Geothermal industry wants piece of Green Deal Recovery package

The European Geothermal Energy Council (EGEC) has asked for the geothermal industry to be included in EU's Green Deal Recovery plan.

In a letter to Frans Timmermans, executive vice-president for the Green Deal, and Kadri Simson, Commissioner for Energy, the Belgium-based non-profit organisation said the package should encourage investment in all renewable energy sectors.

EGEC noted that the draft Green Deal Recovery package, leaked last week, is limited to renewable electricity, while it should include renewable sources related to heating and cooling as well. Geothermal energy provides renewable heating, cooling and baseload electricity.

The EU tender scheme needs to be expanded to include 15 GW of renewable heating and cooling in addition to 15 GW of renewable electricity, according to the letter.

EGEC says upgrades of geothermal district heating systems deserve special attention in the proposed Recovery and Convergence Instrument and the European Renovation Financing Facility.

Such systems have proven to lower household energy bills and over a quarter of the EU population resides in areas that are suitable for geothermal district heating. Countries including Austria, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania have significant transnational geothermal heat reservoirs, the letter adds.

The Green Deal Recovery package is to be presented officially today.

Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!