Activities of Ville NIINISTÖ related to 2023/2111(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Geothermal energy (debate)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on geothermal energy
Amendments (26)
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 13
Citation 13
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 14
Citation 14
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 16 b (new)
Citation 16 b (new)
– having regard to the European Commission study entitled “Geothermal plants and applications emissions: overview and analysis” from 20201a _________________ 1a Study on Geothermal plants and applications emissions: overview and analysis – Final report, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2020, ISBN 978-92-76- 04112-2, doi: 10.2777/755565,
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 16 a (new)
Citation 16 a (new)
– having regard to the report of the Joint Research Centre from 2023 entitled “The heat pump wave: opportunities and challenges”1a _________________ 1a Toleikyte, A., Roca Reina, J.C., Volt, J., Carlsson, J., Lyons, L., Gasparella, A., Koolen, D., De Felice, M., Tarvydas, D., Czako, V., Koukoufikis, G., Kuokkanen, A. and Letout, S., The Heat Pump Wave: Opportunities and Challenges, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2023, doi:10.2760/27877, JRC134045
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 16 c (new)
Citation 16 c (new)
– having regard to the European Commission 2023 study entitled “Overview of heating and cooling - Perceptions, markets and regulatory frameworks for decarbonisation”1a _________________ 1a Overview of heating and cooling - Perceptions, markets and regulatory frameworks for decarbonisation - Final Report, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2023, ISBN 978-92-76-61540-8, doi: 10.2833/962558,
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital -A (new)
Recital -A (new)
-A. Whereas geothermal energy is a valuable and local source of renewable energy that can provide, in a cost-effective way, dispatchable electricity, heat or a combination of both and has great potential for the power sector and for heat production;
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas heat pumps and geothermal energy technologies are categories deemedlisted as strategic net-zero technologies for Europe inin the annex of the Commission’s proposal of the Net Zero Industry Act;
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas geothermal energy can provide economic opportunities for Member States and be a source of quality jobs, creating jobs that require local knowledge and cannot be exported;
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C b (new)
Recital C b (new)
Cb. whereas geothermal heating, cooling and power has already contributed to reduce imports of gas and other fossil energy imports from Russia and can play a role in the European Union’s future security of supply;
Amendment 73 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Welcomes the development of geothermal beyond power generation and heating and cooling; stresses that the process of extracting lithiumraw materials in an environmentally sustainable way from geothermal brines could help contribute secureing a sustainable and local supply of strategic critical raw materials like lithium supply;
Amendment 113 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Welcomes the growing awareness of and support for geothermal at national level; notes that some Member States have developed geothermal roadmaps, targets and dedicated policy measures; stresses the need to facilitate the exchange of information about these measures and data to support geothermal policies and to promote existing best practices; considers that this can be achieved through the establishment of a ‘geothermal alliance’;
Amendment 120 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Recalls that maintaining high environmental and transparency standards in geothermal projects, as well as avoiding conflicts of interest is important to include local communities;
Amendment 140 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Urges the Member States to explore methods of collecting different types of geological data from public and private entities with a view to organising, systematising and making it available to the public; notes that this should be achieved in compliance with confidentiality requirements and data protection rules, and, where necessary, include incentives and compensation for data sharing by private entities;
Amendment 158 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Stresses that for areas with insufficient subsurface data, governments can play a role in funding geothermal resource mapping and exploratory drilling; welcomes the fact that some Member States have already taken steps in this direction; calls for EU funding to support this data collection with a view to creating an EU-wide atlas of geothermal potential, in particular for surface geothermal projects;
Amendment 159 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Emphasises the geothermal potential of repurposed inactive oil and gas wells; calls on the Member States, in cooperation with oil and gas companiRegrets that the potential of repurposing existing oil and gas wells in depleted, abandoned or end-of-life hydrocarbon reservoirs for geothermal applications has not been explored; emphasises the geothermal potential of repurposed inactive oil and gas wells, especially for territories needing to transition from an energy mix heavily reliant on fossil energies; calls on the Member States, to produce publicly available maps of decommissioned wells with their specifications; calls as well for the early phase down of such still- functioning wells that would be suitable to be repurposed, without prejudice to liability requirements and obligations on the former operator;
