Luis C.A. Gutiérrez-Negrín (Editor) and Ángela Prieto (AGEOCOL Secretary)

Through 10-15 December 2018, the Colombian Geothermal Association (Asociación Geotérmica Colombiana, AGEOCOL), conducted the third annual meeting called Geothermal National Meeting (Reunión Nacional de Geotermia, RENAG) in Bogotá, Colombia. RENAG 18 was composed of three main activities: pre-congress workshops (10-11 December), presentation of papers (12-14 December) and a post-congress field trip on 15 December. These activities gathered around 100 people along the week, most of them young students and recent-graduate professionals in Earth Sciences, Engineering and some social sciences. The event was co-hosted by the Colombian Geological Service (Servicio Geológico Colombiano, SGC), with the purpose of strengthening the geothermal knowledge in the country.

Two short courses were conducted the first two days (10-11 December), one on fluid inclusions and the other on geochemistry of diffuse gases, both instructed by experts from the governmental company in charge of the geothermal fields in El Salvador, LaGeo –which was also a main supporter of RENAG 18. Approximately 20 persons attended the courses held in the SGC.

One special workshop on the geothermal roadmap for Colombia was developed on 11 December, in the conference room of the National Hydrocarbon Agency (Agencia Nacional de Hidrocarburos, ANH). It was conducted by Pablo Aguilera Bustos, the current President of AGEOCOL, and Luis C.A. Gutiérrez Negrín, from Mexico, whose participation was financed by the IGA through its Education Committee. Pablo Aguilera presented a general introduction and the expectations that the association had on the workshop, as well as the status of the current regulatory framework in Colombia. Luis Gutiérrez Negrín presented the main features of the two recent geothermal roadmaps for Mexico (one general and other specific for geothermal direct uses) and the process of their preparation, which was commissioned by the Mexican Ministry of Energy. He also presented the main components of the regulation related to geothermal energy in Mexico, particularly the Geothermal Energy Law, as well as the history and current status of the geothermal-electric development in the country and the main perspectives.

The workshop also included two presentations from New Zealand, one pre-recorded by Bart van Campen about the regulatory framework in this country and its comparative to a couple of other countries (Chile and Iceland), and the other was an online presentation, through a teleconference about the GeoHeat Strategy that has been developing in New Zealand. The latter was presented by Andy Blair, President of Women in Geothermal (WING), and one of the founders and responsible of this initiative related to direct uses, outreach and inter-relations with communities.

The final part of the workshop was an open discussion among all the participants, conducted by Pablo Aguilera and Luis Gutiérrez-Negrín. Some of the main outcomes and conclusions of the workshop can be summarized as follows: i) It is necessary to define the national geothermal potential in Colombia, based on the different studies and assessments performed up to now, activity that is part of the institutional responsibilities of the SGC. ii) The definition of an official geothermal roadmap corresponds to the Colombian government. It is recommendable that AGEOCOL continues its efforts to prepare a document defining the hurdles and challenges for the geothermal development in Colombia, which can be an important contribution to a further roadmap. iii) It’s important to take advantage of any opportunity to propose to the proper governmental authorities recommendations for the formulation of a geothermal roadmap, for which AGEOCOL can count with the collaboration and support of participants from the SGC, UPME (the planning department of the Ministry of Mines and Energy) and other governmental offices.

In the following three days (12-14 December) around 30 papers were orally presented in the main conferences room of the SGC. These presentations were grouped into four themes: i) Geothermal as base-energy at the national electric market. ii) Human talent. iii) Science and Technology. iv) Communities. Every theme had a panel discussion with all the speakers and the floor open for questions, answers, comments and proposals by the audience. The audience was encouraged to participate by moderators of each theme, producing wide and vivid discussions.

The field trip to the geothermal zone of Paipa, was conducted by Jesús Rueda, geologist from the SGC and active member of the AGEOCOL on 15 December.

