Europe is making plans to replace natural gas with geothermal energy
Europe has a long tradition in geothermal energy, with Iceland, France and Hungary historically dominating the industry. In recent years, however, a number of other countries have entered the sector.
Their motives are clear: geothermal heat is 100% renewable, endless and trustworthy. And the appeal has only grown amid the push to reduce reliance on Russian natural gas.
Germany is currently leading the transition. The government of the country will come at the end of 2022 published a plan aimed at a tenfold increase in geothermal output: 10 TWh by 2030.
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“We are sitting on a gold mine,” said Christian Peltl, director of geothermal energy at SWR, the operator of a geothermal power plant in Munich, told AFP. “There has really been an explosion of orders since the beginning of the [energy] crisis,” he added.
Meanwhile, the French government recently announced an action plan for the development of surface and deep geothermal energy. The goal is to produce enough geothermal heat in 15 to 20 years to save 100 TWh of gas annually and to be CO2 neutral by 2050. In 2021, geothermal energy accounted for only 1% of the country’s final heat consumption, amounting to about 6 TWh.
So is the Italian government discusses how to support the expansion of geothermal energy, while Hungary aims to scale up production of geothermal energy and subsequently replace approximately 1-1.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually. And Europe’s largest geothermal heating installationin the city of Aarhus in Denmark, is expected to be completed by 2030, with a capacity to cover 30% of the district’s energy needs.
According to EU data, replacing fossil fuels with geothermal energy could decarbonise up to 25% of the energy needs of the block’s population, while also lowering bills. Geothermal power plants could also cover up to 10% of Europe’s electricity needs. And it looks like the renewable resource is finally gaining the traction it needs to boost the continent’s energy independence and help meet climate goals.
The German target of 10 TWh geothermal output from medium and deep wells is ambitious. To achieve the target, the country wants to add at least 100 additional geothermal energy projects by 2030. These must be connected to the heat network and supply energy to homes and industrial companies.
