IGA NEWS
Newsletter of the International Geothermal Association
Quarterly No. 113

1

IGA ACTIVITIESCONTENTS

Message from the Executive
Director
Greetings to all members of IGA and those that arereading this newsletter. We hope the third Quarter of2018 has been a good one for all of you.
The past months have brought some very sad news with
first the passing of Mr Ruggero Bertani (Photo 1, nextpage), a beloved geothermal friend and colleague who is
deeply missed by many (see IGA News 112, pp. 2-3). On
behalf of the IGA and its members we have expressed
our sincere condolences to family and friends, and wewish them all strength in this difficult time.
The IGA Board was also confronted with the passing of
fellow Board member Mr Noel Salonga from thePhilippines. Mr Salonga was loved by many in thegeothermal community and isreferred to as avery kind person,
passionate aboutgeothermalenergy.

IGA ACTIVITIES
Message from the Executive Director... 1
The Colombian Geothermal Association… 2
In Memoriam: Marcelo J. Lippmann… 3
WGC2020: Call for Abstracts… 5

AFRICA

Ethiopia: Funds fot Feasibility Study… 5
Kenya: Baringo-Silali, Olkaria Unit 6, Akiira… 6

AMERICAS
Chile: Report by the Geothermal Roundtable… 7
Ecuador: Drilling in Chachimbiro Project... 7
Guatemala: Flow Tests of Wells of Mita Project… 8
Mexico: Financing Program, First GHP Project… 8
U.S.: Exploration, DOE’s Funds & Other News… 10

ASIA / PACIFIC RIM
Armenia: Construction Plans Ratified… 13
China: Geothermal Direct Uses & Power… 13
Indonesia: Areas to PLN, Rantau Dedap, Zi-Chem… 14
Japan: IoT & AI to Improve Power Plants… 15
Philippines: Production in 2017, EDC… 15
Taiwan: MOU to Develop Geothermal Project… 33

EUROPEOn behalf of the
IGA and its
members wehave expressed
our sincere
condolences tofamily andfriends of NoelSalonga, and wewish them allstrength in this

New GECO-COAT & GECO Projects… 17
Unusual Heatwave in Northern Europe… 18
Finland: Stage Completed in St1 Project… 19
France: Anti-corrosion Well & New CHP Project… 20
Germany: First Well at Thalkirchen … 21
Greece: Two Geothermal Projects to Start… 21
Iceland: Hydrogen & Algae Production, Flúðir…21
The Netherlands: Geothermal Projects... 23
Poland: Country Update…23
Portugal: Support for Geothermal Projects…25
Russia: Successful Geo-Heat 2018 Conference… 25
Serbia: Kursumlija Project, District Heating… 27
Turkey: Baklamici, Buharkent and Manisa Plants… 28

For us at the IGA we have been going through a lot of
excitement after the succesful BoD meeting inReykjavik where so many decisions have been made by
the Board. We have been working hard on ourtransition to Bonn, and we are happy with the progressso far. As of 1 January 2019 the IGA Team will beseated in Bonn, where we will be close to strong
partners such as UNFCC, IRENA, World Wind Energy
Association, the 100%Renewables Platform and the

New Zealand: Te Ahi O Maui & Other News… 29

difficult time.
Activities at IGA

www.geothermal-energy.org

OCEANIAOTHER

Climate Change: IPCC Special Report, U.S. Oil
Companies Join the OGCI, Summer Heat to Be
Unbearable, Pollution of Big Farms, EU-China Joint
Statement... 17-34
Science: Yellowstone, Injection Wells… 35
Technology: Vacuum Insulated Tubing for DBHE… 36
October-December 2018

