Austria starts process on geothermal for heat development roadmap

Votive church tower, Vienna, Austria (source: flickr/ Herr P., creative commons)

The Austrian Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology (Bundesministerium für Klimaschutz, Umwelt, Energie, Mobilität, Innovation und Technologie) and the Climate and Energy Fund are starting the process of drawing up a research and development roadmap (R&D roadmap) for geothermal energy in Austria. 

The BMK is thus preparing the heating strategy set out in the government program with the aim of fully decarbonising the heating market, also based on the renewable energy sources geothermal, deep geothermal and ambient heat, as well as the goal of achieving 100% electricity from renewable energy sources by 2030.

In a multi-stage, participatory process, representatives from companies, research and science as well as associations can make suggestions and contributions to align the research and innovation agenda in geothermal energy. The aim is to show and take ways of advancing technologies and, above all, domestic companies in this area.

Geothermal energy (geothermal energy) is the thermal energy stored below the surface of the solid earth. It can be used in a wide variety of ways, for example to generate and store heat or cold, to generate electricity from a thermal power plant or to use geothermal energy directly without heat pumps – depending on the depths below the earth from which the energy is generated. There are many reasons for a much stronger focus in energy research on geothermal energy in the future. These include, for example, the continuous availability as a heat source, the versatile usage options, the positive ecological balance and the technical controllability of the environmental impact. This is already being pushed by some actors and also politically supported.

The BMK lays the foundation for the future orientation of research and technology development in the field of geothermal energy. The dialogue process should lead to the publication of a research and development roadmap for geothermal energy in the summer of 2021 and define the priorities and action measures for public energy research for the coming years.

In the first part of the roadmap, the research and development requirements with a target horizon of 2030/2050 are to be worked out by summer 2021. Based on a common vision, goals and milestones along the way are set with stakeholders in the industry, focal points and priorities are concretized and the necessary research budgets and instruments are determined. In the second part, the necessary framework conditions (economic, legal, organizational) are to be examined in more detail by the end of this year.

Source: Nachhaltig Wirtschaften