H2020 GEOTHERMICA Project: GEOTHERMAL - ERA NET Cofund Geothermal
- Type Project
- Status Filled
- Execution 2017 -2022
- Assigned Budget 7.020.663,31 €
- Scope Europeo
- Main source of financing H2020
- Project website Proyecto GEOTHERMICA
The GEOTHERMICA consortium has achieved numerous successes, including the issuance of three joint funding calls and the launch of more than 30 collaborative research projects with partners from over 16 countries. Participants in GEOTHERMICA calls are actively involved in geothermal energy research, ranging from medium to high TRLs, and have active transnational collaborations across all sectors. GEOTHERMICA has already launched three calls to broaden the scope and unify geothermal strategies. The last three calls brought together calls for innovative projects with a budget of €90 million.
Each call has included between twelve and eighteen owners and managers of geothermal energy research and innovation programs. The GEOTHERMICA consortium has supported fifteen high-quality transnational geothermal energy projects in its first and second calls (Call 1 and Call 2). The third call is awaiting final project decisions: the network is funding approximately half, with the remaining half coming from project partners.
GEOTHERMICA co-founded the first call for projects supported with financial support from the European Commission:
- PERFORM: Improving geothermal system performance by reducing and preventing corrosion and improving injectivity, HEATSTORE: Demonstrating the potential of underground thermal energy storage across Europe.
- ZoDrEx: Providing a toolbox for more efficient geothermal projects.
- CAGE: Geothermal well installation using a crane-based casing while drilling Huisman composite tubulars with MaxFlow™ connections, COSEISMIQ: Seismicity monitoring and induced earthquake management.
- GEO-URBAN: Identification and assessment of deep geothermal heat resources in challenging URBAN environments.
- GeConnect: Improved well design, reducing the risk of casing failure due to restricted thermal expansion in geothermal wells.
- GEOFOOD: geothermal energy for food production.
- GEOTHERMICA co-finances projects from the second call supported by network partners:
- DEEP- Derisking Enhanced geothermal Energy Projects.
- DEEPEN- DErisking Exploration for geothermal Plays in magmatic Environments.
- TEST-CEM- Developing advanced cement systems resistant to repeat thermo-mechanical cycles for a wide range of temperatures, SPINE- Developing tools for stress profiling in improved geothermal systems.
- RESULT- Enhancing REServoirs in Urban development: smart wells and reservoir development.
- SEE4GEO - seismoelectric effects for geothermal resource evaluation and monitoring.
- GRE-GEO - Broadening the application range of glass fiber-reinforced pipes for casings and tubing in geothermal wells. Detailed information and project dissemination reports for the above projects are available on the project website.
The GEOTHERMICA ERA-NET (GEOTHERMICA) co-funding initiative was a five-year initiative funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme. This initiative, which ran from January 2017 to December 2021, builds on the work of the GEOTHERMAL European Research Area Network (GEOTHERMAL ERA-NET), which started in 2012 and ended in November 2016. GEOTHERMICA has benefited from funding from the European Union (EU) and the European Commission (EC) and has two main objectives:
- Provide financing for innovative transnational geothermal energy projects related to the direct use and generation of energy from geothermal resources in an optimized manner, including integrated and combined systems (e.g., heat pumps, other forms of renewable energy, and the use of subsurface energy storage for heating and cooling).
- Facilitate and promote the coordination of European research programs and managers involved in supporting geothermal energy research and innovation.
Geothermal energy is a valuable, local energy source that can cost-effectively provide baseload/dispatchable electricity, heat, or a combination of both. Thanks to these characteristics, it has the potential to offer real alternatives to fossil-fuel-based power plants and heating and cooling, not only in Europe but also globally. There is significant potential for geothermal energy supply for heating in Europe and elsewhere.
Furthermore, geothermal reservoirs can serve as sites for energy and CO2 storage. Research and innovation focused on improving technology and incorporating it into the energy system can unleash the full potential of geothermal energy. In this way, geothermal energy (along with underground heat storage) will become one of the key options for the transition to a 100% renewable heat supply in Europe. The potential impact of the GEOTHERMICA network lies in increased cooperation between co-funded projects, organizations, and individuals. GEOTHERMICA has established a broad reach within the geothermal community through its communication channels and an active and effective engagement program between policymakers, the European Commission, industry, and the research community.
Europe faces the challenge of increasing the share of renewable energy for heating and cooling, industrial processes, power generation, and energy storage. Geothermal energy is an indigenous, clean, low-footprint, and continuously available energy resource that is vastly underutilized and therefore uniquely positioned to contribute substantially to a secure and protected energy supply for the European Energy Union. So far used only in select markets and in only a few geographic regions, GEOTHERMICA aims to combine the financial resources and expertise of 16 geothermal energy research and innovation program owners and managers from 13 countries to launch joint actions that demonstrate and validate novel concepts for utilizing geothermal energy within the energy system and identify pathways to commercialization.
The joint actions comprise joint calls and coordination activities, which will strengthen Europe's geothermal energy sector by building a closely interconnected and well-coordinated network of European funding actors. For a first joint call, approximately €30 million will be made available for a small number of major demonstration projects. The joint calls will have strong industry involvement with a dedicated 50% contribution to the work programs and budgets of successful proposals. In addition to joint programming and joint calls, a number of additional activities will be undertaken to develop shared and in-depth knowledge, promote operational excellence, exchange good practices in the area of supporting policies, and define strategic recommendations for sustainable and sustained joint research and innovation activities.
Ultimately, a strong public sector will complement the research and innovation community, as well as Europe's geothermal industry, to build a strong European geothermal energy sector ready to contribute to the European Energy Union and the implementation of the SET Plan as outlined in the SET Plan Roadmap.
GEOTHERMICA members launched three calls following the success of the first. After implementing the first call with financial support from the European Commission, GEOTHERMICA partners launched the second without the involvement of the European Commission. This allowed the Consortium to expand to countries outside the EU. These two calls, along with their successful collaboration and results, sparked interest in expanding cooperation with another ERA-Net network: JPP Smart Energy Systems, which launched the third call. The objective of the second call was to demonstrate that geothermal energy is a secure, sustainable, competitive, and affordable energy source for Europe. Often, untapped potential results from a lack of awareness of the versatility and benefits of geothermal energy supply. To achieve this goal, GEOTHERMICA invited several new partners to join the second call to ensure that the research and innovation sector attracts excellent talent.
In addition to the European partners, Norway and the US are also participating in the second call. GEOTHERMICA has identified national and regional barriers and opportunities for geothermal energy development, as well as national and regional R&D&I needs. The main benefit of this work is the simplified identification of areas of common interest (clusters) and, therefore, potential cooperative partnerships.
Countries can quickly identify other nations with (i) similar needs and (ii) countries that have already reached the next level in geothermal energy development and are attractive partners to learn from.
Based on the results, strategic recommendations were formulated on short- and medium-term priorities in research and innovation. Furthermore, GEOTHERMICA consortium members have joined the Clean Energy Transition Partnership (CETP) and the relevant preparations. The GEOTHERMICA network has contributed to the draft proposal and the SRIA (Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda) and has advocated for the CETP to build on existing infrastructure. GEOTHERMICA is now recognized as a neutral consortium uniting funding organizations and public authorities to support the geothermal sector through joint activities such as workshops, knowledge transfer, and strategic agenda-setting.
- ORKUSTOFNUN (NATIONAL ENERGY INSTITUTION)
Related projects
