Europe:

More R&D Support Needed for Geothermal Energy in Europe (European Geothermal Energy Council)

European, Icelandic and Japanese representatives discussed yesterday, in an event at the European Economic and Social Committee in Brussels, key actions and the cooperation they could envisage to embrace geothermal potential. This Workshop looked at how to exploit the huge global potential of geothermal through increased cooperation in R&D, technology and knowledge transfers between the EU, Iceland and Japan.

During this workshop, the main finding was that geothermal energy can and will be a major contributor in the future energy mix of the EU, Iceland and Japan, but also of developing countries.

Policy-makers, local authorities and utilities need to be more aware of the full range of geothermal resources available and of their possible applications.

As one of the sources with very high potential and zero emissions, geothermal energy nevertheless received little support especially for Research and Development (R&D).

“Things must change if Europe is to reach its energy decarbonization objective, and that will not be possible without a substantial contribution from geothermal energy”, said Dr. Burkhard SANNER, President of EGEC.

“Conventional geothermal power is already a most competitive energy source, but only possible in certain regions. EGS, a breakthrough technology successfully demonstrated, will allow a geothermal development anywhere in Europe. EGS (short for “Enhanced Geothermal Systems”) will become competitive within a few more years if substantially R&D resources are allocated to this technology.”

“During the current discussion on Horizon 2020, Geothermal should receive more attention, including through increased R&D cooperation with third countries”, added Sanner.

Substantially higher research, development and demonstration funds are needed in order for Geothermal to become more competitive.