IGA News No. 113

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International Climate Agency. In
addition, we will position ourselves inthe direct vicinity of important German
Ministries and governmental agencies
which are keen supporters of the Global
Energy Transition agenda.
WGC2020
Progress is made towards WGC2020
and I invite all of you to visit us onlineat www.wgc2020.com/, and submit yourabstracts before 31 January 2019. As you
may know, the Board has also decided
to change the frequency of the World
Geothermal Congress from five to three
years effective from the next one,
WGC2020. This means that the first one
after WGC2020 will be organised in
2023 and tenders will be opened in
Photo 1. The international geothermal community mourns the loss of
Quarter 3 of 2018. We are working fullRuggero Bertani.
speed to get us ready for tendering, andinterests and your ideas to iga@lovegeothermal.org.
at Board of Directors Meeting #69 in Reno we will see adecision on how we are going to operate.
IGA BoD Meeting – October 2018
Higlights
Highlights of the past few months are the continued
focus on being visible and raising the geothermal flag atconferences, panel discussions and workshops.
Geothermal is still invisible at the national and multilateral level, and it is the mission of the IGA toconsistently raise the flag on the enormous potential ofgeothermal energy as an enabler of the Energy
Transition at national and international fora. In addition,
the IGA keeps on pushing for stronger collaboration
with the Oil and Gas Industry and is working alongside
many petroleum associations such as the EAGE, AAPG
and IADC to seek synergies and build communities ofpractice. We are setting up strategic initiatives aroundmajor themes, includig the UNFC standardizations on
geothermal reserves and resources estimations and the
Geothermal Sustainability Assessment Protocol(GSAP). I invite all of our members to submit your

IGA Board meeting #69 took place in Reno, U.S., from12 to 14 October and was hosted by the GRC at thePeppermill Casino. The GRC conducted its annual
meeting from 14–17 October in the same venue.
For now I wish you a fantastic remainder of the year
and I hope to hear from you at one of our events orvisit us online and drop us a note.
Best wishes,
Dr. Marit Brommer, Executive Director, IGA –marit.brommer@hs-bochum.de

The Colombian Geothermal
AssociationÁngela Prieto, Secretary of the
AGEOCOL
On January 1, 2018 the Colombian Geothermal
Association (AGEOCOL, Asociación Geotérmica
Colombiana) was formalized under the Bogota
Chamber of Commerce and started working officially.
Several initiatives to gather people interested ingeothermal energy in Colombia started in the last five
years. While the efforts of isolated people were not that
effective, a group of like-minded people, passionate forgeothermal, gave it a kick start in 2017.

IGA team in Bochum in September 2018.
www.geothermal-energy.org

AGEOCOL’s main purpose is to facilitate theinteraction among communities, government, industry
and academia, for the promotion of research,development and use of geothermal resources inColombia with social and environmental responsibility,
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IGA News No. 113
under the values of leadership, unity and solidarity.
AGEOCOL is supporting already existing groups andactivities related to geothermal energy in Colombia andwill 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, andregional technical meetings.
The Association has a membership base of over ahundred people including professionals, students andpeople 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,Ángela Prieto as the Secretary and Carolina Coronado as
the Treasurer.
You can contact us in ageocol@ageocol.org and find us
here.

3Marcelo joined the Earth Sciences Division of the
LBNL in October 1977. He co-led the MexicanAmerican cooperative program at the Cerro Prieto
geothermal field from 1977 to 1982 and helped leadseveral other international geothermal research projects.
Marcelo was the head of LBNL’s Geothermal Programfrom 1985-2000, being responsible of outlining research
directions in accordance to the needs of the sponsoring
agencies and the Laboratory, and was in charge ofmanaging the group’s manpower and funding. He wasin charge of assessing geothermal fields with emphasis
in determining their energy capacity and commercial
longevity and designing exploitation strategies, having
studied the fields of Cerro Prieto in Mexico, Heber in
the U.S., Miravalles in Costa Rica, and Ahuachapán in
El Salvador, among others. He also carried out researchin geohydrology and in heat and mass transfer ingeologic environments.

In Memoriam: Marcelo J.
Lippmann
Luis C.A. Gutiérrez-Negrín, Editor
On September 10th Marcelo Julio Lippmann passed
away in Berkeley, California. He was an Argentina-born
geologist, retired from the Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory (LBNL) in 2005 but continued as a rehired
retiree up until 2015. He remained as an LBNL affiliate
up until the time of his passing.
Marcelo received a BS in Geology from the Universityof Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1966, a MS in
Engineering from the University of California at
Berkeley in 1969, and a PhD in Engineering Sciences(Geological Engineering) from the same UC Berkeley in1974. His PhD Thesis, Two-Dimensional Stochastic
Model of a Heterogeneous Geologic System, reflects
well his main scientific interests: geology and geothermal
modeling.
Marcelo’s first work was in the Instituto Nacional deGeología y Minería of Argentina in 1963-1966 as
AssistantGeologistandin
1966-1967asSedimentologist, and in parallel he joined theDepartment of Geology of the University of Buenos
Aires in 1965-1966 as Teaching Assistant. Between
January and September 1967 he worked ashydrogeologist for the company Hidrosud, SA(representatives of Gilbert Associates Inc.), based in
Buenos Aires, Aires.
After that Marcelo moved to California where he joined
the Department of Civil Engineering of the UC
Berkeley as Research Assistant from 1967-1969 and1971-1973, and as Assistant Research Engineer inJanuary 1974 through September 1977.
www.geothermal-energy.org

