EGEC concerned about lack of geothermal in recent EU initiatives for clean power

Alexander Richter 12 Eyl 2009

In a statement by the organization, “The European Geothermal Energy Council (EGEC), a Pan-European industry association believes that a draft EC Communiqué titled ‘Financing Low carbon technologies (SET-Plan)’ failed to mentioned geothermal power as a renewable energy source. It also expressed the potential for development of geothermal energy within the private sector in the absence of governmental support.

Currently the European Union is setting up a number of initiatives to increase both security and competitiveness of our energy supply. However, looking at initiatives like the European Economic Recovery Plan or, even more, the strategic energy technology plan (SET-P), reveals that there is nothing said concerning geothermal energy, the organisation said.

In a statement, the EGEC said that before the EC presents this document, the geothermal industry wants to outline its recommendations for the content of such a communication: The attainment of the 2020 RES target will require the use of all renewable energy sources, amongst which geothermal electricity.

EGEC believes that a renewable energy mix cannot be reached in the future without including geothermal energy.

At present around 10GWe of geothermal power plants are installed all over the world, a figure which the organisation believes, is expected to double to 20GWe during the next seven years, according to the new projects that are under development. But the relevant resources are far from being fully developed in Europe.

The EGEC believes that the concept of Enhanced Geothermal Systems will pave the way for developing geothermal plants everywhere in Europe. It also said using innovative binary power plants will enable the production of electricity using low thermal water temperatures of between 80-100°C.”

Source: Release via New Energy World Network