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EGEC NEWS - Geothermie

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A Word from the <strong>EGEC</strong> President<br />

Dear members of <strong>EGEC</strong> and readers,<br />

<strong>EGEC</strong> ASBL, Renewable Energy House, Rue d’arlon 63-67, Brussels 1040, Belgium<br />

<strong>EGEC</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />

Issue No. 20 February<br />

THE VOICE OF GEOTHERMAL ENERGY IN EUROPE<br />

the cold weather of recent weeks has clearly shown why the ground - geothermal heat – is the best choice<br />

for heat source of a heat pump in Northern and Central Europe! The ground provides a good heat source<br />

even on the coldest days (provided the ground source heat pump system was designed properly).<br />

Mentioning good design and construction; this week, on 15 th February 2012, delegates from 15 EU<br />

countries convened in the Renewable Energy House in Brussels for a first meeting of what is intended to become the European<br />

Training Board of the Geotrainet training and certification program for shallow geothermal professionals. This date marks a big<br />

step forward in keeping shallow geothermal design, drilling and installation on a high professional level, performed by persons<br />

with relevant skills and knowledge, from all over Europe. The schedule of the program is ambitious, planning to have the first<br />

actual courses (after those in the preparatory project 2008-2011) running in Autumn of this year. We will keep you updated!<br />

There were more participants in the Brussels meeting than the 15 delegates,<br />

and so more than 15 associations were represented, as in some countries<br />

several organisations are interested in cooperating within Geotrainet. Luckily, in<br />

most cases (such as in Germany and the UK) several national associations have<br />

discussed their participation beforehand and had agreed on a joint delegation.<br />

The countries represented comprise: AT, BE, BG, DE, EE, ES, FR, HU, IE, IT, LT, PT,<br />

RO, SE, and the UK. If you do not see your country listed, and if you are working<br />

in shallow geothermal energy (mainly ground source heat pumps), contact your<br />

national geothermal association, heat pump association, geological survey, or whatever might be appropriate, and interest<br />

them in Geotrainet! The info from the past project is under http://geotrainet.eu, and also news on the on-going process can be<br />

found there; or contact the <strong>EGEC</strong> office in Brussels.<br />

For deep geothermal, the pace of development is also steady on a high level. The two last data collection workshops within<br />

project GEOELC are scheduled for 29 th February in Offenburg DE and for 22 March in Vilnius LT, and the project will soon enter<br />

into the evaluation phase, with a lot of work for our partners at TNO in the Netherlands! Also in practice, deep geothermal<br />

energy could prove again that it is not dependant upon good weather conditions, and geothermal district heating as well as<br />

power plants were providing their energy as reliable as ever to the costumers over the past weeks.<br />

To get your own impression on where we stand, the geothermal trade fair and conference GeoTHERM 2012 in Offenburg on 1 st<br />

-2 nd March will be a perfect opportunity to see the latest industry developments both for deep and shallow geothermal<br />

energy, and to meet the actors of geothermal scene. Numerous side events make a visit to this event in the Upper Rhine<br />

Graben even more rewarding, like the workshop within project GEOELEC on February 29 th , or the meeting of the Geothermal<br />

Panel of the RHC-Platform on March 1 st . One session on deep geothermal energy in the morning of March 2 nd is organised<br />

jointly by <strong>EGEC</strong> and the IGA European Regional Branch. The number of exhibitors is the highest I ever saw announced for a<br />

geothermal event in Europe.<br />

I hope to meet with many of you in Offenburg!<br />

<strong>EGEC</strong> is a partner of the GeoTHERM Expo & Congress<br />

2012, 1st and 2nd March 2012<br />

Check out the GeoTHERM website for full details !<br />

In this ISSUE NO 20:<br />

Policy p2<br />

<strong>EGEC</strong> Events p3<br />

Market Development p4<br />

Project Updates p6<br />

Events p7<br />

Burkhard Sanner<br />

6th Meeting of the Geothermal Panel of the RHC-<br />

Platform<br />

1st March 2012, see here for more details.<br />

Register now to<br />

com@egec.org!


