The European Geothermal Energy Council (EGEC) welcomes eagerly awaited confirmation from the European Commission that the Geothermal Action Plan will be published in Q1 2026 (1).
Dan Jørgensen, Commissioner for Energy and Housing, acknowledged, in a written response to a question from Davor Stier MEP (2), that "geothermal energy has an important role to play in the decarbonisation of the EU's energy system". He added, "The potential of geothermal energy has been so far hindered by challenges related inter alia to planning, permitting, skills, financing and availability of data".
"This is an important step forward for Europe's energy security, affordability and sustainable development across all regions and sectors such as industry, farming and households," said Philippe Dumas, EGEC's Secretary-General. He added "The first practical step is to bring forward the launch of the Industrial Alliance that the Energy Council and the European Parliament called for last year as this accelerates investments now".
Sanjeev Kumar, EGEC's Policy Director, added "Whilst this is a step forward it is a little disappointing that the Commissioner's response did not fully acknowledge geothermal's role in the sustainable electrification of Europe or outline specific initiatives on financing such as a Tripartite Contract for geothermal, which was outlined for other renewables in the Affordable Energy Action Plan".
The geothermal industry looks forward to constructive dialogue to remove the bottlenecks to investment that have hampered our industry.
[1] Available at https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-10-2024-003008-ASW_EN.html
[2]Available at https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-10-2024-003008_EN.html
