Developing a single access point for the market uptake of geothermal energy use in multivalent heating and cooling networks across Europe

Solutions developed

SAPHEA addresses the uptake of multivalent heating and cooling networks supplied by geothermal energy by creating a durable digital market uptake hub. The hub contains toolboxes and guidelines to support stakeholders in early stage investment decisions and strategy planning activities and addresses market actors in districts or municipalities all across Europe. SAPHEA will therefore combine, adapt and expand existing tools (e.g. Hotmaps or EnerMaps) considering a set of market ready and emerging technological concepts linked to geoHC networks.

Main results

Heating and cooling accounts for half of the EU’s energy consumption, making it the biggest energy end-use sector. Yet only 22 % of this energy is generated from renewable sources. The EU-funded SAPHEA project will increase this amount by encouraging the usage of geothermal energy for district heating and cooling. The project will create a digital hub containing toolboxes and guidelines to support early stage stakeholders. It will also contain advice on investment decisions as well as strategy planning for municipalities all across Europe. The users of the hub will be empowered by targeted training to draft development scenarios and roadmaps taking into consideration the specific geological and socio-economic boundary conditions in their respective region.