| Title | Country update for the Spanish geothermal sector |
|---|---|
| Authors | Arrizabalaga, I; De Gregorio, M; García de la Noceda, C; Hidalgo, R; Urchueguía J F |
| Year | 2016 |
| Conference | European Geothermal Congress |
| Keywords | Update, Spanish geothermal sector, high enthalpy, shallow geothermal, forecast, GEOPLAT |
| Abstract | Spain has a high potential of geothermal resources. Therefore, with a suitable development of the sector, we could reach the levels of geothermal use of other European countries. However, geothermal energy in Spain still shows a low penetration, despite its great potential for both thermal and electrical uses. In Spain there are no geothermal power plants. Some recent promising projects (i.e. in Canary Islands) have been stopped, mainly due to the difficult situation of the electricity sector. This fact, together with the inherent limitations of the deep geothermal sector – with its high upfront costs and its needs of public and private support to minimize risk associated with the geothermal resources investigation – has slowed down progress in the last period. However, geothermal energy for power generation could present a clear opportunity for development in Spain, given the significant potential of existing resources, not only in the Canary Islands but also in the peninsula, where the geological context is particularly favourable to the development of EGS projects. The size of the Spanish geothermal heating and cooling market is difficult to quantify accurately, due to the lack of a centralized, systematic and complete statistic of the number and characteristics of renewable thermal installations in Spain. It is estimated that the current installed capacity corresponds to traditional applications of direct heat uses (mainly in spas and greenhouses), as well as shallow geothermal systems for heating, cooling and domestic hot water (DHW) linked to open and closedloop borehole heat exchangers (BHE). Without any evidence of a change in the political and economic framework conditions, we expect that in the coming years the installed capacity of direct uses remains constant, since most of the existing potential has being already exploited (although some industrial uses could be implemented in a next future). As in the last period, the most relevant progress will likely come from the growth of the heating and cooling installations market in the residential and tertiary sectors, via shallow geothermal systems. The geothermal sector report ”Análisis del sector de la energía geotérmica en España” (Analysis of the geothermal energy sector in Spain) published in December 2015 by the Spanish Geothermal Technology Platform (GEOPLAT) confirms that the generation of heating, cooling and electricity from geothermal energy is a viable energy option in Spain; with the capacity to contribute to the Spanish energy mix as a solid and versatile renewable energy, with great potential to contribute to climate change mitigation policies to be implemented in Spain in the context of 20/20/20 energy policies and National Renewable Action Plans. The report also highlights the potential of job creation associated with a accelerated deployment of geothermal energy in its various forms. |