‘Urgent change in policy needed for geothermal energy resources to be tapped’

A lack of exploration and mapping means the number of high heat geothermal reserves in Ireland is not well known, according to a new Oireachtas report

The lack of regulation around exploration for high potential geothermal reserves meant that these energy sources may not be exploited at all, according to Nick Vafeas, the author of the Science Foundation Ireland funded report for the Oireachtas Library Service. Picture: Getty

Ireland’s policy environment needs to rapidly change if zero-carbon geothermal energy resources are to be used in the energy transition, according to a new Oireachtas report.

Geothermal energy is energy that is stored in solid earth in the form of heat. There is both low-heat or “shallow” geothermal energy, which is moderate heat stored in shallow rock that can be used for heating buildings through ground source heat pumps, or high-heat “deep” geothermal energy, which ...