Stakeholders had the opportunity to take part in the final workshop and get first-hand information about the results of the Interreg North-West Europe Project DGE-ROLLOUT (Roll-out of Deep Geothermal Energy in North-West Europe). The workshop took place on 29th June 2023 in the Representation of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia to the European Union in Brussels.
DGE-ROLLOUT aims to reduce CO2 emissions by replacing fossil fuels through the increased usage of deep geothermal energy. Over the past five years, the project partners from Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands have explored the subsurface in order to characterise potential geothermal reservoirs and to provide strategies for their accessibility.
The project partners discussed the main project results with representatives of the economy and politics under the workshop's slogan “Deep Geothermal Energy for a prosperous and CO2-poorer North-West Europe”. The aim was to elucidate the value and need of deep geothermal energy in the context of European energy politics, and also want to address the role and involvement of stakeholders.
The workshop started with greetings from Michel Van Camp, General Director of RBINS-GSB) and a keynote from Matthieu Ballu, policy officer in charge of Heating and Cooling at DG ENER. C.1.
Martin Salamon, GD NRW, and Estelle Petitclerc, RBINS-GSB, presented the results of the project, e.g. a harmonized depth and thickness map of potential deep geothermal reservoirs in the project area, a decision-making tool for investments in DGE infrastructure and exploration strategies and finally the production optimization regime at two sites.
In a panel discussion, the results were put in the frame of the current European trends in energy transition and innovation schemes. At the panel took part Philippe Dumas, EGEC Secretary-General, Eveline Rosendaal, Head of Business Development at EBN, Janos Szanyi, Coordinator of the Panel of Experts of Geothermal Energy EFG, and Ben Laenen, Research Coordinator Geothermal Energy at VITO. Moderator was Timme van Melle, EBN.
The video recording of the event is online:
