The first strategic study on binary technologies has been published with Geothermal Network
With an economic multiplier that is the highest among renewable sources, each GW installed generates over 6 thousand new jobs
[16 Aprile 2024]
Geothermal energy is a renewable and programmable energy source from which electricity, heat and also critical raw materials (such as lithium) can be produced, which Italy – the first country in the world – has been able to use for industrial purposes for over 200 years.
For many years, however, other countries have been focusing with more conviction on the Earth’s renewable heat. In 2000, Italy was the 4th country in the world for electrical power installed in geothermal energy, while today it has slipped to 8th place.
The only active geothermal power plants are concentrated in Tuscany, where the current operator (Enel green power) has been called by the Region to present an investment plan by 30 June, which could be worth the twenty-year extension of the mining concessions. This would be an important step forward, ten years after the entry into operation of the most recent power station (Bagnore 4, in Santa Fiora).
All active Enel power plants cultivate geothermal resources at high temperatures (enthalpy) and generally with a high presence of non-condensable gases such as CO2; these characteristics of the geothermal fluid have guided the choice of technologies for the power plants between dry steam and flash, which do not involve the total reintroduction of the fluid into the subsoil.
The CO2 leaving the power plants, as demonstrated by the Deep Carbon research project, would still have reached the atmosphere through the natural degassing of the soil, confirming the environmental sustainability of the plants.
In the vast areas of Italy where there are less valuable resources from the point of view of temperature (average enthalpy, typically between 90 and 180°C), geothermal energy can grow by also focusing on different technologies such as those with “zero emissions” or binary cycle with total re-injection of the fluid into the subsoil.
Paradoxically, so far, however, no plant of this type is active in the country, among the over 40 planned by the business association Rete geothermica.
«In Italy, the geothermal network has 44 projects under development for over 800 MWe of installable electrical power and investments of around 8 billion euros to be made by 2040 – explains the president, Fausto Batini – Unfortunately, to date, no plant has been built due to the complex authorization processes and the lack of adequate support policies for the development of this type of project”.
Hence the decision to publish, in tandem with The European House – Ambrosetti, the first strategic study on “Zero-emission geothermal energy to accelerate decarbonisation and create development in Italy”.
In particular, Ambrosetti calculated the development potential of the technology: assuming that Italy is able to exploit even just 2% of the potential present throughout the Italian territory in the first 5 km of depth (equal to 2,900 TWh, i.e. five times the entire national energy requirement), geothermal energy could contribute to 10% of the electricity production expected by 2050.
In terms of thermal energy (through heating networks and geothermal heat pumps), overall geothermal energy could contribute to 25% of today’s final thermal consumption, allowing Italy to reduce current final consumption of natural gas by 40%.
Furthermore, investing in geothermal technology generates high positive economic externalities at the local level. For Ambrosetti, 1 euro invested in this technology activates another 2 euros in the rest of the economy, for an economic multiplier that is the highest among renewable sources.
Each GW installed generates an overall added value at system-country level of 8 billion euros. Even from a social and employment point of view, the geothermal sector plays a key role, generating approximately 6,131 new jobs (direct, indirect and induced) for each GW installed, and being the green technology with the greatest employment intensity.
So what is holding back the development of geothermal energy? Among the first factors stand out the high risk of initial exploration and the authorization processes that are still too complex.
To overcome them, Ambrosetti – focusing its analysis on binary technologies – has identified some concrete policy areas: incentive tariffs equal to €300/MWh for the first 10 years (reducible to €200/MWh in the following 15 years); de-risking measures to protect entrepreneurial activity from the intrinsic risk of technology (for example, through compensation for developers of geothermal projects conditioned on the success/failure of drilling the first exploratory well); streamline and optimize authorization processes (for example, through the creation of a national geothermal authority and the establishment of the single authorization title).
Tags: Ambrosetti geothermal energy Italy cut gas consumption
