ENERGY SECURITYGeothermal Could Replace Almost Half of the EU’s Fossil Fuel Power
If you’ve ever been to a hot spring or geyser or volcano, you’ve seen the future of energy. Advances in drilling and subsurface engineering are unlocking a constant, clean power source deep within the Earth.
If you’ve ever been to a hot spring or geyser or volcano, you’ve seen the future of energy. Earth’s innards are hot — really hot — and that heat sometimes bubbles to the surface. If engineers dig holes in these geologically active places, then pipe water through rock, they can tap into this geothermal energy. Whereas solar and wind require sunlight and gusts to produce electricity, the Earth itself provides this constant source of fuel, which provides a powerful technique for bolstering the grid.
A new report from the energy think tank Ember underscores geothermal’s potential, finding that it could theoretically replace 42 percent of the European Union’s electricity generation from coal and natural gas — and at the same cost. New technologies could help Europe keep pace with the United States and Canada by opening new regions and exploiting this abundant, clean energy supply, the report adds. “We can’t really say that all of it will be utilized, but there is enough of it to get policymakers and investors more interested, even in Europe and even outside of traditional hot spots,” said Tatiana Mindeková, a policy advisor at Ember and lead author of the report.
About those hot spots. Historically, geothermal has been limited to geologically active places. That is, if the Earth isn’t hot near the surface, you’d have to dig farther to get at the energy. And the deeper you dig, the higher the costs and the harder it is to recoup that investment. In addition, the rock at these sites must be permeable: A facility pumps down liquid, which flows through the gaps and heats up, then returns to the surface to power a turbine.
But next-generation techniques are opening swaths of new territories to exploit. Engineers are drilling deeper, allowing them to tap into the constant heat emanating from the planet’s molten core. And they’re creating their own permeability by fracturing rock at depth, so the water has space to heat up. “With these new technologies, we actually can extend the scope of where geothermal makes sense economically,” Mindeková said.