Policy Update<br />

Find out about the policy issues <strong>EGEC</strong> is involved in while promoting the Geothermal sector!<br />

Concerns over recent policy developments in Italy, Spain and Estonia<br />

<strong>EGEC</strong> ASBL, Renewable Energy House, Rue d’arlon 63-67, Brussels 1040, Belgium<br />

2<br />

The geothermal community is deeply concerned regarding the recent policy measures in some EU member states. In Italy, the<br />

draft support scheme for the period beyond 2012, currently under evaluation by the government, would set insufficient<br />

support for geothermal electricity. It would therefore undermine the development of the sector after that the liberalisation of<br />

the geothermal resources in 2010 has triggered a boom of 110 permission requests for exploration over the last two years.<br />

In Estonia, the Government recently proposed to reduce the Feed-In support for renewables. According to the draft proposal,<br />

the new support scheme would apply from 2013 and would be 16-26 € MWh lower compared to the Feed-in Premiums paid in<br />

the previous period.<br />

In Spain, the Government has removed the feed-in tariff pre-allocation procedures and temporarily suspended economic<br />

incentives for new power generation capacity involving cogeneration and RES. The measure is very disadvantageous for the<br />

future development of geothermal electricity as the sector is in an early stage of development and requires economic support<br />

to compete with conventional energy and to reduce its costs. It is also worth noting that despite the budget constrains claimed<br />

as the main reason for such cuts, subsidies for coal-fired electricity generation will be maintained.<br />

Next Spring <strong>EGEC</strong> will come up with an update of the analysis of the support schemes in Europe as well as with a policy paper<br />

on financing geothermal, highlighting the uneven level of support allocated to geothermal energy.<br />

Update on the Energy Efficiency Directive<br />

Negotiations over the draft Energy Efficiency Directive are gaining momentum. On the one hand, the European Parliament’s<br />

Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) is expected to vote on the draft report on 28 February 2012. On the other<br />

hand, during the Energy Council held on 14 th February, member states reiterated their opposition to binding targets and called<br />

for more flexibility given the economic crisis and budget constraints. The Danish Presidency, which considers the Energy<br />

Efficiency Directive as a key priority, aims to reach an agreement with the European Parliament by the end of its mandate (June<br />

2012).<br />

While supporting a binding renovation rate together with a more streamlined financing mechanism as proposed by the<br />

Rapporteur Claude Turmes, <strong>EGEC</strong> strongly encourages policy-makers not to neglect the potential energy efficiency of small,<br />

decentralised, scale installations, such as geothermal heat pumps. In order to ensure that energy efficiency solutions make the<br />

most of already available RES technologies, such potential from small scale installations should also be assessed and promoted<br />

in comprehensive National H&C Plans, together with CHP and district heating systems. For more information about the Energy<br />

Efficiency Directive visit the Policy Update Section of the Members Corner (exclusively for <strong>EGEC</strong> Members).<br />

<strong>EGEC</strong> Deep Geothermal Market Report 2011<br />

Geothermal on the Up!<br />

At the GeoPower Europe 2011 conference in Milan, <strong>EGEC</strong> launched the much anticipated Deep<br />

Geothermal Market Report, which is an authoritative and concise account and analysis of the state of<br />

sector in Europe.<br />

The launch presentations give an overview of the report, and are available online.<br />

<strong>EGEC</strong> Members can download their copy free of charge from the Members Corner ! Other interested<br />

parties can receive this report by making a contribution of 250 euros. For more info and to order the


Upcoming Events<br />

<strong>EGEC</strong> ASBL, Renewable Energy House, Rue d’arlon 63-67, Brussels 1040, Belgium<br />

3<br />

Workshop on EU-Japan-Iceland Cooperation on Geothermal<br />

<strong>EGEC</strong>, in cooperation with the EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation and the Mission of Iceland to the EU,<br />

are organising a workshop to take place on the 8th of March 2012, in Brussels.<br />

This Workshop will look at how to exploit the huge global potential of geothermal through increased<br />

cooperation in R&D, technology and knowledge transfers between the EU, Iceland and Japan. The agenda is<br />

now available. For more information and to register for this event, visit the event website!<br />

Meeting of the Geothermal Panel of the RHC-<br />

Platform, 1st March 2012: Offenburg, Germany<br />

The 6th Meeting of the Geothermal Panel of the RHC-Platform will take place in Offenburg, Germany on<br />

the 1st of March 2012. This meeting will take place in the surroundings of the GeoTHERM Expo &<br />

Congress. Participants wishing to take part in the Geothermal Panel meeting will have to register for the<br />

