Geothermal energy and the $298 bn district heating & cooling market opportunity
Hot water tanks for district heating, Perlan in Reykjavik/ Iceland (source: flickr/ Tony Hisgett, creative commons)
Alexander Richter
21 Jan 2019
Expected to grow to an estimated $298 billion by 2026, the global district heating & cooling market presents a huge market opportunity for geothermal energy across the globe.
A new report published this month, reports that the global district heating and cooling market accounted for $164 billion in 2017 and is expected to reach $298 billion by 2026 with an annual growth of about 7%.
With heating & cooling representing nearly half of all energy consumption worldwide, this particular element of the energy market is crucial in the efforts to curb carbon emissions.
In a recent presentation as part of a meeting of the Global Geothermal Alliance affiliated to IRENA, the CEO of Arctic Green Energy Corp presented the challenges in energy consumption in city and the effects to the environment and public health.
District heating systems provide the opportunity to make heating & cooling more efficient and control emissions for the benefits of the local population.
Air pollution was responsible for 7 million premature deaths in 2016, of which were almost 600,000 children under 5 years old.
By utilising proven solutions to feed district energy systems, zero emissions can be achieved. … and this is where geothermal presents a great opportunity in likely the largest market for this type of energy.
Not only provides geothermal energy a baseload solution that is clean, it also has a tremendous cost advantage. With no fuel cost when set up, geothermal energy-fuelled district heating systems have proven not only competitive but also very much low cost compared to other sources of heat for district heating systems.
With the low temperatures needed for district heating systems, the opportunities for geothermal also go beyond the classic volcano-rich regions, such as Iceland, East Africa and others, with application possibilities across Europe, the Americas, Asia and the rest of the world.
This is a tremendous market opportunity for geothermal energy. Let’s seize it.
Source: Globe NewsWire
