GEOTHERMICA - ERA NET Cofund Geothermal

Project Information

GEOTHERMICA

Grant agreement ID: 731117

DOI

10.3030/731117

Project closed

EC signature date 16 November 2016

Start date 1 January 2017

End date 30 June 2022

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Secure, clean and efficient energy

Total cost

€ 26 485 554,00

EU contribution

€ 7 020 663,31

Coordinated by

ORKUSTOFNUN
Iceland

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - GEOTHERMICA (GEOTHERMICA - ERA NET Cofund Geothermal)

Reporting period: 2018-01-01 to 2022-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The GEOTHERMICA ERA-NET Cofund (GEOTHERMICA) was a five-year action financed under the European Union's Horizon 2020 Programme for Research and Innovation. This action, operating 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 benefitted from financing from the European Union (EU), and the European Commission (EC) and has two principal aims—first, providing funding for transnational innovative geothermal energy projects related to direct use and power generation from geothermal resources in an optimised way, which includes integrated and combined systems (e.g. heat pumps, other forms of renewable energy, and using the underground as a heating and cooling energy storage site). The second aim is to facilitate and promote the coordination of European research programs and managers engaged in supporting geothermal energy research and innovation.

Geothermal energy is a valuable and local source of energy that can cost-effectively provide baseload/dispatchable electricity, heat or a combination of both. With these features, it has the potential to offer real alternatives to fossil fuel-based power plants and fossil fuel-based heating and cooling not only in Europe but also globally. There is great potential for the supply of geothermal energy for heating in Europe and elsewhere. Additionally, geothermal reservoirs may act as sites for energy and CO2 storage. Research and innovation focused on improving technology and its incorporation into the energy system can unlock the full spectrum of geothermal's potential. In this way, geothermal energy (together with underground heat storage) will become one of the key options for the transition towards a 100% renewable heat supply in Europe.

The potential impact of the GEOTHERMICA network consists of increased cooperation among co-funded projects, organisations and individuals. GEOTHERMICA has established a broad reach within the geothermal community through its communication channels and an active and effective engagement programme between policymakers, EC, industry and the research community.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

GEOTHERMICA consortium has achieved numerous successes, including issuing three joint funding calls and launching over 30 collaborative research projects engaging partners from over 16 countries. The participants of GEOTHERMICA calls are active in geothermal energy research ranging from medium to high TRLs and have active transnational collaborations across sectors.
GEOTHERMICA has already launched three calls to broaden the aspects and bring geothermal strategies together. Calls for innovative projects were gathered within the past three calls with a budget of M€90. Each call has comprised twelve to eighteen geothermal energy research and innovation programme owners and managers. GEOTHERMICA consortium has supported fifteen high-quality transnational geothermal energy projects in its first and second call (Call 1 & Call 2). The third call is awaiting the final decisions on projects—the network funds about half, with the other half coming from project partners.

GEOTHERMICA first cofounded call projects supported with financial support from the European Commission:
• PERFORM– Improving Geothermal System Performance by Scaling and Corrosion Prevention and Injectivity Enhancement,
• HEATSTORE- Demonstrating the potential of Underground Thermal Energy Storage across Europe,
• ZoDrEx- Providing a toolbox for more efficient geothermal projects,
• CAGE- Installing geothermal wells using crane-based casing while drilling Huisman Composite Tubulars with MaxFlow™ connections,
• COSEISMIQ- COntrol SEISmicity and Manage Induced earthQuakes;
• GEO-URBAN- Identification and Assessment of Deep GEOthermal Heat Resources in Challenging URBAN Environments,
• GeConnect- Improved well design, reducing the risk of casing failures from constrained thermal expansion in geothermal wells,
• GEOFOOD- Geothermal energy for food production.

GEOTHERMICA second cofounded call projects supported by partners from the network:
• DEEP- Derisking Enhanced geothermal Energy Projects,
• DEEPEN- DErisking Exploration for geothermal Plays in magmatic Environments,
• TEST-CEM- Developing advanced cement systems resistant to repeated thermo-mechanical cycling for a wide temperature range,
• SPINE - Developing tools for stress profiling in enhanced geothermal systems,
• RESULT- Enhancing REServoirs in Urban deveLopmenT: smart wells and reservoir development,
• SEE4GEO - Seismoelectric effects for geothermal resource assessment and monitoring,
• GRE-GEO- Broadening the application range of glass fibre-reinforced pipes to casings and tubing in geothermal wells.

Detailed information and project dissemination reports of the projects mentioned above are available on project website.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The members of GEOTHERMICA launched three calls based on the success of the first call. Having executed the first call with the financial support of the European Commission, GEOTHERMICA's partners undertook the second call without the participation of the European Commission. It allowed the broadening of the Consortium to countries outside the EU. These two calls and their successful collaborative work and outcomes resulted in the interest to broaden the cooperation with another ERA-Net network, JPP Smart Energy Systems 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 the untapped potential stems from a lack of awareness of the versatility and benefits of geothermal energy supply. To meet the objective, GEOTHERMICA invited several new partners to join the second call to ensure that the research and innovation space attracts excellent talent. In addition to the European partners, Norway and the USA are now also participating in the second call.

GEOTHERMICA has identified national and regional barriers and opportunities for developing geothermal energy and national/regional RD&D needs. The main benefit of this task is the simplified identification of common areas of interest (clusters) and, thus, possible cooperation partnerships. Countries can quickly identify other nations with (i) similar needs and (ii) countries that have already reached the next level in developing geothermal energy and are attractive partners to learn from. Based on the results, strategic recommendations on short- and medium-term priorities in research and innovation were formulated.
In addition, 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 SRIA (Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda) and advocated that CETP should build on existing infrastructures.

GEOTHERMICA is now recognised as a neutral consortium that unites funding organisations and public authorities in supporting the geothermal sector via joint activities such as workshops, knowledge transfer and strategic agenda setting.

GEOTHERMICA projects 2017-2021

GEOTHERMICA Partners

GEOTHERMICA partners