Expo & Congress (details on pricing here, 1 day ticket 38EUR), and as a gesture the RHC-Platform will<br />

provide a welcome lunch before the meeting.<br />

The full draft agenda is online!<br />

2012 Annual Conference<br />

This year, the RHC-Platform are pleased to announce their partnership with Euroheat & Power to hold a<br />

joint annual conference under the auspices of the Danish Presidency of the EU and with support of the<br />

European Commission. The conference will be held from 26-27 April 2012 in Copenhagen, Denmark.<br />

Registration is open! Visit the conference website for more information!<br />

The Full Programme is also available for download.<br />

8th Lithuanian Geothermal Association Conference<br />

‘Geothermal Energy—Implementation of Law on Renewable Energy’<br />

The 2012 edition of the LGA conference, will take place on the 23rd of March at the Information Office of the<br />

Lithuanian Parliament, the Seimas. Issues under discussion include LGA activity to promote geothermal, geo-<br />

logical conditions for utilisation of geothermal in Lithuania and other topics on technology development. <strong>EGEC</strong><br />

will be present to present its work on the Deep Geothermal Market Report.


<strong>EGEC</strong> ASBL, Renewable Energy House, Rue d’arlon 63-67, Brussels 1040, Belgium<br />

4<br />

Market Developments & News<br />

Europe<br />

Hungary<br />

Geothermal energy company PannErgy met its business targets in 2011 and its projects are on schedule<br />

CEO Denes Gyimothy told journalists that PannErgy’s 2011 business plans showed the company breaking even on consolidated<br />

revenue of HUF 12.6bn and EBITDA of HUF 1.6bn. Net financial profits lifted PannErgy’s bottom line over HUF 1bn in 2011, he<br />

added. The sale of PannErgy’s plastics unit PannUnion generated revenue of more than HUF 5bn, which the company is using<br />

to finance geothermal energy projects. PannErgy will call down a €100m credit line from the European Investment Bank (EIB)<br />

for the first time this year, borrowing €10m<br />

Iceland<br />

Future possible cooperation between Iceland and Romania<br />

Icelandic Minister for Foreign Affairs Össur Skarphéðinsson met the Romanian Minister Teodor Baconschi in Bucharest,<br />

suggesting geothermal energy projects in the country and closer cooperation between Iceland and Romania. Össur suggested<br />

using funds from the EFTA Development Fund, to which Iceland is party, to launch geothermal energy projects in Romania; in<br />

the western part of the country there are territories suitable for establishing heating utilities. Baconschi said he supported such<br />

projects.<br />

Iceland makes energy deal with World Bank<br />

The Icelandic Ministry for Foreign Affairs has made an agreement with the World Bank on collaborating on the harnessing of<br />

geothermal energy in the countries in the East African Great Rift Valley.<br />

These are Djibouti, Ethiopia, Uganda, Eritrea, Kenya, Southern Sudan, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Burundi, Rwanda,<br />

Zambia and Somalia, as stated in a press release from the Foreign Ministry. These countries suffer energy shortages while<br />

experts believe that in the Great Rift Valley, which is 6,000 kilometers long, it is possible to harness up to 14,000 MW of<br />

geothermal energy and thus provide 150 million people with access to energy.<br />

Italy<br />

Enel Green Power’s new geothermal energy technologies<br />

GP’s recent accomplishments include two binary cycle facilities in Nevada, that harness energy at medium temperature. These<br />

plants are among the most important in the world, due to the minimum temperature limits that have been reached and to<br />

their overall size (65 MW). Furthermore, recently in one of these plants (47MW Stillwater) the world’s first integration of a<br />

photovoltaic solar energy plant (24 MW) into a geothermal facility was accomplished.<br />

While in the other plant (18 MW Salt Wells), another unprecedented achievement is under development: the first integration<br />

between a geothermal facility and a solar thermodynamic one. Finally (within partnerships with significant scientific partners,<br />

such as the Polytechnic of Milan and the MIT), a prototype of a supercritical binary reactor for low-temperature fluids in being<br />

developed, aimed at developing standardized plants that will be highly efficient at low cost, with the possibility of using again<br />

the surplus heat.<br />

Serbia<br />

Serbian project at vranjska banja estimated with 20 mw potential<br />

Canadian Reservoir Capital reports that GeothermEx Inc. has completed an independent review of the Company’s Vranjska<br />

