Development of a sustainability assessment framework for geothermal energy projects

• The need for a framework to assess the sustainability of geothermal energy projects is identified.
• The development of an assessment framework through a case-study in Iceland is described.
• An initial framework is produced, using stakeholder engagement techniques.
• Improvements and further development are needed in other countries to reduce country bias.

With the increasing global energy consumption, geothermal energy usage is set to increase in the future. Geothermal developments may result in both positive and negative environmental and socio-economic impacts. Sustainability assessment tools are useful to decision-makers in showing the progress of energy developments towards sustainability. Due to the unique characteristics of geothermal energy projects, a customized framework for assessing their sustainability is required. This paper presents the development of an appropriate indicator assessment framework, through a case-study in Iceland. The results reveal Icelandic stakeholder views on sustainability issues relating to geothermal energy projects. Environmental and economic indicators were regarded as more relevant than social or institutional indicators. A Delphi survey revealed that the priority sustainability goals for stakeholders were related to renewability, water resource usage and environmental management. The top five indicator choices were related to resource reserve capacity, utilization efficiency, estimated productive lifetime of the geothermal resource and air and water quality.