Before the closure of the main event, on the evening of 14 December, the President of AGEOCOL read the Bogotá Declaration, an official statement of the association prepared with the recommendations gathered during the event and the results from the discussion panels, on the current status and possibilities of geothermal in Colombia. After that, participants were invited to join a closure reception hosted by LaGeo in the same SGC facilities.

In the Bogota Declaration, five main points of work are identified:

  1. Current knowledge of the geothermal potential
  2. Human talent available
  3. Communities involvement in geothermal projects
  4. Regulatory framework
  5. Political participation

Strategic actions proposed to work on these five points are:

  1. Establish an action group to work continuously and together in coordinated workshops towards completing the strategic actions.
  2. Quantify the geothermal resource and the capacity potential.
  3. Offer ongoing training for local people.
  4. Socialize geothermal in communities, schools, and universities from the social and academic perspectives.
  5. Give recommendations to strengthen the geothermal regulation.
  6. Find ways to participate in high levels of politics.

The current Board of Directors of AGEOCOL will work in the involvement of AGEOCOL members and the participants of RENAG 18 with these actions, for the promotion of geothermal energy in Colombia.   

AGEOCOL also ran its first general assembly during RENAG 18. It was held at the evening of 12 December, and was open for all members of the association to attend. Ten active-members of the association, with right to speak or vote as established in its bylaws, were present.  Among them, three of the Board members were physically present (the President Pablo Aguilera, the Vice-President Valeria García, and the Treasurer Carolina Coronado), and one participated remotely (the Secretary, Ángela Prieto). The Assembly was conducted by the President, and the agenda was composed of the reports by the President and the Treasurer and other business, among which was the decision to hold RENAG 19 on 25-29 November 2019 in Medellín, the second largest city in Colombia.

Geothermal Resources Council Annual Meeting will be held Sept. 15-18 in Palm Springs, California, USA.

Davis, California, USA. The Geothermal Resources Council (GRC) has issued a call for papers for the world’s biggest annual geothermal energy conference of the year taking place September 15-18, 2019, at the Palm Springs Convention Center, Palm Springs, California, USA.  The 43rd GRC Annual Meeting will highlight Geothermal: Green Energy for the Long Run – as a clean, dependable renewable energy, geothermal energy offers a long-term solution for the supply of low-carbon emission electricity.

The GRC Annual Meeting is the industry’s largest annual gathering of leading geothermal energy scientists, producers, renewable energy industry stakeholders, regulators, utilities, and key associated business leaders. The four-day event will offer technical, policy, and market conference sessions, educational seminars, tours of local geothermal and renewable energy projects, and numerous networking opportunities.

Over 1,000 attendees came to the 2018 GRC Annual Meeting and Expo from over 40 different countries, highlighting the GRC’s role in connecting the global geothermal energy community. With increasing interest in geothermal as a reliable source of renewable energy providing both flexible and baseload power production around the world, the GRC is looking ahead to an even stronger international attendance in 2019.

The GRC 2019 Annual Meeting planning committee will consider papers for its Technical and Poster Sessions covering a range of topics, both domestic and international: Business Development / Finance/ Market Analysis; Drilling; Direct Use / Heat Pumps; Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS); Emerging Technologies; Exploration / Resource Assessment; Field Operations / Production Technologies; Geology; Geochemistry; Geothermal Education and Community Engagement; Geothermal Energy Associated with Oil and Gas Operations; Geothermal Project Case Studies; Geophysics; Power Operations / Flexible Generation / Maintenance; Regulatory / Environmental Compliance / Policy Issues; Reservoir Engineering/ Reservoir Management/ Modeling; Sedimentary Basins; Utilities and Transmission; Country Updates (example: East African Rift / Philippines), and Regional Updates (example: Salton Sea / Basin & Range / Cascades).