Marcelo was an advisor on ground water andgeothermal systems evaluation, and lectured many
geothermal courses and workshops. He offeredtechnical assistance to the United Nations (UNDP in
1994 and UNDESA/DSD in 1998) and to the Latin
American Organization of Energy (OLADE) in 19931994, on matters related to the evaluation anddevelopment of geothermal resources and training ofgeothermal personnel. He was also a member of the
CEL/GESAL/IDB El Salvador Geothermal Advisory
Panel in 1995-2001.
Marcelo served as Editor-in-Chief of the journal
Geothermics from 2004 to 2008, as Associate Editor in
1992-1995 and 2009-March 2010, and as Emeritus
Editor since April 2010. There, he made technicalreviews of manuscripts and other editorial activities likesolicitation of papers, selection of reviewers, evaluationof comments, communication with authors, acceptanceof papers, and so on.
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IGA News No. 113
Marcelo was active with the Geothermal Resources
Council (GRC), having served as a board member in
1999-2000 and 2004-2009, member of the Education,
Honors and Awards, and International committees since
1995, and member of the organizing committees of the2001, 2003, 2010, 2011 and 2012 annual meetings. The
GRC recognized his extensive scientific achievements
and contributions to the geothermal community in 2001
with the Special Achievement Award, and in 2010 with
the Joseph W. Aidlin award, the highest award bestowed
by the Council.
Marcelo also served as a board member for theInternational Geothermal Association (1993-1998), andmember of its Information Committee, among others.
In its 22nd Annual Congress, held in Cuernavaca,
Morelos, in March 2015 the Mexican Geothermal
Association (AGM) awarded a Special Recognition to
Marcelo in order “to highlight his contribution to thegeothermal development in Mexico and Latin America”.
Being unable to travel to Mexico, Marcelo appointed his
long-time friend and countryman Eduardo R. Iglesias toreceive the award on his behalf... More than three years
later, Eduardo has written in the on-line Marcelo’s
Memorial (https://mjlippmann.wordpress.com/) the
following memories:“…In 1977 the murderous military government (30,000
disappeared) that took over (the Argentinian
Government) in 1976 revoked my fellowship andordered me and my family back to Argentina. A few
months later Marcelo started to encourage me to go
back to California to interview for a new job. As a result
I landed a job at the then LBL Earth’s Sciences
Division, in the Nuclear Waste Containment group.
This group shared the building with the Geothermalgroup, which at the time was engaged in the bilateral
DOE-CFE agreement on Cerro Prieto… Thus I was
invited to join the Geothermal group and started
working under Marcelo’s supervision… Marcelo saved
me and my family from the horrors of the military
government. This is just one example of Marcelo’s
helpful, generous character…”
Marcelo is survived by his wife Martha AlciraLippmann, his son Julian, his daughter-in-law Jessica
Owley-Lippmann, and two granddaughters.

WGC2020: Call for Abstracts

www.geothermal-energy.org

4

UPCOMING EVENTS
Reunión Nacional de Geotermia RENAG 2018
December 11-15, 2018, Bogota, Colombia
44th Stanford Geothermal Workshop
11-13 February 2019, Stanford, CA, U.S.
European Geothermal Congress 201911-14 June 2019, The Hague, The Netherlands
World Geothermal Congress 2020
27 April-1 May 2020, Reykjavik, Iceland
Submit abstracts before 31 January 2019
Note: Please check the IGA website for more
events.
The call for abstracts for the World Geothermal
Congress 2020 was launched by the TechnicalCommittee, chaired by Roland N. Horne, and thedeadline (January 31, 2019) is now approaching.
The author instructions are on the web at
http://www.wgc2020.com. The list of themes isgrouped into four main subjects, as follows:
GeneralKeynoteCountry Updates
Environmental Aspects
Policy, Legal and Regulatory Aspects
Economics and Financing
Sustainability and Climate Change
Case Histories
Societal and Cultural Aspects
Business Strategies
Geothermal Education
Geoscience
Exploration
Geology
Geophysics
Geochemistry
Hydrogeology
Resource Assessment
Geomicrobiology
Engineering
Drilling and Completion Technology
Reservoir Engineering
Injection Technology
Field Management
Production Engineering, Steam Gathering Systems
Power Generation
Corrosion and Scaling
Direct Use
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Geothermal Heat Pumps

geothermal power generation and over US$4 billion ofprivate investment in Ethiopia.

