The impact of enhanced geothermal systems on transitioning all energy sectors in 150 countries to 100% clean, renewable energy

Enhanced geothermal systems (EGSs) involve advanced drilling methods for extracting heat from deep in the Earth to generate clean, renewable electricity and/or district heat. Here, we model transitioning 150 countries to 100% wind-water-solar (WWS) systems across all energy sectors after near-full electrification of all sectors and using conventional geothermal and solar heat for the remaining energy, when EGS electricity is excluded versus included as a WWS technology. In low-, mid-, and high-cost-EGS cases, where EGS provides 10% of electricity supply as baseload, WWS-system private energy and social energy costs, respectively, are lower than, similar to, and higher than costs without EGS. Thus, including baseload electricity appears to have little impact on 100%-WWS-system costs. With EGS, net nameplate capacities, land needs, and jobs decrease. Less land benefits small countries the most. With or without EGS, 100% WWS reduces annual private- and social energy costs ∼60% and ∼90%, respectively, versus business-as-usual. Thus, EGS helps a worldwide energy transition.