Banja Geothermal Project in southern Serbia, concluding it could potentially support a power generation project of up to 20<br />

Megawatts (“MW”) in size, utilizing a binary-cycle power plant.<br />

Vranjska Banja is the hottest geothermal spring in Serbia, with discharge temperatures of 96°C (boiling at discharge elevation).<br />

Exploration drilling of two intermediate depth wells (VG-2 and VG-3) in the early 90′s reportedly encountered temperatures of<br />

up to 137°C at less than one kilometre depth. Both wells were cased to 800-900 metres depth (high temperature intervals<br />

were not isolated), and have relatively high artesian flows together averaging approximately 60 litres per second. GeothermEx<br />

reviewed the available information on the geothermal resource at Vranjska Banja (including the existing VG-2 and VG-3<br />

geothermal wells), and concluded that a resource temperature of approximately 150°C is possible at depths of about 2,000m.


<strong>EGEC</strong> ASBL, Renewable Energy House, Rue d’arlon 63-67, Brussels 1040, Belgium<br />

5<br />

Switzerland<br />

Swiss City Re-opens Call for Tenders<br />

Following a court decision on the claim of two drilling companies, the city council of the Swiss city of St. Gallen cancels the<br />

current tender process for the drilling contract and will start the call for tenders anew.<br />

In the court’s decision following the claim of two drilling companies, the court confirms that certain criteria had not been made<br />

public as part of the tender documentation. The claimants correctly claimed that there was not sufficient transparency and the<br />

court decided that either the whole tender phase or the whole process for the call of tenders will have to be repeated. The<br />

planned open process requires that all companies will be able to bid again, which will lead to a better competitive situation.<br />

This way the city council hopes that there will be more competitive offers.<br />

United Kingdom<br />

E.ON develops its sustainable energy division<br />

Energy giant E.ON is positioning the company as one of the UK's leading suppliers of both energy efficiency services, and<br />

community scale and micro generation energy technologies. The company's Sustainable Energy division currently has 500 staff<br />

and revenues of about £100m, not to mention ambitions to double in size over the next few years. This ambitious goal means<br />

the division is necessarily multi-faceted in its approach, looking to provide services covering everything from solar panel<br />

installation to renewable heat systems, and district heat networks to energy performance contracts.<br />

European Union<br />

European Investment Bank backs Caribbean geothermal energy scheme<br />

The European Investment Bank has agreed to fund preparations for possible use of geothermal energy to replace fossil fuels in<br />

the Caribbean. Potential electricity generation capacity from geothermal resources and feasibility of connections to other<br />

islands will be examined under the technical assistance programme to start shortly.<br />

The European Investment Bank will provide a EUR 1.1 million grant to enhance detailed planning and study the feasibility of<br />

exporting electricity generated by geothermal energy from Dominica to neighbouring islands Martinique and Guadeloupe. The<br />

European Investment Bank’s contribution will greatly assist a project that has the potential to develop a 20MW geothermal<br />

power generation plant for local use and a subsequent plant of up to 120 MW for export.<br />

Rest of the World<br />

USA<br />

Geothermal Developers To Pump Water Into Volcano<br />

Geothermal energy developers are planning to pump 24 million gallons of water into a dormant volcano in Central Oregon to<br />

see whether it can create a renewable resource of energy that doesn’t rely on the weather. The water will be pumped into<br />

Newberry Volcano in Oregon, to pick up heat from fractures in the base of the rock. The idea is that the heated water will then<br />

turn to steam and can then generate power.<br />

The project, however, has been met with stiff opposition by critics who are concerned that pumping water deep into a volcano<br />

could lead to an earthquake — based on similar events that have occurred in the past. Critics also argue that it would be<br />

extremely difficult to build a reservoir big enough to run a commercial power plant. Even so, the federal government, Google<br />

and other investors are willing to pump $43 million of their money into the project, led by AltaRock Energy, Inc. of Oregon, and<br />

Davenport Newberry Holdings LLC of Stamford, CT.<br />

IRENA Scholarship Programme<br />

In an effort to promote talented academics, and with the generous support of the Government of the United Arab Emirates,<br />

IRENA is awarding up to 20 scholarships at Abu Dhabi-based MASDAR Institute of Science and Technology. The Programme<br />

extends to the eight Master of Science Programmes offered at MASDAR Institute.<br />

All IRENA scholars are entitled to generous benefits and are offered access to IRENA’s exclusive Lecture Programme, which will<br />

provide IRENA’s scholars with an informative overview of the current state of renewable energies. For more information, visit<br />

the information page.


