UNFC Resource Classification Applied to Real World Geothermal Projects: Outcomes from an Education and Implementation Pilot Program

Abstract

The Expert Group for Resource Management of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe endorsed the Geothermal Specifications for the application of the United Nations Framework Classification (UNFC) to geothermal energy resources in September 2016. In 2018 and 2019, the International Geothermal Association (IGA), International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program of the World Bank Group (ESMAP), with the support of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), jointly ran a program of workshops and implementation trials across three regions to train local geothermal professionals on how to use UNFC to classify Geothermal Energy Resource estimates for portfolios of real-world geothermal projects. We report the key outcomes from that program. These included an assessment of the level of effort required to train professionals with no previous experience of applying UNFC; identification of fundamental UNFC concepts that required the most explanation and translation for geothermal professionals (for example, definitions of ‘Project’ and ‘Geothermal Energy Resource’); observations of the key data requirements to allow project classification (for example, status of the license to operate, maturity of subsurface and engineering studies, and availability of an energy production profile for the project lifetime.) Additionally, we gained an appreciation for the interdisciplinary human effort required to rigorously classify and report Geothermal Energy Resources; identified different perspectives that different stakeholders bring to the classification process; developed an understanding of where additional written aids (for example, worksheets and checklists) and guidelines could assist geothermal professionals to apply UNFC; and built an appreciation of the value of joint IGA-IRENA-ESMAP-UNECE programs of this nature to incentivize the uptake of renewable energy.