Iceland and Poland to deepen cooperation on geothermal energy
Iceland and Poland plan to increase their cooperation on geothermal energy utilisation for heating in Poland. With the experience of Iceland in geothermal district heating, Poland hopes to be able to tap into that know-how to develop geothermal heating projects in the country.
During an official three-day state visit by Iceland’s President Gudni Johannesson, Polish President Andrezej Duda reports that Iceland and Poland will deepen their cooperation on geothermal energy.
Poland has been facing challenges to improve air quality during winter times, as the country still relies heavily on coal fired heating. Geothermal energy has been seen as a way to clean up the heating sector and thereby the air. With funding of the European Union, the country actually set up a geothermal fund to support development.
Geothermal energy is seen as an area of common interest for the country, as well as aluminium, fishery and the shipbuilding industry.
During a press conference, President Duda said that Poland has “enormous amounts of geothermal energy available”, and “Iceland is the absolute leader in this area.” “We have discussed the possibility of applying the Icelandic experiences in this field here,” Duda added.
Further topics of the discussions included support to the large Polish population in Iceland with language classes in Iceland.
Poles have become the single largest immigrant group in Iceland, numbering around 20,000, or nearly 6 percent of the island nation’s population, following a boom of the Icelandic construction industry in 2006.
Source: XinhuaNet
