The Netherlands Country Update on Geothermal Energy

Abstract

At the initiative of NOVEM, the Dutch Agency for Energy and Environment, a Platform for Geothermal Energy was established at the end of 2002. The objective is to stimulate the development of geothermal activities in The Netherlands and to disseminate know how in this field.
As the geological conditions in The Netherlands are not so very much different from the situation in the surrounding countries it is actually a bit surprising that the level of geothermal activities (in the sense of utilizing the energy in deeper layers of the earth) is currently so modest. This situation might, however, improve. At the moment of the writing of the article there are four initiatives to investigate the possibilities for use of Geothermal energy from deeper layers (feasibility studies for specific applications). It is expected that other new initiatives will be developed in the coming period by the newly established Platform.
A different story is the market development of the utilization of Ground Source Heat Pumps (GSHP's). GSHP's are obviously still being improved and optimized but are nowadays firmly established as an option to be considered for a wide variety of building projects.