European Geothermal Congress
6 – 10, October 2025
This conference is held every 2 years and organised by the European Geothermal Energy Council (EGEC) in cooperation with Geothermie-Suisse. The icebreaker was held on Monday evening, with three days of talk and posters (Tuesday to Thursday) and a day of fieldtrips on Friday to a variety of geothermal installations in Switzerland.
The full programme is here Event Agenda | The European Geothermal Congress 2025 | EGC 2025
and all the abstracts are online here
https://europeangeothermalcongress.eu/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/EGC-2025-Proceedings_Final.pdf
The general impression is that geothermal energy across Europe is gaining momentum. In a lot of countries geothermal is moving from academic pilot projects to full scale geothermal projects. In most countries in Europe, geothermal energy is firmly established on the heat market, with shallow geothermal energy (GSHP) used in virtually all of Europe. Direct use of deep geothermal resources is more regionally concentrated, due to its dependence upon suitable geological settings, and is mainly used in the East/South-East of Europe, France, Germany, and some more. Recent development in Belgium and the Netherlands is very encouraging for increased direct use of geothermal energy. The city of Munich is well advanced in decarbonising heat across the two cities. Geneva has also acquired a city wide 3D seismic survey which has completely transformed the fault interpretation. They could have done it much cheaper with a gravity survey.
One country with ambitious goals in Hungary. Viktor Horvath, the deputy state secretary for energy transition in the Ministry for Energy of Hungary, gave the opening address. The impacts of the Russian-Ukrainian war accelerated the transformation of the Hungarian energy system, being heavily reliant on Russian gas imports (ca. 80% of the annual 8.5 BCM gas consumption). Several expert analyses revealed that about 1-1.2 BCM gas could be replaced by geothermal until 2035. It would be worth keeping an eye out for opportunities in Hungary.
One poster was looking at Geothermal brines in the Smackover formation, onshore Gulf of Mexico. Both Chevron and Exxon have recently taken licenses, and the blocks have limited seismic. It would be worth seeing if we have any contacts, there might be an opportunity there
The conference registration included a number of fieldtrips to various geothermal sites around Switzerland. I visited the town of Riehen which has had a geothermal district heating system operating with very few problems since the mid 1990’s.
The next European Geothermal Congress will be held in Budapest, Hungary in 2028.
What is notable is the lack of exhibition space and presentations dedicated to Potential Fields and its use in geothermal energy exploration. I think we should develop a presentation to show how the eFTG can be used in geothermal exploration and look to present at events in the USA and Europe who are both well ahead of the UK.
European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers (EAGE) Global Energy Transition (GET) Conference & Exhibition
27 - 31, October 2025
This is the 6th edition of this conference. The conference was held at the Convention Centre WTC Rotterdam, Netherlands. It’s the second time I have attended this conference. It is split into 4 separate themes:
- Carbon Capture and Storage
- Hydrogen and Energy Storage
- Offshore Wind Energy
- Geothermal Energy
Richard Heath presented the work done with Metatek on natural hydrogen exploration in Ras Al Khaimah, and I presented on hydrogen storage in Cheshire
The geothermal programme suffered from being close to the EGC with the majority of talks centred on subsurface modelling. The attendance was lower than the previous year, again I think it was a busy time of year for conferences.
As with the EGC there was an obvious lack of talks relating to potential fields in both CCS and Geothermal. It may be worth putting something together for the next edition which is 2-6th November in Hannover, Germany.
12th UK Geothermal Symposium – The Geological Society Energy Group
11 - 12, November 2025
This UK focussed event featured updates on the projects in Cornwall and talks on shallow geothermal projects including Minewater Heat and the campus project in Leeds. There were fewer talks on direct use heat which reflects the lesser interest in the UK compared to Europe. There isn’t the same level of Govt support in the UK
Jon gave a talk on the land gravity project we did with an M.Sc. student in Manchester which was very well received. I gave a talk on the Cheshire Basin which was part of my PhD work. It was good to make Metatek visible in the UK but I think it’s a long term project in the UK and needs some Government backing.
The abstracts from the conference are here. https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/media/z1mbsglt/abstract-book-2025-geothermal.pdf
