Interview – Opportunities in the high-potential geothermal market of Switzerland

The Connect4Geothermal forum will be taking place on 4-5 October 2023 in Basel, Switzerland. Organized by Geothermie Schweiz, the event’s main focus is to connect the different stakeholders in geothermal to exchange information and best practices to explore mutually beneficial opportunities for working together.

Registration for the Connect4Geothermal event is open until the 2nd of October 2022. Online participation is possible, even for the 1-to-1 meetings. Registration can be done via this link.

Companies that want to participate in the exhibition may still do so, but are encouraged to apply as soon as possible.

Learn more about last year’s successful Connect4Geothermal in Bern, Switzerland here.

To learn more about the state of geothermal development in Switzerland and its untapped potential, we did an interview with Cédric Höllmüller, Co-Managing Director of Geothermie Schweiz. He provides excellent insight on the challanges and opportunities geothermal in Switzerland and how developing it can be a win-win situation for stakeholders.

What is the current status of geothermal in Switzerland? Any up and coming projects and potential areas to watch out for?

Switzerland is among the countries in which the shallow geothermal market is very well developed, with related expertise and know-how within the authorities and the economy. The segment of mid-depth and deep geothermal is at the beginning of an important development. Several projects are in the exploration phase, with geophysical campaigns and exploration drilling. Several other projects are in a preparation phase.

The main focus is currently on heat and on thermal storage and some projects focus also on geothermal power plants for electricity. Because of higher awareness on the need for renewable energy, geothermal begins to receive more interest within the authorities and the politics –  still not enough but the dynamic is positive. Within the next years, several new projects will be announced, and mid-depth and deep geothermal installations deliver energy.

Has there been sufficient support in terms of legislation or policy for the geothermal sector in Switzerland? What else can be improved in this aspect?

There is a quite good support at federal level, with a scheme enabling up to 60% public funding for the underground exploration and resource access. However, the knowledge of the deep underground in Switzerland is quite poor because there is no history in oil and gas exploration. Hence, the current projects exploring unknown geological reservoirs in Switzerland show that a funding mechanism for the geological risk in case of insufficient resource availability must be set-up, like in France. Related discussions are underway.

A very positive point is a Swiss underground exploring program which is currently in preparation by the federal authorities. In some years, there will be more underground knowledge available. There is currently a revision of the regulation fixing the delta temperature between the output and the return of underground water for energy use, to have more flexibility.

Finally, there is a program called Transfer, supported by the authorities via SwissEnergy and operated by the Geothermie-Suisse to facilitate the return of experiences and the transfer of knowledge and technology for geothermal. This program show first results.

Challenging is the fact that underground regulation is done in the cantons. From the perspective of geothermal project owners, it would be much easier to have a similar regulation among the cantons.

What other types of support does Switzerland need to accelerate geothermal development – in the form of expertise, technology, funding, or investment?

Because there were not much mid depth and deep geothermal projects until now, the related expertise is missing. There is no related Swiss industry. Expertise for deep drilling and all related services and products is needed.

Foreign businesses having such an offering have now an opportunity to enter this market, possibly by joint ventures with Swiss businesses. In the other direction, foreign geothermal actors can benefit from the Swiss expertise and know-how for shallow geothermal. A real win-win situation.

 With the upcoming Connect4Geothermal event in Basel, what can participants expect in terms of the sharing of information and opportunities for networking?

The event is designed to share experiences and facilitate targeted networking. There are experience-sharing workshops on the afternoon of October 4^th, organized in the frame of the Transfer program. The first networking session is at the End of the afternoon. This networking session can be used for spontaneous networking and visit of the booth with solution providers.

There is also the option to participate in the pre-arranged 1-to-1 meetings: Participants can request in advance meetings with other participants and receive a related personal time schedule. A networking dinner closes the first day.

On October 4^th,there are two further networking sessions and a networking aperitif at the end of the day. There is a plenary session in the morning, with presentations and discussion around the framework conditions to further develop geothermal in Switzerland.

In the afternoon there are three parallel sessions: shallow geothermal, mid depth and deep geothermal, underground exploration. The keynote presentation at the end will address the synergies among geothermal and natural H2. Except the workshops on Oct. 4^th, all sessions can be attended online from anywhere. Also, 1-to-1 meetings with participants on-site are possible from abroad.

How do you envision the growth of the Swiss geothermal industry within the next 10 years?

We see a clear growth in the shallow geothermal sector, the demand is currently higher as the available capabilities, there are waiting times for new projects. The mid-deep and deep geothermal sector is growing, the number of projects in realization and in the planning pipeline show it. Hence a growth for the related industry is predicable, but not quantifiable yet.

The European Geothermal Congress in Zurich on October 2025 will contribute to accelerating the development of the Swiss geothermal market. As said previously, this growth cannot happen without foreign competences.