Cross‐cutting
EGS ‐ Enhanced Geothermal Systems
Big Data and Data Analytics
Software for Geothermal Applications
Health, Tourism and Balneology
District Heating
Agriculture
Advanced Technology (Magma, Geopressure, etc.)
Integrated Energy Systems, Cascaded Uses
Minerals Extraction and Processing
Other
More info: http://www.wgc2020.com/

AFRICA
Ethiopia: Funds for Feasibility
Study of Geothermal Project
The U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA)
awarded a grant to TM Geothermal Operations Private
Limited Company (TMGO), an Ethiopia-based
company, to coordinate a feasibility study supporting
development of the first 50 megawatts of a planned
520-megawatt Tulu Moye Geothermal project in theMain Ethiopian Rift. The study will be conducted by
U.S. firm, Delphos International, Ltd.

“USTDA is pleased to support this important project
which will foster energy diversification and improveaccess to affordable and reliable electricity in Ethiopia,”
said Thomas R. Hardy, USTDA’s Director ofCongressional and Public Affairs. “This study will also
create opportunities for U.S.”
Chief Executive Officer of TMGO, Darrell Boyd,
added, “By enabling TMGO to progress technical,
environmental, legal, and financial workstreams for the
Tulu Moye geothermal project, USTDA’s study is a key
component to its success.”
Managing Director of Delphos International, Slav
Gatchev, also stated, “Delphos and its leading U.S.
subcontractors look forward to delivering a bankable
package to the grantee so that this landmark project may
move forward expeditiously.”
Chargé d’Affairs for the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa
Troy Fitrell said, “The United States has a long historyof working to support Ethiopia’s economic
development… This project brings together a U.S. firm
and an Ethiopian company –an example of how privatesector collaboration between our countries can achieve
shared goals for mutual benefits.”
Troy Fitrell signed the grant along with TMGO’s Chief
Executive Officer, Darrell Boyd. Dr. Frehiwot
Woldehanna, State Minister of
Water, Irrigation and Electricity,
witnessed the signing.

Signing ceremony. Left to right : Katrien Hinderdael of USTDA; Dr. Frehiwot
Woldehanna, State Minister of Water, Irrigation and Electricity; Darrell Boyd,
Chief Executive Officer, TMGO; and Troy Fitrell, Chargé d’Affairs for the U.S.
Embassy in Addis Ababa. Photo taken from the source.
In December 2017, Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP)
signed implementation agreements and power purchaseagreements allowing the private sector to develop theCorbetti and Tulu Moye geothermal projects. These
historic agreements will support 1000 megawatts of
www.geothermal-energy.org

In other related news, it was
unveiled that the Tullu Moye
Geothermal Operations Private
Limited Company has embarked
on the development of the 520
MW geothermal project, with an
outlay of two billion dollars. The
company plans to develop the
project in four phases. Reykjavik
Geothermal (RG), an Icelandic
company, and Meridiam, a US
firm, are shareholders of Tullu
Moye Geothermal Operations.

The
power
purchasing
agreement (PPA) was signed by
the Ethiopian Electric Power(EEP) and the Ministry of
Finance and Economic Cooperation along with Corbetti
Geothermal project on December 2017.
Sources: https://ustda.gov/news/pressreleases/2018/us-supports-geothermal-power-ethiopiacreating-opportunities-us-businesses,
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IGA News No. 113
https://www.thereporterethiopia.com/article/company-embarks-usd-2-bln-geothermal-project6
Cooperation Agency (JICA) and also by loans from theEuropean Investment Bank (EIB).

