Geothermal energy is heat generated within the Earth’s crust. It is used mainly for electricity generation, district heating and industrial processes. Several geothermal technologies exist, at different levels of maturity. Electricity generation uses the heat stored underground, converting it to electrical power.
⚡ But geothermal represented 0.5 % of the global renewable electricity market in 2022, generating only 0.2 % of electricity in the EU. Geothermal energy is a sustainable and reliable source that produces minimal greenhouse gas emissions while providing constant baseload energy generation. And the EU’s commitment to the geothermal sector is deeply rooted in the European Green Deal.
🔎 Learn more about geothermal energy: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document/EPRS_BRI(2023)754566
00:00 Introduction
00:10 What is it?
01:04 Benefits
01:21 Challenges
01:35 EU support for the geothermal sector
Have you ever seen Iceland’s famous geysers? Or an erupting volcano? If so, then you’ve also seen geothermal energy in action! But what exactly is it? It’s an always-on, carbon-free, renewable power source, located deep beneath the Earth’s surface. But where once only Jules Verne’s imagination was able to take us,
Today we can drill wells to access and use the hot water and steam located there to produce electricity. Geothermal energy may be used in different ways, depending on the resource and technology chosen. For instance, to power district heating systems using heat pumps, to generate electricity through geothermal power plants,
Or directly to heat buildings. Today, geothermal energy is used to produce electricity in over 30 countries worldwide. In the EU, Italy produces around 90 % of the EU’s electricity made from geothermal energy. Geothermal energy still makes a small contribution to the total amount of energy we produce in the EU,
But the sector is growing! Although it comes with both benefits and challenges, geothermal energy is cheap to operate, efficient, flexible, stable and clean. Moreover, as the world needs lithium, geothermal brines could prove to be a more environmentally friendly source than traditional lithium production. On the other hand,
Geothermal projects are rather expensive and risky to kick-start, and take a long time to develop. It is also hard to fully assess the real potential of geothermal energy because we don’t have enough statistics on geothermal resource mapping. So, how is the EU planning to unlock its geothermal potential?
EU support for the geothermal sector is one solution for our green transition. For instance, the EU announced that we could have at least 10 million additional heat pumps by 2027 and 30 million by 2030. Some of these pumps in buildings and industry could be powered by geothermal energy.