Amendment 187 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Calls on the Commission to take appropriate steps to ensure that geothermal projects are better taken into account when using existing European funds and instruments; asks the Commission to consider setting up a dedicated geothermal fundcalls on Member States to make use of existing funding opportunities to support reskilling and upskilling of workers, in particular in, but not limited to, transition areas;
Amendment 202 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Notes that the requirements of mining laws designed for large-scale mining projects are difficult to uphold in much smaller-scalefaster permitting rules for geothermal, in compliance with existing EU environmental legislation, would facilitate the deployment of geothermal energy projects; calls on the Member States to review and simplify existing mining laws, where necessary, or to develop dedicated permitting rules for geothermal; asks the Commission to provide guidelines to ensure the requisite level of coherence across the European Union; asks the Commission to provide guidelines to ensure easier procedures across Member States, including to address the issue of streamlining processes across local, regional and national contexts and the possibility of differentiated procedures for surface geothermal and for deep geothermal energy;
Amendment 216 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
Amendment 240 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Expresses its concern over the reported backlogs and delays in the installation of GHPs, the drilling of wells and the granting of the requisite permissions due to a shortage of qualified staff; calls on Member States to adopt action plans to boost upskilling and reskilling of workers for geothermal technologies;
Amendment 262 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
Amendment 269 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Draws attention to existing repurposing projects in decommissioned mines, where applied cavern thermal energy storage technology is able to provide heating or cooling; notes the development of projects which plan to use oil reservoirs for energy storage; takes note of ongoing projects to repurpose decommissioned oil and gas wells for geothermal applications, thereby greatly reducing exploration risks and drilling costs, without prejudice to the liability requirements and obligations on the former operators;
Amendment 272 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Notes that many of these projects are implemented by the hydrocarbonfossil fuels industry, which sees them as an opportunity to be part of the energy transition, and that there is a need for the even stronger involvement of this industry in exploring the potential for geothermal; stresses that early assessment of resources, when the mines are still accessible, ensures the more efficient development of their alternative use, with due consideration on the liability regime to be applied;
Amendment 273 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22a. Stresses that geothermal heating is provided locally, allowing local administrations to be more self-sufficient; highlights the relevance of geothermal heating to reducing dependency on energy imports from third countries and to the EU’s wider goals of increased strategic autonomy in the face of unstable energy supply;
Amendment 277 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. CRecalls on the Member States to make use of existing European funding opportunities to support the re-skilling of the workforce in transition areas, with a view to capitalising on the jobs arising from geothermal projects; notes that oil and gas industry skills can be applied to the geothermal sectorimportance of a just transition towards a highly energy efficient and fully renewable based energy system and the need to fight every poverty; notes that geothermal energy will play a crucial role to substitute fossil fuels for many Member States, especially from Central and Eastern Europe, with existing district heating infrastructure;
Amendment 281 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23 a (new)
Paragraph 23 a (new)
23a. Draws attention to geothermal heating’s role in the just energy transition across Europe as a source of decarbonised heating for communities with district heating networks; calls for EU, national and regional funds dedicated to the modernisation of existing networks to enable the deployment of this untapped source of heating;
Amendment 289 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. Notes that public resistance remains a challenge for geothermal projects, particularly on the basis of environmental concerns such as the possible contamination of ground waters, gas emissions or water over-exploitation; expresses the opinion that, as well as the risk of possible damage on buildings linked to smaller earth quakes related to geothermal exploration; recalls the importance of maintaining high environmental, scientific and transparency standards can serve as an efficient way of overcoming distrustwhen exploiting geothermal energy as an efficient way of including communities and addressing possible concerns;