Geothermal energy has significant untapped potential for both electrical and direct-use applications in the EU. Currently, 'traditional' hydrothermal applications are most common for electricity production, but if EGS technology is proven the technical potential increases significantly. The technologies for hydrothermal applications, direct use (including GSHP) can be considered mature. R&D in those areas is needed to further lower the costs by e.g. developments in new materials, drilling techniques, higher efficiency, optimisation of maintenance and operation. The use of unconventional geothermal (EGS) is only now moving its first steps in the demonstration phase (see e.g. the promising results of the DEEPEGS project), thus R&D support in various areas (deep drilling, reservoir creation and enhancement, seismicity prediction and control) is still highly needed. The Implementation Plan of the SET Plan Temporary Working Group describes the current level of market or technical readiness of specific research areas in geothermal. The areas with the lowest TRL relate to the enhancement of reservoirs (4); advanced drilling (5); equipment and materials to improve operational availability (4-5); integration of geothermal heat and power into the energy system (4-5). More funding has been allocated to geothermal energy during H2020 than any previous funding programme. Although the timeframe of this report (which covers until the end of 2019) precludes a full assessment of the impact of H2020 projects, as a number of projects are still at an early stage of execution, a preliminary analysis on the completed projects highlights a general achievement of the objectives. On the other hand, analysing the distribution of the funding allocated up to now, it can be pointed out that the areas relating to 'Equipment / Materials and methods and equipment to improve operational availability', 'Improvement of performance' and 'Exploration techniques' may need additional attention. In addition, non-technical barriers are still important but extend beyond the issue of public acceptance. Past and current EU-funded projects have been and are advancing the state-of-the art, mainly for exploration (drilling), new materials/tools and the enhancement of reservoirs. Projects have also helped to address non-technical issues such as (financial) risk assessment and mitigation, public acceptance, training. Patenting trends highlight that over the last decade the European Union progressively lost the role as leader that it had gained around 2007-2008, being replaced by the Far-East countries, i.e. China, Republic of Korea, and Japan, which now clearly dominate the innovation sector.
