperation agreements that were signed recently between the French and the Icelandic business clusters. She pointed to the experience of France in supplying heating networks using geothermal resources, especially in the Paris region where about 200,000 households are heated geothermally.