GEOTHERMICA at the European Geothermal Congress 2025 

The GEOTHERMICA Initiative had a strong presence at the European Geothermal Congress 2025 (EGC2025), contributing to advancing Europe’s geothermal innovation and collaboration. 

As part of EGC2025, GEOTHERMICA co-organised the Underground Thermal Energy Storage (UTES) Symposium, which gathered over 100 registered participants from research, industry, and policy sectors. 

The discussions were highly insightful, highlighting the growing importance of thermal energy storage in enabling efficient and flexible energy systems across Europe. You can find the symposium feedback here https://www.geothermica.eu/article/utes-symposium-in-zurich-2025. 

The symposium provided an excellent platform to exchange experiences, lessons learned, and upcoming opportunities within European R&I frameworks. Participants discussed challenges such as data availability, regulatory frameworks, and investment barriers, while also sharing successful case studies demonstrating the integration of geothermal storage into district heating and cooling networks. 

GEOTHERMICA also gained visibility during the poster session, with the presentation “Advancing geothermal energy through strategic financing and policy frameworks: Insights from the GEOTHERMICA Initiative.”  The poster showcased how GEOTHERMICA continues to support transnational cooperation to accelerate geothermal deployment through targeted funding and strategic partnerships.  

GEOTHERMICA contributed to the semi-plenary: Thermal Storage for the Energy System Integration, held on Wednesday, 8 October 2025. The session, moderated by Martin Bloemendal (TU Delft), featured six distinguished speakers sharing technical and policy perspectives on UTES development: 

• Stephan Bolay (IEA Geothermal / GEOTEST AG): General Introduction to UTES Technologies 
• Paul Ramsak (Netherlands Enterprise Agency – RVO / GEOTHERMICA): A Framework to Develop UTES 
• Benno Drijver (IF Technology): Thermal and Technical Performance of HT-ATES Middenmeer – Results from the First Three Cycles 
• Alessandro Berta (Politecnico di Torino): Optimising High-Temperature Borehole Thermal Energy Storage (HT-BTES) Systems – A Case Study from Trondheim, Norway 
• Peter Bayer (Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg): Highlights and Challenges in Demo and Research Projects 

The session fostered an open and engaging discussion on how thermal storage technologies can support energy system integration and accelerate the transition to sustainable heating and cooling. 

GEOTHERMICA’s engagement at EGC2025 reaffirmed its mission to bridge innovation, financing, and policy to unlock the potential of geothermal energy in Europe. The Initiative will continue to facilitate collaboration across borders and disciplines, ensuring that geothermal solutions play a key role in Europe’s clean energy transition.