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Description
The project will support the use of geothermal energy from deep reservoirs. It aims at strengthening the institutional capacities of public authorities and making information available for potential investors. A donor project partner, Iceland School of Energy (Reykjavik University), will provide best-practice knowledge on technology, energy production and resource information.
The Info-Geothermal project pursues the objectives of:
- improving availability of official information that supports development of geothermal energy projects, and
- increasing knowledge by providing focused trainings for experts and authorities as well as raising awareness through dissemination activities.
The main activities include:
- mapping deep geothermal potential;
- establishing guidelines and rules on development of geothermal projects;
- training experts of authorities, research organizations and project developers;
- establishing a national geothermal network of experts, investors, project developers and other stakeholders.
Summary of project results
INFO-GEOTHERMAL was the first project aimed at innovative strengthening institutional capacities of national authorities involved in managing geothermal energy use, of local authorities who provide spatial framework for investors, and biggest players in exploration of deep geothermal potential in Slovenia. The project INFO-GEOTHERMAL supports increased and more energy-efficient use of thermal water for production of geothermal energy in Slovenia. It is a basis for a future one-stop-shop and geothermal competence centre where several challenges were addressed:
1. availability of reliable information on the deep subsurface to reduce geological risk,
2. increase of technology and know - how transfer by development of guidelines and standards for project design and operation, good examples of high energy efficiency, cascade systems, and reinjection well design and management to reduce technological risk,
3. permanent interdepartmental cooperation of agencies and ministries to develop optimal permitting procedures
4. development of risk insurance schemes, and
5. capacity building and education of all groups of stakeholders.
The project significantly improved the availability of official information supporting the development of deep geothermal projects in Slovenia which helps to reduce development risks by open-access information available on project’s website with technical and substantive tools, increased stakeholder awareness, increased the knowledge of project partners and other participants of targeted trainings.
The INFO-GEOTHERMAL project was related to the programme output “Improved capacity to develop less established renewable energy sources”, and has contributed to indicators under the Programme as follows:
a) Output: Report on necessary legislative amendments of subsidy schemes for the accelerated use of geothermal energy prepared (achieved value: 2). Within task Improving national legislation, activity Proposals for legislative amendments we have prepared two reports: Report on needed amendments of legislation to establish geological risk insurance schemes and Report on needed amendments of legislation for support schemes in reinjection, cascade use and geothermal electricity.
b) Output: Number of experts trained in geothermal technologies (achieved value: 102):
- Training of stakeholders for using guidelines: At seven expert workshops in 2024 we have trained Slovenian local authorities and experts on using the Guidelines to develop direct use projects (district & greenhouse heating) and integration with other RES and Guidelines to develop pilot geothermal power plant with evaluation of transboundary aspects, and jointly set up the work plan for new Slovenian geothermal energy association.
- Training at a summer school: With 10 trainers we have educated 24 PhD students and young experts from 13 different countries within the summer school on deep geothermal resources.
c) Output: Number of staff from beneficiary states in exchanges (achieved value 27):
- Training of local representatives from Slovenia in Iceland. Workshop and site-visit to transferrable case studies on reinjection, cascade use technology and binary geothermal power plants in Iceland was held between in 2022 in Reykjavík and southwest Iceland. Also training of Slovenian geothermal experts took place in 2022 in Iceland and additional an online workshop was also held.
d) Output: Number of staff from donor states in exchanges (achieved value:3)
- Training of staff from Iceland in Slovenia: in autumn 2023 a workshop and a field trip in Slovenia were held for three Icelandic experts.
e) Output: Mapping of technical potential of DEEP geothermal energy (achieved value: 3)
Project partners have evaluated publicly available databases and gained additional data which was published in three types of deliverables:
- Report on evaluation of available subsurface data and identification of areas with the need for further research describes most relevant geothermal projects and available metadata on 265 deep wells and 3022 km of geophysical cross sections, with a proposal for targeted deep exploration research.