Kenya: Baringo-Silali, Olkaria
I Unit 6, and Akiira Projects
Drilling Started at Baringo-Silali Block - The
Geothermal Development Company (GDC) has started
drilling wells in Baringo County, in search of steam
power. The company’s general manager in-charge ofdrilling and infrastructure, George Kinyanjui, said thefirst phase of the project at Baringo-Silali Block will beseeking to produce steam that can generate 300MW ofelectricity to be injected into the national grid.
Kinyanjui added they have identified Paka, Silale andKorossi as prospect areas with each expected togenerate more than 100MW. “GDC is currently
developing water systems in the project area with morethan 20 wells already drilled in Korosi, Paka and Silale.
We have also managed to open the road network to theproject area with more than 120 kilometers completed,”said Kinyanjui.
“We’ve already put in place drilling wells, three in eachof the prospect areas. Drilling works will commencesoon once the water system is complete,” he stated.
The company has already installed community
distribution systems and nine storage tanks, each with acapacity of 4.5 million liters.
GDC expects to generate more than Sh11.5 billion(US$114.6 million) annually from the project with 15%of the total revenue being channeled to benefit thecommunities surrounding the resource areas.
Source: https://www.esi-africa.com/kenya-geothermaldevelopment-company-to-commence-drilling-wells/
Sixth Power Unit in Olkaria to Be Completed in
2021 – The Japanese company Marubeni Corporation
has been awarded a full turn-key engineering,procurement and construction (EPC) contract from
Kenya Electricity Generating Company Limited(KenGen) in relation to the construction of a 70MW
geothermal power plant in the Olkaria geothermal fieldof Nakuru County.
The Olkaria I facility is Kenya’s first geothermal power
station and one of the largest in Africa. It currently runs
five turbines with a combined capacity of 185 MW.
Marubeni will build for KenGen a sixth power
generation unit, which is expected to be completed in
2021. The main components required for this project,such as steam turbines and generators, will be provided
to Marubeni by Fuji Electric Co., Ltd. This is Fuji
Electric’s first geothermal power plant in Africa.
The project will be financed by an ODA (Official
Development Assistance) loan from Japan International
www.geothermal-energy.org

The electrical peak demand in Kenya has been
increasing by an average of approximately 5% annually.
Under its long-term development program (Kenya
Vision 2030), the Kenyan government has set a target to
expand its geothermal power capacity to 5000 MW by
2030.
Sources:
https://www.marubeni.com/en/news/2018/release/20
180831E.pdf, https://renewablesnow.com/news/fujielectric-confirms-70-mw-geothermal-order-in-kenya626611/
Update on the Akiira Project - Akiira Geothermal
Limited (AGL) is the developer of a two-phased
140MW power project with the first phase being thedevelopment of 70MW. The project is in the Naivasha
area of Nakuru County, Kenya. The project is expected
to contribute to the base load power requirements of
the national grid as per Government of Kenya’s policy.
AGL is jointly owned by Centum Investment Company
Plc (via Mvuke Power Ltd) (37.5%), DI Frontier Energy
Carbon Fund (37.5%), Marine Power Generation (15%)
and RAM Energy Inc. (10%).
To date, AGL has invested US$ 31.6 million, of which
US$2.3 million are grants from Seed Capital AssistanceFacility, OPIC and the Geothermal Risk Mitigation
Facility (GRMF).
AGL is working towards further drilling in Q4 of 2018
to complete exploratory drilling and achieve target
financial close by Q4 2019. AGL is in advanced stagesof organizing the project finance from various lenders
and the award process for both the Engineering,
Procurement and Construction (EPC) and Operations
and Management (O&M) contracts is expected to be
finalized with financial close of the project.
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7

It is anticipated that AGL will commence production
drilling and power plant construction for the first phase
70MW in early 2020 and achieve commercial operationin early 2022. In respect of the second 70MW phase, it
is anticipated that in 2020 AGL will simultaneously start
the exploratory studies and drilling aiming to deliver thesecond phase of project by year 2024.

Currently Chile has over 25% of the world’s active
volcanoes. Based on existing exploration work thegeothermal potential is between 1300 and 3800 MW and
can bring over US$20 billion in investments. Between
2018 and 2050 the report estimates it’s possible todevelop 2100 MW, with 700 MW in 2018-2030 and
1500 MW in 2031-2050.

AGL have drilled two initial wells, which did not
produce sufficient steam for the planned plant, whose
cost was around SH1.2 billion (US$11.8 million),
according to David Njorge, Centum director ofdevelopments. “The next well we are sinking we needdischarge that is sustainable that we can hook onto ourpower plants. We want to do the three wells first,” said
Mr Njoroge. He said the firm could ramp up its
exploration activities if the planned sinking of additional
three well does not lead to productive discharge.

