Italy’s national energy plan a missed opportunity for geothermal

Geothermal plant at Castelnuovo di Val di Cecina, Tuscany/Italy (Gabriele Delhey, commons/ wikimedia)

Carlo Cariaga 15 Jul 2024

The Geothermal Technical Table has described Italy’s recently submitted National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC) as a “missed opportunity” to create a long-term plan for the valorization of geothermal energy in its various forms.

This comes despite the series of dialogues held between the Geothermal Technical Table and the Ministry of the Environment (MASE) in the past months to present a detailed proposal for a national action plan for geothermal energy to support Italy’s energy security and transition objectives.

The Geothermal Technical Table (TTG) is coordinated by the Italian Geothermal Union (UGI) and the Italian Urban Heating Association (AIRU). Despite the criticism, the TTG recognizes some passages of the new PNIEC text as positive, such as the desire to introduce a specific guarantee fund for geothermal energy to reduce the risk borne by operators. However, the TTG states that the document does not sufficiently highlight the fundamental role of geothermal energy in the stabilization of network electricity and energy savings in buildings.

The PNIEC notably does not yet implement the Resolution approved by the European Parliament last January 2024 to build a long-term European strategy for the valorization of geothermal energy in its various forms, nor with respect to the Net- Zero Industry Act, approved in April 2024, to support the leap in scale in geothermal technologies as one of the tools to accelerate the energy transition.

To accelerate the development of geothermal for the energy transition, the TTG considers the following crucial:

• A clear medium-long term strategic vision;
• The identification of concrete measures to remove barriers to increased geothermal utilization;
• Growth objectives for geothermal in heat and electricity generation

Another important point made by the TTG is the failure to recognize the huge development potential of district heating powered by geothermal sources. A recent study by the Polytechnic of Milan estimates the growth potential of district heating at over 5 times the current size with geothermal energy representing the main source at over 32%. These systems are able to replace the current demand for fossil fuels for thermal uses in buildings. In this field, Low Enthalpy geothermal energy and Geoexchange, together with efficient district heating infrastructures and seasonal thermal storage, offer definitive solutions especially in urban settings.

In guaranteeing the availability to improve and implement all the measures necessary for the transition, the TTG communicates that it intends to activate the structures of the European Geothermal Energy Council (EGEC) to work towards the new EU Commission, so that it formulates the necessary observations and requests the appropriate modifications and additions to the text of the PNIEC presented by the Italian Government.

Source: Geothermal Technical Table by email correspondence