Deadline: February 17, 2026
The European Commission has announced the call for proposals for Underground Thermal Energy Storage in dense urban areas.
The focus is on the most effective and sustainable use of subsurface space in dense urban areas by UTES systems such as ATES, CTES, and BTES. The integration with existing energy grids and interaction with other urban subsurface uses, such as subways, underground utilities, buildings, energy geostructures of buildings, tunnels, slabs, and energy sheet pile walls, with geothermal heating, cooling, and storage opportunities, is central. It addresses uncertainties in seasonal energy demand to improve predictability of required subsurface space and system interactions for optimal subsurface and thermal efficiency use. Projects should deploy one or more demonstrators and may cover areas including utilization of geothermal resources and thermal energy storage at various temperature ranges, subsurface models for sustainable storage and geothermal use, integration of heat pumps and advanced thermal storage interfacing with district heating for grid flexibility, the study of subsurface urban heat islands on geothermal use potential, best practices in subsurface land-use planning and well/borehole strategies, mutual interaction of existing and future UTES systems from geotechnical, energy, and regulatory angles, urban-scale energy grid management and system optimization through digital twins, creation of large open multisensory datasets adhering to FAIR principles and GDPR-compliant data sharing, and use of advanced monitoring systems for early detection and mitigation of adverse impacts of UTES.
The call also emphasizes the importance of de-risking solutions and providing support schemes for guiding innovative energy storage technologies through commercialisation. It requires assessment of the regulatory context with recommendations for future shaping, as well as local community engagement initiatives to explore expectations and experiences of underground thermal storage infrastructures in dense urban areas. The involvement of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) experts and institutions is necessary for citizen engagement, producing significant societal impacts, and ensuring that innovations translate into real-world applications.
The Commission estimates that an EU contribution of around EUR 9.00 million would allow these outcomes to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of a proposal requesting different amounts.
The total indicative budget for the topic is EUR 18.00 million.
For more information, visit EC.