The current unitary cost of an average geothermal
project (CAPEX) is estimated by the report in US$6.16
million per MW, which is predicted to decrease morethan 20% by 2050.

Sources:
http://www.centum.co.ke/images/docs/Statement_by_Centum_Investment_on_Akiira_Geothermal_Ltd.pdf,
http://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/despite-initialchallenges-akiira-geothermal-to-continue-exploration-inkenya/

AMERICAS
Chile: Presentation of Reportby the Geothermal Roundtable
The Geothermal Roundtable of Chile was a requestfrom the Geothermal Council of Chile through its
Chairman, Gonzalo Torres Macchiavello, to the
Ministry of Energy. It was financed by the
ESMAP/World Bank and counted with the active
participation of the industry, academia and social actors.
The process consisted of 13 workshop sessions held
during 2017 and the preparation of the final report took
place in the first semester of 2018 which ended covering
two successive Government Administrations (fromdifferent political wings). An average of 40 people
attended every workshop, representing 34 entities.
The Geothermal Roundtable focused on determining
CAPEX, OPEX, modelling the insertion of thetechnology into Chile’s energy matrix, identifying
barriers to entry and proposing Public Policies toprovide incentives for geothermal development.
The final report was released in July 2018, in a ceremony
summoned by Susana Jiménez (Minister of Energy ofChile) and attended by Gonzalo Torres Macchiavello.
The final report includes the most important points
raised by the industry and will play a crucial role in thedevelopment of the industry.
www.geothermal-energy.org

Source:http://geothermalresourcescouncil.blogspot.com/2018/07/chile-geothermal_26.html

Ecuador: Exploration Drilling
Reported in Chachimbiro
At the GEOLAC 2018 Conference, held in Mexico
City, on July 17 and 18, the state of the geothermal
industry in Ecuador was presented. It was informed thatin November 2017 the first geothermal exploration well
was drilled in the geothermal field of Chachimbiro. The
well was financed by the Japanese agency JICA, througha non-reimbursable fund. The results of the well are
positive, since a temperature of 235°C was measured.

Quito

Chacana project

The second stage of this project includes the drilling of
6-10 additional wells and the installation of a wellhead
unit up to 5MW. The government of Ecuador will
manage a loan with the government of Japan through
JICA and the execution of the second stage will betendered by the public generation and transmission
company CELEC EP under the JICA regulations.
According to the results of this stage, the construction
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IGA News No. 113

8

of a plant with an estimated capacity of 50 MW would
be continued.

national grid. A larger development could then be
examined in the future as a Phase 2.

In the other most promising geothermal area, called
Chacana, the development of a thermal gradient study isplanned, for which gradient wells will be drilled. With
these results the objectives of deep drilling will bedefined. This project is 40% financed by the GDF(Global Development Fund) and CELEC contributes
the remaining 60%. The GDF funds were obtained in
the first call made by GDF.

Several initiatives establishing business processes inhuman resources, risk management, and health andsafety commenced as part of preparations foradvancement beyond completion of the Feasibility
Study. In addition to working with expert consultants
and non-government organizations to enhance andbroaden our stakeholder management and engagement
priorities, Bluestone says it’s pleased to havecommenced work with local and international industryleading partners to help bolster the Company’s capacity.

At the GEOLAC conference it was announced that inrecent years the Government of Ecuador has promoted
a program for the creation of local geothermal
capacities, through training programs developed withcountries with vast experience such as Iceland, Japan, El
Salvador (LaGeo) and Costa Rica (ICE). In addition, it
developed infrastructure for the execution of
exploration campaigns, for which CELEC acquired
geophysical equipment, implemented a rock laboratory
and is implementing a laboratory for the analysis ofwater and gases.

