Geothermal potential can help EU to cut Russian gas, EGEC

EU flags, Brussels/ Belgium (source: flickr/ Ingvar_Sverrisson, creative commons)

Alexander Richter 16 Mar 2022

The European Geothermal Energy Council (EGEC) has published an action Plan for implementing geothermal in Europe and as a support for the European Institutions to implement the REpowerEU and face the energy crises. This follows an insightful webinar on “High energy prices: The role of geothermal in Europe’s energy system” earlier this week.

In its document, EGEC shares eight actions that would allow geothermal to REpowerEU.

Geothermal heating, cooling and power has already saved 10 bcm (billion cubic meters of natural gas, bcm) of gas and other fossil energy imports from Russia. EGEC thereby looks at the potential for geothermal district heating and cooling, as well as heat pumps.

Geothermal district heating and cooling

By the end of 2022, up to 2 GWthermal deployment or 1 bcm of Russian gas can be saved. By 2025, this could expand to deployment of 7-11 GWth with 3.5-5 bcm of Russian gas savings per year. By 2027, 14 GWthermal or 7.5 bcm savings of Russian gas by 2027.

Geothermal heat pumps

For heat pumps the numbers are even bigger. By 2022, additional 4GW thermal savings could be achieved or replacement of 2 bcm of Russian gas. By 2025, additional 25 GWth or 9.3 BCM could be achieved and by 2027 that could increase to additional 40 GWth or 15 bcm by 2027.

The eight action items EGEC outlines are:

1. Geothermal and ambient heat pump accelerator
2. Fast permitting, quick deployment
3. Accelerating geothermal heating network planning
4. De-risking investments
5. Direct support to the deployment of 1,000 geothermal cities
6. Mobilise a skilled workforce
7. Implement the recently agreed VAT Directive
8. Industrial decarbonisation with renewable heating and cooling

Find the details of the action items in the full action plan document linked below.

You can access the action plan here (pdf).

Source: EGEC