Energy Minister Charles Hendry of the United Kingdom and Iceland's Finance Minister Oddny Haroardottir signed a memorandum of understanding in late May to explore options in bilateral energy affairs, including an electricity connection as well as information-sharing on deep geothermal development.

According to the agreement, both sides “cooperate to support the development of the deep geothermal sector in the U.K., including in the supply of heat to district heating networks."

This comes as a new report from the Renewable Energy Association (REA) says the UK could meet a fifth of its power needs with geothermal energy, according to the Guardian. Geothermal could supply 9.5 GW of electricity, about 20 percent of current demand. It could also supply 100 percent of the UK’s space heating needs with about 100 GW of heat. The study also found that the current subsidy system is insufficient, and that subsidizing the technology initially would help bring down costs rapidly. "We don't want to be left out of a global industry which is estimated to be worth £30bn by 2020,” Ryan Law, chair of the REA's deep geothermal group, was quoted.

This article was originally published in Geothermal Energy Weekly and was republished with permission. 

Image: cristovao via Shutterstock