Source:https://www.geologyforinvestors.com/bluestonecorporate-update/

Source: http://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/ecuador-toadvance-with-geothermal-exploration-at-chachimbiroand-chacana/

Guatemala: Flow Tests in
Wells of the Mita Geothermal
Project
John Robins, Executive Chairman of Bluestone
Resources Inc., commented in early September, “In justover 15 months since acquiring the Cerro Blanco Goldand Mita Geothermal projects, Bluestone has advanced
from what was effectively a shell company to one that is
rapidly advancing these high-quality projects.”
Flow testing of select geothermal wells was completed
at the Mita Geothermal project. Equipment was
installed onsite and four geothermal wells were tested
for power generation capabilities. Multiple wells were
flow tested for extended durations. The data collected
fed into a new reservoir calculation that is expected todemonstrate an economic geothermal resource, as wellas an estimated power generation capacity for apotential first phase project. Further drilling and follow
up on the deeper reservoir, projected beneath the Mita
geothermal concession, could have the potential toincrease the projected power generation capabilities in
the future.
Further studies are ongoing in this area in conjunction
with synergies from the Cerro Blanco Gold project.
Bluestone envisions a staged approach, with Phase 1
being a smaller operation that could supplement power
requirements to the mine or be sold into the privatizedwww.geothermal-energy.org

Mexico: Financing and Risk
Transfer Program, First GHP
Project in Operation
IDB’s Program for Financing and Risk Transfer for
Geothermal Development - The Inter-American
Development Bank (IDB) has approved a modificationof a loan totaling US$108.6 million that aims to increaseprivate investment in electricity generation projects
from geothermal sources, putting at the developers’
disposal a number of financial mechanisms tailored tomeet the specific needs of each project at every step of
their development.
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IGA News No. 113

9The mechanisms include exploration, drilling, field
preparation, construction and operation of private
geothermal projects, as well as reducing the value at riskfor developers, which is the main barrier to investment.
The program’s goal is to finance up to 300 MW ofgeothermal capacity over a 10-year period. It also hopes
to leverage other public and private funds to contributeto Mexico’s geothermal sector with estimatedinvestment levels to the tune of US$4.2 billion forproven geothermal reserves.
The Program for Financing and Risk Transfer for
Geothermal Energy in Mexico, structured under the
global loan modality, will consist of two main
components: risk mitigation for geothermal projects andfinancing adapted to the different phases of project
exploration and execution. In addition, it will have athird component of technical assistance to support
execution and other implementation costs.
Mexico is the main emitter of greenhouse gases fromfuel burning in Latin America and No. 12 in the world.
Its ambitious goals include reducing these emissions by
25% by 2030, with the energy sector having the biggest
reduction potential. Moreover, 80% of Mexico’s energy
continues to be derived from fossil fuels, making it evenmore imperative to transform the country’s energy
generation system to make it more sustainable andprofitable.
“Geothermal power is baseload energy, with a capacity
factor of 95%-plus, allowing to have electricity available
24-7 at a competitive price, much like natural gas. Like
solar and wind energy, it is renewable, but without theircharacteristic intermittency. It is fully climate-change
resilient and has an enormous energy density, whichpaves the way for getting large amounts of energy in a
relatively small area,” says Christiaan Gischler, project
leader and IDB’s geothermal theme team leader. Its
directuse
has
high-impact
applications and social advantages.
“Low enthalpy (low temperature)applications are crucial for the fruit
drying industry, and the use of steam
is critical for small- and mid-sizedenterprises,” he adds.

Public Tender to pick the companies that will be incharge of performing the drilling work during the
exploration phase; and second, a Call for the Selectionof the Eligible Developers who want participate in thisprogram. On September 17, the National Institute ofElectricity and Clean Energy (INEEL) –which is chargeof this Mexican Geothermal Financing Program(PGM)— unveiled the results of the pre-qualification
stage. Five companies applied to the program for five
distinct geothermal zones under exploration: Geodesa
for the project Domo de San Pedro; Geotérmica
Derrumbabas for Las Derrumbadas project; ENAL for
two projects: Aeropuerto II and Paredones; andMexxus-RG for Los Ocotillos project. CFE (Comisión
Federal de Electricidad), which also applied initially,
stepped down later. The five final applicants were
accepted to move the next qualification stage, which will
start on middle October. The contract is planned to besigned on November 2018, to start the financing
program in early 2019.
Sources: https://www.iadb.org/en/news/mexicoincrease-geothermal-energy-generation-idb-support,
https://www2.ineel.mx/geotermia/content/minimal/th
e-artwork.html
First Operational GHP Installed in Mexico - The
National Institute of Electricity and Clean Energy(INEEL) installed the first Geothermal Heat Pump
System (GHP) for air conditioning of housing spaces. It
was developed in collaboration with the Comisión
Federal de Electricidad (CFE) and financed by the
Energetic Sustainability Fund (FSE), which is managed
by Conacyt (the National Science and Technology
Center) and the Mexican Energy Ministry through the
project 13 of the Mexican Center for Innovation in
Geothermal Energy (CeMIE-Geo). This demonstration
system was inaugurated on August 31 in the community

