Geothermal Development In Italy: From Present To Future

Abstract

The contribution given by the geothermal heat to the total Italian energy consumption in 2006, though notable for the electrical generation, has been poor for the direct uses. The situation at December 2006 was as follows: 810 MWe installed capacity with 5.52 gross electric energy generated, and about 650 MWt installed capacity with some 8000 TJ/yr thermal energy produced for direct applications. The whole of such uses enabled saving almost 1.3 Million OET, of which 85 % ascribable to high-temperature fluids for electrical generation, and the rest to medium-to-low temperature fluids for direct applications. As to the future, two possible development scenarios are presented for the use of the Earth?s heat up to 2020, for which we forecast that, as compared to the above-said situation of 2006, the geothermal-electrical generation can increase 1.5-1.8 times more, whereas the whole of direct uses can have a much faster growth rate and increase 6-9 times more than the present value. Based on these growth scenarios, it can be estimated that geothermal uses in Italy will aggregately enable saving in 2020 from 3 to 4 Million OET, which is roughly 3 times more than the present value. At the same time, the whole of such uses will avoid discharging into the atmosphere in 2020 an amount of CO2 in the order of 8 million t/yr.