A pan-European planning basis for estimating the very shallow geothermal energy potentials

Abstract

After the Fukushima nuclear disaster, renewable energy resources have become increasingly important in Europe. Based on available pedological, climatological, topographical, and administrative data sets we analysed the pan-European very shallow geothermal energy potentials (vSGP) on a mapping scale of 1:250,000. International standards and unified spatial processing methods across Europe ensure comparability and seamless visualisation. An open source WebGIS dynamically serves spatially explicit maps of all input and result datasets. The results show unconstrained potential areas for exploitation where the thermal conductivity (W/m*K) varies between 0.8 W/m*K and 1.2 W/m*K within the soil matrix. Depending on parameters such as grain size distribution and humidity, the highest potentials for vSGP exploitation were found in Liechtenstein, Finland, Iceland, and Norway. With over 50% of the respective country affected, Andorra, Montenegro and Slovenia have the highest values assigned with a limitation for vSGP exploitation. The interactive tool for online searching, discovering and analysing the vSGP provide public, planners, and (non)-governmental organisations with information. This place based modelling approach is considered as an input to the National Renewable Energy Action Plans (NREAPs), contributing to the European Renewable Energy Sources (RES) Directive.