During an exchange of views in the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) on Tuesday 19 September, MEPs questioned the European Commission about the implementation of a specific strategy for geothermal energy. The debate is part of the work being done by the parliamentary committee on an own-initiative report on geothermal energy.
Invited to present an overview of the development of geothermal energy in the EU, the European Commission was keen to stress the importance of this renewable energy for achieving the EU’s decarbonisation objectives, particularly with regard to its potential for decarbonising heating and cooling systems.
The rapporteur for the European Parliament, Zdzisław Krasnodębski (ECR, Polish), meanwhile, highlighted the significant gap between the potential of geothermal energy, on which there seems to be a consensus among stakeholders, and the current situation at European level.
“From an industrial point of view, geothermal energy is somewhat neglected at European level”, he explained.
“It’s true that geothermal energy is mentioned in the legislation (in the recently revised Renewable Energy Directive - see EUROPE 13248/3 - editor’s note), and there is financial support, but we need to bring it all together and prepare a geothermal energy strategy that is similar to the Commission’s approach to solar and wind energy”.
As regards obstacles, MEPs stressed the need for major investment in research, the need to simplify the licensing procedure and to harmonise the rules for Member States, particularly with regard to the law on mining.
Finally, the European Commission wanted to assure that geothermal energy is one of the renewable energy sources that will make it possible to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, but highlighted the lack of available data, particularly for mapping drilling zones, and the increased need for a skilled workforce. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)