In a recent article by the Environmental Observatory of Lake Bolsena one can find the answer to the following riddle: why do Italian open-cycle geothermal plants (for example those of Amiata) receive grants for the reduction of greenhouse gases, despite the fact that they emit more greenhouse gases than a fossil fuel power plant?
“Double self-certification” is the correct answer. It works like this:
- The geothermal industry self-certifies that its plants do not emit greenhouse gases. Italy communicates this data to the European Environment Agency which publishes it in annual reports.
- The geothermal industry cites these reports as evidence that Italian power plants do not emit greenhouse gases, and the circle is complete.
The Italian open-cycle geothermal plants are all located in Tuscany, but such a plant is also being planned in Latera. Their emissions have been known and measured for more than twenty years by the Regional Agency for the Protection of the Environment (ARPA) Toscana. The geothermal industry claims that these emissions are compensated by a corresponding reduction of gas from the ground and that therefore, all in all, the emissions would be zero.
The problem is that there is no scientific proof for this mechanism, no measurement confirms it and no law provides for it or makes it valid.
To ask for clarification, the environmental associations of Lake Bolsena, in collaboration with the Network against Speculative and Polluting Geothermal Energy (NOGESI), turned to Europe. A study carried out for the European Commission (emissions from geothermal applications and plants: overview and analysis) fully confirms our point of view, stating that “…in the absence of additional scientifically based data … the effect of geothermal plant operation on CO2 emissions through natural pathways should not be taken into account”.
What will happen now? Will the Ministry of Economic Development (MISE) continue to subsidise plants that accelerate climate change? Is it still permissible that essential resources are withdrawn from renewable energies, which really make a contribution against climate change?
