EESC asserts geothermal’s key role in Europe’s green transition

Source:ThinkGeoEnergy – Geothermal Energy News
Original URL:https://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/eesc-asserts-geothermals-key-role-in-europes-green-transition/

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) has published an opinion, written by Zsolt Kükedi and Thomas Kattnig taking an unequivocal position of support for geothermal as a key component in the EU’s green transition. The Committee also calls on the European Commission to create a European strategy and action plan for geothermal energy.

The full statement (in different languages) can be downloaded via this link.

The statement refers to geothermal as a largely untapped resource in Europe, and thus offering plenty of opportunities for EU Member States to harness it as part of energy transition efforts. According to the European Geothermal Energy Council (EGEC), geothermal energy can provide around 25% of heating and cooling consumption and around 10% of electricity consumption in Europe.

Despite the favourable characteristics of geothermal, the industry faces several challenges:

• There is often a lack of capacity in licensing agencies and cumbersome authorisation procedures;
• Easily accessible geological data or data on energy use are also often lacking;
• Due to a lack of technological knowledge, feasibility studies sometimes do not focus on the total lifetime cost, which underestimates the lifetime of geothermal power plants compared to solutions with shorter lifetimes, which may seem cheaper. Few countries provide statistics on the numbers of installed GHPs, geothermal district heating and cooling systems, etc.;
• Financial risk reduction is typical for larger projects, especially new entrants, which carry resource and project development risks

Aside from geothermal’s more obvious benefits as a stable and emissions-free source of energy, the locality-bound nature of geothermal also promotes the development of independent and self-sufficient local energy communities. This means that regions can reduce their dependence on both locally produced and imported fossil fuels, and reduces network exposure to natural disasters and human factors such as politics and war.

Geothermal needs public and political support

However, the EESC believes that Member State intervention is needed to sustainably promote the growth of geothermal in Europe. Government funding and incentives are needed to attract and de-risk initial investments. Changes in energy policy or financing are also critical in improving the economic attractiveness of geothermal projects.

It is necessary to accurately identify risks related to environmental impacts and to ensure that the construction of geothermal power plants is pursued with the involvement of local communities, thus increasing public acceptance. It is important to stress that the environmental and climate benefits of geothermal energy outweigh the risks as it is one of the best renewable energy sources in terms of land use, resource use and import dependency.

Thus, the EESC calls on the Commission to launch a European programme to assess geothermal energy production areas in order to meet its drilling data needs, as well as remove regulatory barriers to planning and permitting needs.

Source: European Economic and Social Committee