The geopolitical developments of the past months clearly indicated the need to accelerate and increase efforts to make the energy supply (heat, cold and electricity) independent and sustainable. The subsurface remains the main provider of energy shifting from fossil fuels towards clean and sustainable energy carriers at stable and surface space saving conditions. At the same time, the subsurface offers the unique opportunity to store CO2 from large industrial emitters or fossil energy supply facilities. Moreover, the subsurface will play an important role to capitalize fluctuating clean and sustainable energy carriers by offering large volume storage capacities. Apart from harmonizing and modernizing the legal framework to enable and boost the use of the subsurface and accelerate the transformation from a fossil towards a renewable driven energy system, sustainable geoenergy capacities must be mapped and better understood. Harmonized and uniform appraisal of geoenergy capacities in Europe is the key to develop subsurface management plans which will optimize the use of domestic resources in space and time. This requires new approaches based on new methodologies, such as 4D digital twins.
This session, jointly convened by EuroGeoSurveys – the Geological Surveys of Europe, ENeRG – the European Network for Research in Geo-Energy and the COST Action Geothermal-DHC, aims at integrated and interdisciplinary research related to the appraisal and management of the subsurface. This includes the use of sustainable geoenergy capacities (e.g., geothermal), the storage of clean energy carriers (e.g., hydrogen), the storage of heat and cold, CO2 storage, as well as the synergy of the mentioned technologies at one storage site or in one project. Expected contributions may cover recent developments and efforts regarding mapping, digital subsurface capacity models and management approaches to avoid conflicts of use or lock-in effects and provide synergy use of the subsurface. Special attention will be paid to concepts, approaches and scenarios supporting the efficient phasing-out of hydrocarbon exploitation while optimizing the re-use of existing data and infrastructure. Contributions interlinking geoscientific aspects with social sciences (e.g., social acceptance), environmental sciences and governance are also welcome.