In addition, there is an opportunity to submit papers in special themed topics: Advancements in Resource Development, Wellbore Construction & Completion; Diversity within the Geothermal Industry; EGS Collab Project; Experimental & Modeling Techniques for Geology, Geophysics & Hydrology; Geothermal Growth in East Africa; Geothermal Policy; Geothermal Well Integrity Technologies; Harnessing Energy & Water in the Salton Sea; Mineral Extraction From Geothermal Fluids; Modernizing Steam Controls; Production Well Automation Upgrades; Remote Sensing for Exploration & Resource Assessment; Spanish Language (Papers will be written & presented in Spanish); Statistics in Geothermal Exploration; Technology Transfer Between Oil & Gas and Geothermal Applications;  Uncertainty & Risk Analysis to Inform Geothermal Project Decisions, and Wellhead Assembly Equipment, Maintenance & Best Practices.

International participation is key to the success of the technical programs, and geothermal researchers and experts from the USA and around the world are encouraged to submit their work for consideration to be presented at the GRC Annual Meeting. 

Anyone who wants to present at the GRC Annual Meeting must submit a paper. The deadline for submission is Friday, March 15th, 2019.

Additional information about paper requirements and submission forms can be obtained by contacting the GRC at (530) 758-2360 or at www.geothermal.org.

For information on how to sponsor this event, contact Anh Lay; GRC at (530) 758-2360 X100 or alay@geothermal.org.

For more information about the GRC Annual Meeting & Expo in Palm Springs, California, USA, visit www.geothermal.org/meet-new.html or call (530) 758-2360.


About the Geothermal Resources Council:

The Geothermal Resources Council (GRC) will be celebrating 50 years of service to the global geothermal energy community in 2022. The GRC is dedicated to advancing geothermal development around the world through education, research, and outreach. For more information, please visit www.geothermal.org.

IGA reaches out to you, our member, and asks for your help in filling out the Market Study Survey, which main aim is to find out how good the Global Geothermal Community is in using Social Media and Marketing Techniques.

Let us work together on improving the visibility of geothermal energy.

For the English version go to: https://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/4615286/Social-Media-Usage-Market-Research-Survey

For the Spanish version go to: https://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/4684669/Investigaci-n-de-mercado-sobre-el-uso-de-las-Redes-Sociales-en-la-industria-geot-rmica

Special thanks to Geoenergy Marketing Services for creating this survey and their desire to unite the voice of geothermal.

The new Assistant or Associate Professor is expected to conduct research into scientific challenges in the field of geothermal science and engineering, for example in geothermal reservoir characterisation, reservoir and production engineering, e.g. the understanding of breakthrough mechanisms of thermal and chemical fronts in relation to subsurface heterogeneities, the interaction of geothermal fluids with rocks and technical installations, or the thermal and mechanical fracture development in reservoir rock. In addition to these subsurface-related challenges there are numerous scientific and engineering questions emerging from geothermal energy production in the Netherlands. These involve, for example, drilling technology, optimisation and up-scaling of geothermal operations, as well as other economic, legal and policy aspects.

https://vacature.beta.tudelft.nl/vacaturesite/permalink/48788/?lang=en

https://www.academictransfer.com/en/48788/assistant-or-associate-professor-of-geothermal-engineering-tenure-track/

The university of Geneva announces two new 2-years Post Doc positions within the GEo-Energy/Reservoir and Basin Analysis Group related to Geothermal Exploration and Reservoir Characterisation:

  • 3D Reservoir Structural Modelling
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  • Risks and Uncertainties Evaluation of Geophysical Exploration Applied to Geothermal Drilling Projects
    [download id=”2887″ template=intext]

 

by Michal Kruszewski (GZB)

In General

Poland is one of the central European countries with high geothermal potential and strong interests from government as well as local authorities. The country has only low-enthalpy resources, connected in most cases with the Mesozoic sedimentary formations. Six geothermal district heating plants are currently in operation in Poland i.e. Podhale region since 1994, Pyrzyce since 1996, Mszczonów since 2000, Uniejów since 2001, Poddębice since 2012 and Stargard since 2012, with total installed capacity of 76 MWth and heat production of 227 GWh. The most attractive direct applications of geothermal energy in Poland are space heating, balneotherapy, recreational, aquaculture and other minor uses. Geothermal waters with temperatures ranging from 20 to 100°C and flow rate of up to 150 l/s are being produced from geothermal wells with total depths between 1 to 3 km. Most of deep geothermal installations are based on doublet systems, with an exception of Mszczonów and Poddębice district heating plants, where thermal water mineralization is below 500 mg/l. Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP) industry, established in Poland several years ago, is in constant development and experienced immense progress since 2013, with 500 MWth installed capacity and 714 GMh of heat production as for 2015.

