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| Geothermal Well and Volcano at Copahue (Argentina) by Martin Pujol. Reconditioned exploration test hole COP-2 used for snow melting at Copahue ski resort in Argentina. GRC Geothermal Photo Contest 2018 |
“Geothermal heating has enormous potential,” says Lars Andersen, managing director at Geoop, a Danish geothermal firm. “Ninety-nine per cent of the Earth’s volume has temperatures above a thousand degrees centigrade. If we were to start from scratch and build a whole new energy system, a lot more would be based on geothermal heat.”
Putting a price on carbon could help geothermal heating to become more widespread in Europe, says Philippe Dumas, secretary general at the European Geothermal Energy Council (EGEC). He also suggests allowing EU member states to set up technology specific support to help decarbonise the heating and cooling sector. “This would help increase security for investors and provide financing for new projects,” he says.
Biomass will start to lose its competitive advantage, even if taxes do not change, forecasts Bjerregaard. “Global demand for biomass is expected to rise significantly in the coming decades and sustainability requirements will lead to price increases,” he predicts. “Geothermal heating, on the other hand, can deliver stable heating for hundreds of years, giving it the competitive advantage of supporting the green transition in the long term.”
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