Françoise Bey, Vice-President of Strasbourg Eurometropolis IGC 2018 - Breaking the Barriers The 4th Iceland Geothermal Conference will be hosted in Iceland in April 2018. The conference offers an in-depth discussion of the barriers that hinder development of the geothermal sector and how to overcome them. It also focuses on the business environment through three separate themes: vision, development, and operations. Having established itself as an important regular conference of the international community, IGC 2018 brought together more than 600 participants from 40 countries from around the world. The 4th Iceland Geothermal Conference will be hosted in Iceland in April 2018. The conference offers an in-depth discussion of the barriers that hinder development of the geothermal sector and how to overcome them.

1. Winning Public Acceptance – Social Acceptability
Strasbourg’s case
Françoise BEY
Vice-President of Strasbourg
Eurometropolis in charge of
District Heating Systems
25/04/2018
Iceland Geothermal Conference

2. 1. Titre 1
Contents
1. The Eurometropolis of Strasbourg
2. Deep geothermal energy in Strasbourg
3. Winning social acceptance
4. Lessons learned

3. 1. Titre 1
The Eurometropolis of Strasbourg | Context
Strasbourg
Urban area
• 500 000 inhabitants
• 33 communes
• 300 km²
Intercommunal structure with
public policy authority over
• Transport
• Economy
• Urbanism and housing
• Climate change and Energy
Transition
• Energy planning
>District heating systems
1

4. 1. Titre 1
RE Share
100%//2050
-
+*Local renewable
production
+
biofuels
Gross final energy
consumption
RE Share=
Renewable energy share
100%
in 2050
2018, drafting a new
Energy Masterplan:
The Eurometropolis of Strasbourg | Energy policy1

5. 1. Titre 1
Deep geothermal energy in Strasbourg2
2010: The Eurométropole commissions a wide
geotechnical study that confirm Strasbourg’s
geothermal potential  highest thermal gradient in
France
2012: French central government (via its Prefecture)
authorises two companies – Fonroche and Electricité de
Strasbourg- to explore the geothermal potential in six
different locations within Strasbourg’s metro area.
2012-2017: Three out of six possible projects have been
abandoned due to several reasons.
2018: Three projects arte currently in pre or post drilling
operations
Strasbourg

6. 1. Titre 1
Deep geothermal energy in Strasbourg2
The Eurométropole de Strasbourg has 3 ongoing
projects:
• Illkirch
• Eckbolsheim
• Vendenheim
Eckbolsheim
(Fonroche)-2022
Vendenheim
(Fonroche)-2019
Main goal:
Greening
distrcit
heatings
Illkirch
(ES) -2020

7. 1. Titre 1
Winning social acceptance3
3 abandoned projects:
• 2 due to technical or administrative reasons
• 1 due to opposition by neighbouring residents
Many infrastructure (and not only geothermal power
plants) face opposition by residents to a proposal for
a new development - for many reasons. These can
cause delays or even the abandon of these projects.
This may indicate a real need of participation of
neighbors in the early stages of the project in order
to include them in the overall conceptual decisions.
Business-as-usual mandatory tools (public inquiries,
declaration that a project has public benefits, etc.) are
not enough.
Ongoing projects: 1 appeal to the administrative court by a
neighbouring city council if dismissed, at least 2 years of delay

8. 1. Titre 1
Winning social acceptance3
In Strasbourg, claimed reasons against deep geothermal
energy:
• Seismic activity
• Pollution of groundwater and phreatic zone
• Radioactive activity (radon)
• The fear of repeating previous mistakes (Basel,
Landau, Staufen)

9. 1. Titre 1
Winning social acceptance3
Two confronted legitimacies:
• Public authority, responsible of energy planning and environmental
policy
• The industrial group who answers to a public tender, with all
mandatory administrative authorisations
Vs
• Some citizens and associations acting as opposition to the project,
contesting the technical capacity of the industrial groups and/or the
public authority decision making, boosted by previous technical
failures and often with political support.
But this is not about opposing legitimacies!

10. 1. Titre 1
Winning social acceptance3
In the case of deep geothermal projects procedures, some facts that
don’t help finding consensus:
• Appropriation timing: Central government and industrial groups
prepare their projet for years, whereas local authorities and
inhabitants discover the project much later - once permits are
delivered or public inquiries start (not much time to propose
modifications)
• Technical and administrative complexity, that can be perceived as a
deliberated lack of transparency
• Corporate communication from public bodies is based on technical
arguments, failing to deliver answers towards more personal fears
and expectations and other ideological bias. These need tailored
answers rather than business-as-usual campaigns.

11. 1. Titre 1
Winning social acceptance3
For the Strasbourg case:
Port project (abandoned)
The project was abandoned after protests by neighbours associations
due to:
• The complexity of the brownfield where the drilling had to be done
(classified as an industrial risk zone due to the presence of petrol
reservoirs );
• Inadequate previous communication;
• Very little coordination with local authority;
• Very close to German border, where opposition to geothermal
projects is very organised;
• The project gave priority to electricity production (no heat delivered
for the territory as no DH available)

12. 1. Titre 1
Winning social acceptance3
Vendenheim project (ongoing drilling operations)
• Placed in a former oil refinery, the project was initially not very well received.
• Public debates with neighbours, inclusion of local governments (communes,
Eurométropole) improved local empowerment.
• Nowadays, the project is perceived as an example of energy transition
Eckbolsheim project (delayed due to appeal)
• Initial discussion were necessary to empower local authorities (mainly insurance
aspects) that finally greenlighted the project
• However, one neighbouring commune (that decided not to get involved in
discussions) sued the Prefecture (central French government) as a protest to
drilling permits.
• These judiciary problems have delayed the project and the investing company
has decided to giver priority to other projects. This has an impact over the
energy transition of Strasbourg’s Hautepierre district heating, an existing DH
close to the future power plant fuelled by natural gas

13. 1. Titre 1
Winning social acceptance3
Illkirch project (drilling operations starting 06/2018)
• Example of best practice
• Public debates started long time ago thanks to the full commitment and energy
strategy of the commune of Illkirch
• A new district heating for the Illkirch is developed at the same time than the
geothermal power plant.
• Giving priority to local heat is perceived as a an added value for the territory.
• Indeed, no unfavourable opinions where expressed during the public enquire.

14. 1. Titre 1
Lessons learned4
✓ Public debates need to start as early as possible and based on the
main driving force of these kind of projects: the need of doing an
energy transition
✓ Dialog with citizens has to be engaged during all development phase
with transparency
✓ Local governments need to send a clear message regarding their
engagement over energy transition. A clear roadmap on sustainable
energy gives a clear context to technologies such as deep geothermal.
✓ For instance, the Eurométropole de Strasbourg hosted the European
Geothermal Congress in 2016 or official trips to Iceland where made.
These sent the good message that helped developing some recent
geothermal projects but was late for winning social acceptance of the
first propositions arrived before 2016.

15. 1. Titre 1
Lessons learned4
✓ Deep geothermal projects are only authorised by France’s Mining law,
enforced by the central government. A bigger role of local
governments in this decision making and authorization delivery could
improve local empowerment.
✓ Energy wise, giving priority to local uses (mainly heat) improves
acceptability. Indeed, the absence of positive repercussions for the
neighbouring territory is a major reason to boost opposition to a
project.
✓ The more the merrier: the multiplication of problem-free projects will
improve acceptability of the technology.

16. Thank you for your attention!