“Who is going to get geothermal energy out of its niche?”

Geothermal energy is hailed by many as a great hope for the energy transition, but despite its seemingly endless potential for clean heat, the technology has barely got off the ground in Germany, news agency dpa reports in an article carried by Handelsblatt. In the second half of 2016, geothermal energy accounted for just 0.1 percent of the country's renewable power generation, the article says. Geothermal energy accounts for a somewhat larger share of heating, however, and could potentially cover around 60 percent of Germany’s heating demand, according to Gregor Dilger of the German Geothermal Association (BVG). Dilger argues that high taxes and surcharges on electricity have prevented greater use of geothermal energy, even though the small boreholes it relies on (with a depth ranging from 100 to more than 4,000 metres) give it a major advantage over other renewable energy sources: “It does not blemish the landscape.”

Find the article in German here.