- Report on preparation of the 3D digital geothermal model of NE Slovenia explains the now, for the first time, freely accessible 3D geological and temperature datasets as presented at an advanced tool - viewer (https://geo3d.pgi.gov.pl/Slovenia/index.html)
- Digital datasets of deep geothermal potential at pre-selected priority areas identify newly defined go-to geothermal areas in three municipalities of Beltinci, Dobrovnik and Turnišče.
Targeted outcome of INFO-GEOTHERMAL project was increased renewable energy production by a number of national policies and laws influenced.
In Slovenia, the use of geothermal energy used to be defined in two laws: the Water Act – for the case of using thermal water, and the Mining Act – for the case of using geothermal energy in a closed system of a geothermal doublet. Since, 2023, the Introduction of Installations for the Production of Electricity from Renewable Energy Sources Act (“ZUNPEOVE”) has gained into force and represents a new possibility for deep geothermal development. However, as now even three Acts govern the development of deep geothermal projects in Slovenia, it was important to develop Guidelines on proper project development for direct use and electricity production as complete documentation significantly speeds up the permits and decision-taking processes. We have recognised possible solutions for establishing new subsidy schemes or nationally funded exploration of deep resources as a geological risk mitigation scheme, proposed harmonisation of legislation not to contradict among itself, and listed available freely available data for (pre)feasibility studies. By implementing a new viewer - Digital database of 3D geothermal model of NE Slovenia, we have organized relevant datasets into a system which can eventually, when the legislative framework is set properly, extended into an official and unified national geophysical, geological and geothermal database.
Over 120 Slovenian experts and representatives of local authorities and 30 experts from Europe and USA participated in project activities – workshops, pilot studies, trainings and field trips in Slovenia, Iceland and Croatia. This is far the largest involvement of geothermal community in Slovenia in the last decades and successfully resulted in large interest to participate in a newly establishing Slovenian geothermal energy association. We foresee that project results, beside already achieved raised awareness and increased capacity to develop geothermal projects, are directly applicable to:
- any interested stakeholder and investor that needs to access information where and which subsurface datasets are available, to decide with which project development phase they can start (pre-feasibility or feasibility study)
- researchers and project developers that can use the prepared geo-package for three selected pilot municipalities to prepare the first economic assessment of the new direct heat or geothermal power plant projects there
- project developers, investors and authorities that should use the guidelines for new applications for permits so that they are better prepared, which will enable faster decision-making process
- most Slovenian local authorities can use spatial analysis approach to improve their local energy plans, secure lands for best geothermal sites and attracts investors there
- all visitors to 15 thermal spa and resorts who will learn about thermal waters and geothermal energy use while using their services.
Summary of bilateral results
International networking is a big advantage. By having Icelandic partners who could attract relevant representatives of international organizations and investors to project events, also Slovenian higher-ranking authorities and consultants were present and our dissemination activities reached much wider European stakeholders. This enabled sharing information at higher level than just between the researchers. Also, local authorities were more interested to participate if foreign experts have shared their experiences. Iceland has an extensive reputation in geothermal, so this encouraged our big-players and relevant stakeholders from surrounding countries.Iceland school of Energy (ISE) organized several activities and participated at others and checked all summaries and abstracts in English language for consistency. The impact of ISE cooperation is huge and very important for the success of this project. It not only led to more effective knowledge exchange but also to larger impact in an authority-level.ISE organized a Workshop and tour of transferable case studies on reinjection, cascade use technology and binary geothermal power plants in Reykjavik and surroundings in October 2022 where we trained 7 local communities and 13 experts and authorities from Slovenia. Afterwards, they organized targeted training of 7 experts, of which 3 were new participants. In November 2022 they organized an online workshop on the role of municipalities in Iceland geothermal development, which was attended by 6 other Slovenian experts. ISE provided trainers for a geothermal summer school in Ljubljana that lasted from July 3rd to 8th, 2023, being attended by 24 trainees from 13 countries. Between 9th and 11th October 2023 ISE visited Slovenia and participated at workshops and field visits with 22 participants and representatives of project partners.