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Nine geothermal heat projects to receive up to EUR50m in funding under EU program

Nine geothermal heat projects to receive up to EUR50m in funding under EU program Introduction of the Geothermica initiative at GeoTHERM 2017 (source: Geothermica.eu)
Alexander Richter 20 Jun 2018

Under European funding program, ERA NET Cofund and GEOTHERMICA, nine transnational geothermal heat projects have been chosen for a total of up to EUR50 million ($59 million) in funding. Details on the recipients will be shared when contracts are signed.

As announced yesterday, ERA NET Cofund has selected nine high quality transnational projects on geothermal energy for funding. The total investment in the projects is close to EUR 50 million ($59 million). About half is funded by GEOTHERMICA and the other half comes from project partners. As soon as all contracts have been signed, the projects will be announced on the GEOTHERMICA website.

The selected projects cover a broad range of topics such as heat storage, managing induced seismicity, EGS drilling and completion, production operations, composite casing and integrated applications of geothermal heat.  They have participants from the Netherlands, Switzerland, Iceland, Ireland, France, Flanders, Denmark, Slovenia, Germany, Spain, Italy and Azores/ Portugal.

This is the first series of GEOTHERMICA-funded projects that demonstrate and validate novel concepts of geothermal energy deployment within the energy system. They bring innovative geothermal energy solutions closer to commercial deployment.

Geothermal energy has great potential for the supply of heat and generation of electricity in Europe. European countries and the European Commission have combined their ambition in GEOTHERMICA to finance innovation in the geothermal energy sector. GEOTHERMICA thus enables unlocking of this European potential by research and innovation and further embeds geothermal into Europe’s energy system. This is an important step in the journey towards the transition to a European energy supply free of greenhouse gas emissions.

Further information can be found on the GeoThermica website.

GEOTHERMICA – a multinational collaboration

GEOTHERMICA is a joint effort by EU Member States and Associated Countries complementing Europe’s research and innovation community and industry sector efforts. It will reinforce the sector’s contribution to the goals of the European Energy Union and its Strategic Energy Technology (SET) – Plan, the technology pillar of the EU’s energy and climate policy.

Eighteen geothermal energy research and innovation programme owners and managers from fourteen countries and regions have joined forces and made funds available for research and innovation actions on geothermal energy deployment with financial support from the European Commission.

GEOTHERMICA aims to support transnational, collaborative innovation projects in geothermal energy through joint calls and carry out other activities which will enhance the coordination of public research and innovation programmes and improve the exploitation of results of the projects funded.

Funding of EUR 18 million for the projects comes from existing national and regional research and innovation programmes and is topped-up by a financial contribution from the EC of more than EUR 6 million. In 2017, GEOTHERMICA called for innovative demonstration projects and technology development projects that accelerate geothermal energy deployment. Further calls are anticipated.

In five of the nine projects, a group from the Netherlands is involved, according to AgriHolland.

Source: GeoThermica