Country Update for Sweden

Abstract

This paper presents the status of geothermal energy use and market in Sweden. Geothermal energy in Sweden is dominated by low temperature, shallow geothermal energy systems and direct use. The vast majority of installed geothermal energy systems are ground source heat pumps (GSHP) for space heating and domestic hot water heating for single family buildings. About 20% of the Swedish buildings use GSHP, making Sweden a leading country within this technology. The market for larger shallow geothermal energy systems for residential as well as non-residential buildings has been expanding during the last years. Shallow geothermal energy systems provide some 15 TWh of heating and cooling in Sweden (excluding free cooling), with a total installed capacity of 5.6 GW. Most part of Sweden lacks the geological conditions for deep geothermal exploitation. However, there is one plant in Lund from the mid-1980’s that is still in operation, providing some 200 GWh of geothermal heat, or about 20% of the heat demand, annually to the Lund district heating system