Green light for EUR 16.1m government funding to GEODEEP risk guarantee fund in France
Drilling rig on site of Vendenheim project, Alsace/ France (source: Fonroche)
Alexander Richter
21 Jan 2020
Geothermal development could intensify in France in 2020., with the green light for public funding of EUR 16.1 million from French agency Ademe to the geothermal risk guarantee fund GEODEEP.
The French Environment and Energy Management Agency (Ademe) has received approval for contributing up to EUR 16.1 million (USD 17.8 million) to the GEODEEP risk guarantee fund for deep geothermal project development in France.
The fund was announced in 2015, as we reported. The funding will be provided in the form of repayable advances, to the GEODEEP fund. As reported by French publication actu Environnement, the approval came from the European Commission, as part of the regulations on public aid to businesses.
The European Commission considers that “the aid granted by ADEME will contribute to the French and European objectives of energy efficiency and production of energy from renewable sources”. In addition, the possible distortions of competition will be minimal since the aid will be paid in the form of repayable advances.
The objective of the the GEODEEP fund is to cover the risk linked to the high exploration risk drilling for geothermal resources.
Source: actu environnement
