The social context of geothermal energy projects matters as participants of the first DESTRESS Workshop on Social Sciences highlighted at the end of January in Strasbourg. A good example is the acceptability of geothermal energy production in the Alsace (France), which is rather high due to positive experiences with extensive oil drilling in the last decades. To promote local support and acceptance in an area without such a history, a DESTRESS affiliated project in The Netherlands counts on “collaborative learning”. Therefore, nearly 50 greenhouse farmers and entrepreneurs for heat supply are involved as contractors in the project development. In Switzerland, participatory processes on two sites are studied to gain a better understanding of the views and opinions of different stakeholders towards geothermal energy. Another part of the research activities presented at the workshop focuses on mass media. In the UK, geothermal energy was hardly mentioned so far in the newspapers, and is almost none existent, when renewable energy opportunities are discussed. A further expansion of the cross-national cooperation and exchange on social science research within the DESTRESS project is planned for the future.

Albert Genter (És Géothermie) provided an insight into the “Status of the high-temperature geothermal projects in Alsace”. Starting with an overview of the industrial geothermal activities in Alsace, and presenting geothermal projects from various planners in different stages of development (permission, exploration, drilling, and exploitation). Finally, Genter showed that acceptability in Northern Alsace by the local population was only a minor issue. In this regards, the strong, recognisable background in oil drilling and geology is a crucial factor in this area.

Philippe Chavot (LISEC, University of Strasbourg) spoke about the past and planned sociological research in Alsace. In general, this region in France could be seen as a favourable area for the development of geothermal energy, thanks to national and regional support. But there are obstacles to deep geothermal projects as well: there is poor transfer of information from the national to the local level, e.g. small cities that will host the projects have hardly been prepared. Further, “incidents” (earthquakes and drilling problems) at geothermal plant in Alsace, Southern Germany and Switzerland raised suspicion in the local community. In order to study these cases, a research programme commenced in 2015 to analyse, how to deal with a public inquiry (Orageo 1) and is now concerned with the question of opportunities or incompatibilities of geothermal energy and the urban environment (Orageo 2). Since last year, the DESTRESS work package 3.3 is involved with risk governance. The main focus lies on the comparison of the publication perception of geothermal energy in an urban (critical) and a rural context (enthusiastic). Different sociological tools are used to study these observations, such as quantitative surveys, in-depth interviews and focus groups.

Hanneke Puts (TNO) presented an “Update on the case study Trias Westland regarding stakeholder communication”. The Trias Westland project, part of DESTRESS, is the first ultra-deep geothermal project in The Netherlands. An important goal of the project is the transition towards a more sustainable heat supply system in the region. This will not only increase the ‘license-to-produce’ of greenhouse farmers (high energy demand) but also contribute to a more independent, affordable and flexible energy supply system. The national government supports this initiative for two reasons: to acquire further knowledge about the geothermal potential in the Triassic aquifer and to gather new (geo) information about the underground at a depth of four kilometres. Central to gain knowledge is the collaborative learning from 47 contractors (greenhouse farmers/entrepreneurs) for heat supply. The reactions to the first geothermal projects are mainly positive, and there are only few concerns mentioned by local stakeholders. Within the project of Trias Westland, three relevant stakeholder groups have been identified: participants (mainly greenhouse farmers), local stakeholders living in the neighbourhood of the foreseen geothermal plant, and the general public. The Trias Westland project team is planning to organise different meetings and communication activities tailored to the needs and concerns of these three stakeholder groups.

Olivier Ejderyan (ETH Zurich) gave an “Overview of the social context of deep geothermal energy in Switzerland”. He offered an insight into the Swiss Energy Strategy 2050 and the development of Deep Geothermal Energy (DGE) in Switzerland. After the projects in Basel and St. Gallen were abandoned in 2006 respectively in2013, several projects are in discussion or in the pre-planning phase. Haute-Sorne, part of the DESTRESS project, is currently the only project in planning. Ejderyan’s research goals are the development of adapted participatory processes for deep geothermal energy. This requires an understanding of what DGE means to various groups of stakeholders and the public, and how these relationships are forged. His research is based on media analyses of the Swiss press, coupled with case studies on the Haute-Sorne project and Geneva’s deep geothermal energy programme. The case studies will be conducted using qualitative social science methods, integrate social theory and technical knowledge on DGE through interdisciplinary collaboration within DESTRESS.

Yeny Serrano (LISEC, University of Strasbourg) presented on “Deep geothermal energy in Strasbourg”. She aimed to answer questions on 1) how deep geothermal energy and public inquiries were influenced by local newspapers and blogs of local associations, 2) if media information was used to encourage residents to accept or reject the projects and 3) if local media was an “actor” of the controversy. The main results highlighted the differences between two types of media: The first type is described as the traditional media which is profit oriented and committed to provide “objective” news. The second type covers alternative media, which are not profit oriented and use online channels, more specifically blogs. The local, traditional newspaper focused its attention on the projects once local authorities had made a decision, while the residents blogs published more than half of their posts on the topic before the public inquiries, suggesting that the blogs were seeking to encourage citizens to participate in the public inquiry. Local media has depicted deep geothermal energy in rather a negative way, focusing on possible risks.

Helen Robinson (University of Glasgow) stated that until now there are no serious objections from the public regarding UK-based geothermal energy projects. This might have to do with the fact that the currently developed sites haven’t reported any major issues. When comparing the mentioning of “geothermal” in newspapers, there is a gap between national and local: in the first case, a general absence of reporting is noticeable, but on a local level, the term “geothermal” appears. It looks like there is a tendency for increased reference to geothermal energy in the press, when reporting about shale gas, but less mentioned in the context of renewable energy articles.