GEOTHERMAL ENERGY

ELECTRICAL SECTOR

The electrical sector is represented by relatively few countries in the European Union. Only 5 countries possess the natural resources needed to produce electricity from geothermal energy. At the end of 2003, installed geothermal capacity in the EU for production of electricity was 822.98MWe (table1). More than 96% of this installed capacity is due to a single country: Italy (790.5MWe). Italy has, however, closed some of its oldest wells, causin its installed capacity todecrease. The other countries involved in geothermal origin electrical production are Portugal with 16MWe, France with 15MWe (extension of the Bouillante site in Guadeloupe in 2003) and to a lesser degree Austria (1.25MWe) and Germany (0.23MWe). Production associated to this capacity was 5152.2 GWh. This figure marks a growth rate of 7.2% with respect to that of 2002.

HEAT SECTOR

The production of heat from geothermal energy can be obtained in two very distinct ways. The first consist of directly exploiting the aquifers whose temperature is included between 30C and 150C (so-called low and medium energy applications).

The secon way to produce heat uses geothermal heat pumps that come under the heading of so-called very low energy applications. Total installed capacity for the low energy geothermal sector in the EU was estimated at 1130.61 MWth, i.e. 7.5% growth with respect to 2002.

In the same way as for the electricity production sector, Italy is the leading EU country for low energy application, with an estimated capacity of 486.51MWth. France is second for production of geothermal heat in Europe. A recent Ademe study assessed geothermal- origin primary energy production at nearly       130 000 toe (including more than 81% for the Ile-de-France area alone) for a capacity around 330MWth. Germany is third in terms of installed geothermal capacity. According to the German Geothermal Association, instaled capacity hasnt evolved since 2001 and currently amounts to 70.5MWth.

SWEDEN SHOWS THE WAY FOR FOR GEOTHERMAL HEAT PUMPS

For very low energy applications, the ranking as per installed capacities is completely different from that for direct uses. In this case, Sweden is in first place with a total of 212000 units, corresponding to a capacity estimated to 1270MWth. In2003, the European Heat Pump Association estimated that the Swedish market represented 36000 additional units.

Germany is in second palce in terms of level of installed capacity, with a total of 79650 units (675 MWth). France is in third place with an estimated total of 45500 heat pumps representing a total capacity of 670MWth. According to the AFPAC (French Heat Pump Association), the 2003 market represented 9000 units (with invidual mean capacity included between 5kW and 20kW).

Source: http://europa.eu.int