SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, June 8 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge has launched the first call for aid to carry out feasibility studies of deep geothermal energy in Spain, endowed with 120 million euros
Specifically, this endowment, of which half is destined entirely to the Canary Islands, comes from the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR), financed by the EU Deep Geothermal Program.
The program seeks to facilitate the exploration and investigation of the geothermal resource and to analyze the potential of the locations to develop the first projects for electricity generation or thermal uses.
Interested parties can submit their applications between June 15 and September 7, the ministry reported in a note.
The Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE), an organization attached to the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, will manage this line of financing that seeks to promote feasibility studies that include exploratory actions that analyze and quantify the geothermal resource that exists in different geothermal sites of the Spanish geography.
To be eligible for aid, studies must include at least one research survey with a minimum depth of 1,000 meters and up to three surveys per study may benefit from funding. The successful results would give the beneficiaries access to the exploitation of resources and to develop the first projects in the country.
In addition, the IDAE may advance aid, which will be granted non-refundable, to facilitate the financing of the awarded projects.
These may be promoted by entities with or without their own legal personality, public or private, although they are required to be applicants for or holders of the public mining domain or participants in a public contest for mining rights in accordance with current legislation.
Geothermal energy, a “clean, manageable and inexhaustible” energy, details the Ministry, is part of the country’s energy transition strategy, since the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC), currently under review, establishes a target of geothermal power to be installed for electrical production of 15 megawatts (MW) by 2025 and 30 electrical MW by 2030.
THE CANARY ISLANDS AND ITS POTENTIAL
In the specific case of the Canary Islands, due to their special volcanic nature, they house in their subsoil the largest medium and high temperature geothermal resource in Spain, which could supply a large part of the archipelago’s electricity demand.
For this reason, at least half of the budget -60 million– is allocated to feasibility studies in La Palma, Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote, with 15 million for each island, which will also be eligible for part of the budget planned for the rest of the territory.
Although there are other enclaves with recognized geothermal potential, such as certain areas of Catalonia, Galicia, Andalusia, the north of Madrid or the Pre-Pyrenees, applications for aid may be submitted to carry out studies throughout the national territory, in any area with indications of presence of geothermal resources in the subsoil.
PRIORITY TO STUDIES IN LA PALMA
Among the evaluation criteria, collaboration between companies, public administrations and technology centers will be considered, through public-private consortia, as well as the degree of maturity of the proposal. With the aim of contributing to reactivate its economy after the eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano, the studies located on La Palma will be scored positively.
In addition, the socioeconomic impact in areas of just transition and demographic challenge will be taken into account, the proposals with the greatest impact on the value chain and those that provide better opportunities in geothermal education and training for the workers involved.
