The Two days Geothermal Brussels events took place on the 4th and 5th of February with more than 60 participants from different European countries. The event was dedicated to the review geothermal technologies state of the art in Europe. CROWDTHERMAL was represented by two project partners: La Palma Research Centre and the European Federation of Geologists.
The day-2 was dedicated to three sessions: GEOENVI seminar, industry workshop of the SU-DG-IWG, ETIP-DG meeting aiming at selecting research priorities for Horizon Europe.
Firstly, the preliminary results of the GEOENVI project were presented. The presentation described the results of on-going work, mainly: state of the art and characteristics of geothermal plants in the EU, first draft of Life Cycle Assessment and legislative background on geothermal of GEOENVI´s selected cases study (e.g. Hungary and Italy). Secondly, the presentation of GEOENVI project partners published their Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) guidelines for geothermal plants. These guidelines will be made public to help monitor all the eventual risks encountered during all four phases of a geothermal project (e.g. exploration, drilling, operation and decommission) and tools to mitigate these risks to render any geothermal operation context as safe as possible, both for the environment and surrounding communities.
The objective of the GEOENVI project is to answer environmental concerns in terms of both impacts and risks, by first setting an adapted methodology for assessing environment impacts to the project developers, and by assessing the environmental impacts and risks of geothermal projects operational or in development in Europe.
CROWDTHERMAL project, Community-based development schemes for geothermal energy, aims to empower the European public to directly participate in the development of geothermal projects with the help of alternative financing schemes (crowdfunding) and social engagement tools.
The last session was and ETIP-DG meeting aiming at selecting research priorities for Horizon Europe. EGEC chaired the group discussion on the influence of the public regarding geothermal plants in the EU. Based on the Italian case study, public acceptance towards geothermal plants has the potential to save or stop geothermal projects. In conclusion, to be successful, any geothermal project has to communicate in a transparent manner with the local population, show the benefits of geothermal compared to other energy sources and the direct benefits of district heating thanks to geothermal. The group discussion also concluded that crowdfunding schemes should be explored to encourage the local population to have a direct impact on energy production (being either electricity or heating and cooling).
This aspect is especially relevant for the CROWDTHERMAL project which aims to empower the European public to directly participate in the development of geothermal projects with the help of alternative financing schemes (e.g. crowdfunding) and social engagement tools.
Reference and more information on the EGEC website. Report from the event: Gauthier Quinonez, La Palma Research Centre.
