Summary

The Task Group on Wider System Impacts of Geothermal Energy was initiated in 2025 and is coordinated by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero to gain a comprehensive understanding of geothermal energy's wider system impacts beyond the cost of energy production and carbon abatement. This will be done through collaboration between the UK, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Iceland and France.

Purpose

Geothermal energy is often evaluated on cost of energy production and carbon abatement alone. While carbon abatement for geothermal is similar to other decarbonising technologies, such as air source heat pumps, the high upfront capital costs and technical risks associated with geothermal make it challenging to deploy at scale. In countries where geothermal is deployed at scale, there is still a lack of understanding and quantification of the wider system impacts of geothermal. Understanding these wider system impacts and how we might quantify them will allow for a more holistic understanding of geothermal. It may also provide leverage to demonstrate the role geothermal can play in countries where the technology is relatively nascent.

Objectives

To facilitate information-sharing on wider system impacts of geothermal from established geothermal projects.
To leverage knowledge across the TCP and geothermal community to gain a comprehensive understanding of wider system impacts of geothermal energy.
To build a shared understanding of the wider system impacts of geothermal and for countries to determine which of these system impacts are most prevalent in their countries.
To lay the groundwork for developing a methodology to start to quantify these wider system impacts and to bring these into the overall assessment of geothermal projects. This could include country specific lead work to develop case studies based on a common methodology.

Activities

Formation of a working group with contributing members.
An initial survey to gather data on the different wider system impacts of geothermal and to gather existing data that could be utilised to start to quantify these wider system impacts.
Dissemination of observed impacts in countries where geothermal is well established and identification of further impacts or interactions.
Application of theoretical impacts and lessons learned from other countries where geothermal is less well developed or challenging to deploy.
Methodology development to quantify wider system impacts.
Organisation of a workshop with for further knowledge sharing and discussion.

Join the Group

If you would like to contribute to the Wider System Impacts of Geothermal Energy group or find out more, please email geothermal@energysecurity.gov.uk.