News

At the end of September 2017 local authorities of Szaflary, Koło, Lądek Zdrój, Sochaczew and Sieradz municipalities received large subsidies (in total 46 mln EUR) from Polish National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management (NFOŚiGW) in order to investigate and explore geothermal resources in various areas in Poland. The deepest planned exploratory well Bańska PGP-4 will be drilled in Szaflary (southern Poland) municipality with target depth of 5.3 km. The well will investigate potential resources of geothermal waters in Podhale region. It will be the fourth production well in the area and the deepest in the field. Well temperatures are expected to reach temperature of 130°C, which is around 40°C higher than temperatures from the typical wells in area drilled to 3 km depth. Such temperature will allow not only for district heating but also create possibility of electricity production, which was not yet investigated in Poland.  The new well is planned to start production by the end of November 2020 and will also provide new insights about geology and reservoir conditions below current production intervals. The well will the deepest geothermal well in Poland and one of the deepest in Europe.


Fig. 1. Wellhead of geothermal well in southern Poland in Podhale area (source: geotermia.pl)

Another geothermal investment is planned in Lądek-Zdrój (south-western Poland) municipality. A 2.5 km deep exploratory well will be used for district heating, balneotherapy, bathing and snow melting purposes in cascade application. It is expected that geothermal energy development in southern Poland will help to mitigate the smog and air pollution problem, which is caused by outdated heating systems, heavy traffic and economy’s dependence on coal.

One of the shallowest wells is also planned in the area of Sochaczew (central Poland) with final depth of 1.4 km for district heating purposes. Another exploratory well GT-1 is expected to be drilled in municipality of Koło, which is regarded as one of the most promising geothermal areas in Poland with plans for geothermal power plant, and Sieradz (both located in central Poland). Production well in municipality of Sieradz is planned to provide heat to around 20 thousand inhabitants in the nearby area. Final well depth would amount to 1.5 km. Such depth will allow for producing thermal water with temperatures of around 65°C and flow rate of approximately 34 l/s. Drilling operations are scheduled to be finished by the end of November 2018.

In September 2017, new directional “S”-type well GT-1 bis was drilled and connected to the Pyrzyce geothermal district heating plant, which now owns 5 wells, in north-western Poland with its final depth of 1.8 km, geothermal water temperature of 66°C and flow rate of approximately 56 l/s.

Great part of the funds from NFOŚiGW were received for establishing geothermal heating plant in city of Toruń (northern Poland). Attempts to create geothermal heating plant there were kick-started in 2008, however failed to receive any subsidies from polish government that time.

Future

Poland is the motherland of petroleum industry, where in 1853 first oil well was drilled in Bóbrka (southern Poland) municipality, near Krosno and year later first oil refinery was established. In 1900, Poland was the third biggest oil producer in the world. Currently, many of these oil and natural gas wells are abandoned (or/and negative) and located nearby residential or industrial areas. This creates perfect opportunity to extract geothermal heat from already drilled petroleum wells. First project of such kind was attempted in Sucha Beskidzka (southern Poland), where well Jachówka-2K, primarily created for oil production, was drilled to final depth of approximately 4.3 km. Only small tributaries of natural gas were discovered and well was reconstructed for borehole heat exchanger. Due to poor insulation of inner column, project did not achieved satisfactory results. Currently, research works are ongoing in order to improve insulation properties of inner column and increase efficiency of borehole heat exchangers. In the future such technology, which currently is being look at in countries such as Canada, might provide great deal of renewable heat to polish inhabitants and help to significantly improve air quality.

