Abstract
Extended Abstract
The IPCC's AR6 Synthesis Report issues a stark warning, emphasizing that the world's current efforts to combat climate change fall short in terms of pace and scale (IPCC 2023). As per the IPCC's assessment, the primary pathways for mitigating energy emissions until 2030 involve the continued expansion of wind and solar energy. Additionally, there is significant potential to reduce methane emissions during the extraction and use of fossil fuels, as well as to capture and store carbon emissions. The report also highlights other energy sources that could be scaled up without directly contributing to emissions by 2030. These include bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), hydropower, nuclear power and geothermal energy.
Geothermal energy holds a unique advantage as it offers both heat and power generation capabilities, along with the potential for creating a variety of cascading uses. While geothermal energy is a proven and reliable baseload resource on land, its commercial development often faces challenges related to subsurface geological complexity. Onshore geothermal also faces problems of scalability due to the variable subsurface distribution of heat and permeability capable of delivering sufficient energy for power production.
At CGG, we have undertaken research into the possibility of expanding geothermal energy beyond our current technical and geographic boundaries in the long term. This paper is intended to draw the attention of geoscientists, businesses, and policymakers to the substantial, and more consistently distributed, geothermal resources available globally in offshore settings, with a particular focus on the Red Sea region.