The necessary technologies and expertise for integrated use of geothermal energy are highly complex. Power station and plant manufacturers are as much in demand as are the real estate industry and project developers. The latest trends and the best examples of use will show the potential that geothermal energy in its various facets holds. Best practice examples are introduced and discussed as beacons of worldwide geothermal energy use – from power stations all the way to thermal supply of outstanding properties.

Worldwide, there is a trend towards large parts of the world’s population living in megacities. Together with global climate protection targets, these agglomerations face a whole set of new challenges in terms of energy supply. Heat storage, smart grids in the heat sector, heating and cooling are issues which future cities and their builders will increasingly need to deal with. Geothermal energy can provide answers to all these questions; these are discussed using various examples.

Providing Central Europe with energy – specifically electrical energy – requires decentralised and flexible systems along with major infrastructure projects. The Desertec initiative, for instance, will connect suitable production locations with the various consumers in a European network. Geothermal energy can make a significant contribution to this. Geothermal power stations are congenial partners of wind and solar energy and secure the future supply of energy throughout Europe.

In the past, deep drilling was used primarily to produce hydrocarbons – oil and natural gas. The use of geothermal potentials at great depths has many connecting factors to the existing deep drilling industry, the methods and materials used; but it also requires adjustments. This topic will highlight the synergies between geothermal deep drilling and the deep drilling industry in the oil/gas market.