The worldwide deployment of renewable energy has seen significant growth over the last decade, driven by increasing awareness of the impacts of climate change and the associated need to reduce fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Geothermal energy will play an important role in fostering a clean energy transition, as the technology offers a reliable source of baseload power that reduces emissions and improves energy security.

The demand for energy is expected to nearly double globally by mid-century. Meanwhile, the demand for food and water is expected to grow 50%, putting pressure on existing water, energy and food systems (IRENA, 2015).

Scaling up investment in renewable energy technologies in agriculture and food (“agri-food”) systems is critical to the success of the global energy transition. There are many opportunities for clean energy technologies to support food production, drying, cooling, storage, transport and distribution. Yet, energy use in agriculture and food still relies heavily on fossil fuels, with relatively limited penetration of renewables in these sectors to date (IRENA and FAO, 2021).

The growth in renewable energy, including geothermal energy, has predominantly centred around the electricity sector. However, there is significant potential for using geothermal energy in other end-use sectors through direct-use applications. This is particularly true for agri-food industries, where geothermal can support greater sustainability. In food production, geothermal can be used to regulate temperature and humidity to create the optimal environment for the cultivation of produce. In post-harvest preservation of produce, geothermal energy can be used to support drying, dehydration, cooling and cold storage to minimise spoilage. Geothermal heat is also used to increase the productivity of different applications such as in greenhouse heating, aquaculture, and food processing, among other forms of value addition.

In many developing countries, the unmet demand for affordable and sustainable energy is a key constraint to the development of the agri-food market segment and represents a significant opportunity for countries endowed with geothermal energy to use this resource (FAO, 2015). Agricultural drying via geothermal heat could increase the availability of food by up to an estimated 20% worldwide if the technology is widely deployed and scaled up.

Geothermally heated greenhouse agriculture and aquaculture has the potential to further drive food production to meet global needs (IRENA, 2018).