Poland has also contributed to many European programs on various geothermal aspects from shallow to deep geothermal, in order to exchange experience and learn from other, more advanced in geothermal heat and electricity production countries such as Iceland. The outcome of such projects shall enable for polish geothermal industry to develop and also draw attention of the public. The trend of progress in geothermal heat pump industry is scheduled to continue in very near future in Poland with much more bigger scale projects, with multiple borehole heat exchanger installations, as well as smaller scale investments in private housing. As it was mentioned before, Poland has also great potential for lunching first geothermal power generation plants in areas such as Koło or Szaflary.


Author Contact: michal.kruszewski@hs-bochum.de

A book, called “Geothermal Energy and Society” has been published in August by Springer. The editors are:

  • Adele Manzella (Italian National Research Council (CNR), Institute of Geosciences and Earth Resources (CNR-IGG), Pisa, Italy)
  • Agnes Allansdottir (Fondazione Toscana Life Sciences, Siena, Italy)
  • Anna Pellizzone (Italian National Research Council, Institute of Geosciences and Earth Resources (CNR-IGG), Pisa, Italy)

This book explores the diverse aspects of the relationship between the technological harnessing of geothermal resources and the societies and local communities in which these developments take place.

The responsible use of geothermal energy can help with mitigating the effects of climate change and contribute to the development of renewable and sustainable energy mix in the transition toward a low carbon society.

As with all other developments in the energy sector, a sustained societal dialogue is  essential as society plays an active role in either accelerating or preventing the development of new energy technologies.

This volume introduces a theoretical framework for a social scientific approach to the field and represents the first tentative collection of empirical case studies on geothermal energy and society from across the globe. It is organized into two sections. The first section is introductory to the issue of geothermal energy and the related policy and societal aspects, and is followed by a selection of eleven case studies constituting the second section. A conclusive chapter brings together the various contributions and sets out the lessons learned for this sector.

Main links:

https://www.springer.com/it/book/9783319782850

On January 1, 2018 de Colombian Geothermal Asocciation AGEOCOL (Asociación Geotérmica Colombiana) was formalised under the Bogota Chamber of Commerce and started working officially. Several initiatives to gather people interested in geothermal energy in Colombia started in the last 5 years. While the efforts of isolated people were not that effective, a group of like-minded people, passionate for geothermal, gave it a kick start in 2017.

AGEOCOL’s main purpose is to facilitate the interaction among communities, government, industry and academia, for the promotion of research, development and use of geothermal resources in Colombia with social and environmental responsibility, under the values of leadership, unity and solidarity. AGEOCOL is supporting already existing groups and activities related to geothermal energy in Colombia and will look for opportunities for them to thrive and be known in the region and internationally. This includes the annual geothermal gathering RENAG (Reunión Anual de Geotermia), the GRC student chapters, and regional technical meetings.

The Association has a membership base of over a hundred people including profesionales, students and  people interested in developing and undertaking geothermal projects. It became a member of the IGA in 2017. AGEOCOL BoD is composed of Pablo Aguilera as the President, Valeria García as Vice-President, Angela Prieto as the Secretary and Carolina Coronado as the Treasurer.

You can contact us in ageocol@ageocol.org and find us here.

Workshop “Introduction to Geothermal Energy and its Extraterrestrial Existence”
Iran, 26.07.2018

Topics include review on geothermal energy and its exploitation methods, geothermal energy in Iran and worldwide, the presence of this energy source beyond Earth and NASA’s project “InSight”

Organized by Iranian Geothermal Energy Association (IGEA) and Science and Astronomy Center of Tehran.

For more information, please contact: sepehr.sangin@alumni.tu-clausthal.de

Geothermal Canada is a society founded for the advancement and promotion of geothermal research and development in Canada.

Although the name is new, it has a long and rich history with many prominent and important early researchers, explorers and developers in the geothermal energy space active in the Society.

More info here: https://www.geothermalcanada.org/