In the Lake Bolsena area there are currently 18 mining titles for the industrial exploitation of geothermal energy, involving 35 municipalities and about a thousand square kilometres. Three titles concern pilot projects, two are currently suspended. Each title involves more than one municipality; each municipality is affected by up to five projects.

The three initial stages of the administrative process for the construction of a plant are:

• application for a permit to search for geothermal resources
• granting of permission to search for geothermal resources
• application for a permit to extract geothermal resources

When permission to search is granted, surface prospecting and explorative drilling can be carried out in order to verify the presence and usability of geothermal resources. If this research results in a positive outcome an application for a permit to extract can be made. This application includes, among other things, presentation of the complete project and an environmental impact assessment.

The approval process for normal plants takes place at regional level, that for pilot plants at national level.

The procedure for pilot plants, while similar to that of normal plants, has certain special features: If a search permit is granted, it leads directly to the realisation of the plant, which can then be operated for 4 years (with a possible 2 year extension). If the outcome of exploration is positive, the mining permit may be requested: research activity is, in this case, simultaneous to production and is aimed at testing the capacity of the (already built and operative) plant to re-inject the geothermal fluid extracted in the same formations of origin with zero emissions into the atmosphere (in accordance with Legislative Decree 22/2010, and clarification by the Ministry of Economic Development (MISE).

The projects which are furthest advanced in this administrative process are those of Castel Giorgio and Torre Alfina, two pilot plants where research permits have been granted. For a third project, called “Nuova Latera”, an application has been made for permission to extract geothermal resources. This project is currently  undergoing an environmental assessment.

We have a section dedicated to each of these three projects (see box on the right).