New EU study on energy costs, subsidies and calls for support
EU flags, Brussels/ Belgium (source: flickr/ Ingvar_Sverrisson, creative commons)
Francisco Rojas
14 Oct 2014
EGEC quote an interim report from the European Commission stating that geothermal power technologies present the highest load factor with competitive costs despite of having minimal support.
According to EGEC, The European Commission presented today an interim report unveiling for the first time data on costs and subsidies across the various generation technologies in the electricity sector and covering all EU Member States.
The study clearly shows that geothermal power technologies present the highest load factor – even higher than nuclear- with competitive costs (per KWh, estimated external costs included). The report shows that the level of support given to geothermal is insignificant compared to other mature or less mature technologies, even though the sector is ready to deploy new innovative technologies.
Geothermal is a predictable, reliable and flexible source of energy, with the highest load factor of all technologies, and can balance the electrical grid. Its development is not distorting the market.
Exemptions for geothermal from the new stricter state aid rules should be put in place in order to ensure effective support, of which other technologies have widely benefited.
Read the full EGEC reaction here
Source: EGEC