News: <strong>EGEC</strong> Members<br />

Cryostar SAS to build geothermal power plant in Germany<br />

<strong>EGEC</strong> ASBL, Renewable Energy House, Rue d’arlon 63-67, Brussels 1040, Belgium<br />

6<br />

<strong>EGEC</strong> Member Cryostar SAS, with Linde Engineering are to build the turn-key geothermal power plant for<br />

GEOenergie Kirchweidach a combined heat and power geothermal power plant project in Bavaria, Germany.<br />

Cryostar will provide the ORC unit for the plant.<br />

Cryostar SAS, a subsidiary of the Linde Group, will supply the ORC technology and the key component – the<br />

expansion turbine.<br />

News: <strong>EGEC</strong> Projects<br />

Regional Data Compilation Workshops:<br />

These workshops are part of achieving a central objective of the GEOELEC project , which is to bring<br />

together experts in geothermal in Europe, to assess the existing resources and therefore potential for<br />

producing geothermal power. For more information, contact com@egec.org.<br />

Target Group Date Location<br />

Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria,<br />

Switzerland<br />

29 th February 2012 Offenburg, Germany<br />

Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Sweden, Ukraine 22 nd March 2012 Vilnius, Lithuania<br />

GEOELEC Partners are also working on the production of 2 relevant documents pertaining to promoting<br />

geothermal electricity in Europe:<br />

A) ‘Technical Report on Grid Access’<br />

B) ‘Report on Risk Insurance’<br />

Geotrainet Programme On February 15 th, the kick-off meeting for creating the European Educational<br />

Board (EEB) of Geotrainet took place. Fifteen delegates, representing a larger number of associations, acted<br />

as National Coordinators to create the European Educational Board .<br />

Delegates discussed the ambitious work programme, and reviewed how to build upon the work undertaken<br />

during the Geotrainet Project. Once the EEB was created, delegates discussed such issues as:<br />

GEOTRAINET curricula and learning outcome<br />

Training materials for next courses<br />

2012 European training program: Countries and Institutes<br />

GEOTRAINET training course: Application process<br />

The countries represented comprised: AT, BE, BG, DE, EE, ES, FR, HU, IE, IT, LT, PT, RO, SE, and the UK. If you do not see<br />

your country listed, and if you are working in shallow geothermal energy (mainly ground source heat pumps), contact<br />

your national geothermal association, heat pump association, geological survey, or whatever might be appropriate,<br />

and interest them in Geotrainet!


Calendar Events<br />

March 2012<br />

Meeting of the Geothermal Panel of the RHC-Platform, 1 March, Offenburg, Germany<br />

Agenda<br />

GeoTherm Expo & Congress, 1 & 2 March, Offenburg, Germany.<br />

Website<br />

EU-Japan-Iceland Geothermal Seminar, 8 March, Brussels, Belgium<br />

Website<br />

April 2012<br />

European Geosciences Union General Assembly, 22—27 April, Vienna, Austria.<br />

Website<br />

RHC– Platform and Euroheat & Power Conference, 26 & 27 April, Copenhagen, Denmark<br />

Website<br />

May 2012<br />

InnoStock 2012, 16-18 May, Llieda, Spain<br />

Website<br />

June 2012<br />

GeoPower Indonesia & Philippines, 6-7 June, Jakarta, Indonesia.<br />

Website<br />

Renewable Energy World Conference, 12—14 June, Cologne, Germany.<br />

Website<br />

European Sustainable Energy Week, 18—22 June, Brussels, Belgium.<br />

Website<br />

August 2012<br />

GEA National Geothermal Summit , 7-8 August, Sacramento, USA.<br />

Website<br />

September 2012<br />

GRC Annual Meeting, 30 September—3 October, Reno, USA<br />

Website<br />

<strong>EGEC</strong> ASBL, Renewable Energy House, Rue d’arlon 63-67, Brussels 1040, Belgium<br />

7<br />

<strong>EGEC</strong> is partnering with the GeoTHERM Expo & Congress 2012. Check out<br />

the GeoTHERM website for full details on this exciting and engaging event.

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