WorldWide Drilling Resource

WorldWide Drilling Resource ® 7 APRIL 2018 Partnership Aims to Increase Geothermal Energy in Denmark Adapted from a Press Release by E.ON In the coming years, hot water from the Danish underground will supply heat to more cities in Denmark. This is the ambition behind a new partnership between the energy com- pany E.ON and the Geothermal Operations Company (GEOOP), which will unearth the busi- ness potential of geothermal power in a number of major cities. Geothermal heat will be recovered by pumping warm water from roughly a mile beneath the earth’s surface. This could potentially provide heating for up to 250,000 Danish households. Lars van Hauen, E.ON’s CEO said, “Almost half of the fuel consumption in district heating comes from coal and natural gas. We must be much better at utilizing the heat that lies a few [miles] under our feet. In Denmark, we have the best conditions for utilizing geothermal heat because of our well-developed district heating, but we are still lagging behind the rest of Europe. Together with GEOOP, we’ve been thinking about doing something about it.” Theoretically, geothermal heat can provide all the district heating in Denmark, but its full potential depends on local con- ditions and the possibility of connecting the geothermal heat to existing district heating. “As an energy company, we are committed to finding alternative solutions for black energy, and we constantly explore new initiatives and business areas that create value for our customers and the environment. Under many Danish cities, large amounts of underground heat are present, so our first step is to investigate the possibility of utilizing the hot water in areas with greater district heating as in Copenhagen, Hillerød, Roskilde, and Aalborg,” explained Van Hauen. Geothermal heat, along with other renewable energy sources, can make a significant contribution to reducing Danish greenhouse gas emissions, but so far the economic risk associated with particular investigations has hampered development. However, new research is increasing investment security in geothermal drilling. In 2016, GEOOP was a partner in a research project supported by the Green Development and Demonstration Program EUDP. The project revealed the possibility of using geothermal energy on a larger scale and provided new data on Copenhagen’s subsurface geology. GEOOP also participates in the research project Geotherm, supported by the Innovation Fund, which covers the operational aspects of geothermal surface systems. In addition to reducing Denmark’s carbon dioxide emissions, geothermal heat is expected to ensure a low and stable heat price for hundreds of years due to the huge amounts of underground hot water. This cheaper and sustainable district heating is the main ambition for the partnership.