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EU-Iceland Geothermal Roundtable with EU Commissioner Oettinger

EU-Iceland Geothermal Roundtable with EU Commissioner Oettinger European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium (source: flickr/ Francisco Antunes, creative commons)
Francisco Rojas 22 Sep 2014

Over 60 high-level Icelandic and EU representatives from geothermal industry, academia and finance met to discuss barriers to the growth of geothermal energy and, in particular, geothermal district heating in Europe.

Last week Vice-President Günther H. Oettinger met with Icelandic Minister for Industry and Commerce Ragnheiður Elín Árnadóttir as part of a high-level roundtable on geothermal energy in Europe.

At the roundtable it was emphasised that more support from policymakers is needed to improve the contribution of secure, stable and indigenous renewable heat to the overall European Energy mix and that many lessons can be learned from Iceland’s exemplary leadership in this field.

Iceland is a world leader in the use of geothermal district heating. Today, almost 90% of Iceland’s houses and buildings are heated by natural hot water. Europe has considerable potential for geothermal energy and further development thereof would assist many EU Member States in achieving their renewable energy targets and becoming more self-sufficient.

To access the agenda for the roundtable, please follow this link

To read the speech from Vice-President Günther H. Oettinger, please follow this link.

Source: European Commission Website