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French Minister of Energy Ségolène Royal supports Global Geothermal Alliance

French Minister of Energy Ségolène Royal supports Global Geothermal Alliance Information meeting at COP21, Paris 2015 (source: flickr/ COP PARIS, creative commons)
Alexander Richter 2 Dec 2015

France supports the Global Geothermal Alliance set up to fast-track development of geothermal energy, reported from the climate meetings in Paris,

Yesterday morning representatives from France, Iceland and the Comoros, as well as the Director-General of 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 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.

When Ségolène Royal went to Iceland last July and last October in order to accelerate the setting up of this Alliance, she had pointed out that:

  • It is a renewable energy, which produces electricity and heat. It has the merit of not being intermittent nor dependent on seasonal constraints or weather and climate conditions.
  • It is a mature technology ready to be widely deployed right now.
  • It is a solution that can be more competitive than fossil fuel consumption. This is particularly the case in many island areas. The introduction of carbon pricing will increase its competitiveness even more.

Source: official press release of the French government