Geosmart Project Concludes with Major Breakthroughs in Geothermal Energy

The GeoSmart project, a groundbreaking initiative funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, officially concludes today. This marks a significant achievement in the transition towards sustainable energy systems in Europe.

The project has successfully developed technologies, such as the GeoSmart flexible power plants, to become highly adaptable energy providers while maintaining baseload power sources. Coinciding with this milestone, the consortium also announces the release of a comprehensive “Techno-Economic Study of European Geothermal Power,” offering critical insights into the future of geothermal energy in Europe.

As part of the EU’s continued commitment to sustainable energy, the European Electricity Market Design (EMD) has called on Member States to support geothermal electricity. This support comes at a crucial time, as geothermal energy was once again identified in 2023 as the best baseload power source, achieving a load factor exceeding 80%. Geothermal systems can now ramp up or down between 100% and 20% power output in just 15 seconds, providing unmatched flexibility in balancing fluctuating energy demands. Moreover, new technologies developed by the GeoSmart project have facilitated further deployment of geothermal power and heat plants to generate flexible power.

Geothermal energy, with its ability to meet both baseload and flexible energy needs, offers a major opportunity to reduce grid infrastructure costs requirements across the EU by more than 10%. This potential is supported by a vision to deploy 250 GW of geothermal capacity across Europe by 2040. Such an expansion would not only contribute to the EU’s decarbonisation goals but also enhance the local security of electricity supply in 242 regions within the EU and 16 regions in EFTA countries.