The program’s total amount is
US$108.6 million: US$54.3 million
financed with resources from the
IDB’s Ordinary Capital, US$51.5
million from a contingent recovery
grant financed with resources fromthe Clean Technology Fund (CTF);
and US$2.8 million in technicalcooperation.
There are currently two processes
under way: first an International

INEEL personal involved in the GHP project. Photo taken from the source.

www.geothermal-energy.org

October-December 2018

IGA News No. 113
of Los Humeros, located within the geothermal field of
the same name operated by CFE. It is deemed as thefirst GHP project to be commercially operating in in
Mexico.
The project began in 2014, with the approach to thecommunity to inform of its application, operation and
expected benefits for the population. The INEEL
researchers had the support of the CFE’s staff for thisapproach, and thus the project was enriched with theparticipation of the Los Humeros community, whose
involvement facilitated the execution of the operationaltasks.
The Los Humeros community has approximately 500
inhabitants. The annual average temperature is between
12 and 18°C, but in winter it drops between -3 to 10°C.
That’s why in winter the population, especially infants
and the elderly, is commonly affected by respiratory
issues. So, it was decided to install the GHP unit near
the kindergarten and the medical clinic of the IMSS (theMexican Institute for Social Security), with the intentionof improving the health conditions of the more
vulnerable parts of the population.
At national level, the project aims to make visible theuse of GHP as a contribution to the country’s energy
efficiency. It is expected the project demonstrate
practically it is possible to integrate and assimilate in
Mexico this technology, which is widely used in China,
the U.S. and many countries or northern Europe.

10Lake. Alex Steely, geothermal project manager for theagency’s Washington Geological Survey, said drilling
will likely be done at the Mount Baker site in September
after drilling is completed at a site near Mount St.
Helens –an effort that is expected to begin this month.
Two exploration borehole will be drilled near eachvolcano. Each 2-inch-wide (~5 cm), 1600-foot-deep(~488 m) well, will take about two weeks to drill. Steely
said recreation at Baker Lake and in the Mount BakerSnoqualmie National Forest is not expected to be
impacted by the work near Mount Baker, which will bedone on forest land that is not open to the public.
Assessing the state’s geothermal resources is one ofseveral ways Natural Resources is working to identify
renewable energy sources to replace fossil fuels such ascoal and natural gas that are used to run power plants,
according to an agency email.
“We are doing this work because we believe strongly inhelping to foster renewable energy and de-carbonizationof the energy grid,” Steely said.
“The eventual hope is that there is a resource large
enough to run a power plant,” Steely said of the Mount
Baker site. “But that’s a long way off.”

The demonstration system installed in Los Humeros, ispart of a set of actions aimed to assimilate andtropicalize the GHP technology, lay the foundations fortheir introduction to the country and promote their
massive use in the regions with extreme or cold weather.
The CeMIE-Geo has another couple of projects related
to GHP.
The official inauguration of the project was held in theEjidal House of the municipality of Chignautla, and wasattended by representative of the CeMIEGeo, CFE, theEjidal Commission, county of Chignautla and Puebla,
and members of the community and the INEEL staff
involved in the project.
Source: https://www.gob.mx/ineel/prensa/ineelinaugura-el-primer-sistema-demostrativo-de-bomba-decalor-geotermica-bcg

U.S.: Exploration, DOE’s
Funds, Jeff Tester’s Remarks,
PGV Wells, Expansion ofDistrict Heating
Geothermal Exploration in Washington State - The
Department of Natural Resources of Washington Stateplans to drill this year near Mount Baker north of Baker
www.geothermal-energy.org

View of Mount Baker (Photo by Scott Terrell, Skagit
Valley Herald.
The Mount Baker site is promising because of previous
evidence of geothermal heat, the presence of water andthe proximity to infrastructure that would be needed totransmit electricity onto the energy grid.
If the holes show geothermal resources withtemperatures above 100 degrees, additional drilling,
temperature testing, rock analysis and mapping would
be needed to determine the size and shape of thegeothermal resource before a power plant could
potentially be built in the area. Steely said that work
would take several years and several million dollars tocomplete.
October-December 2018

IGA News No. 113
Source: https://www.goskagit.com/news/geothermaltesting-to-be-done-near-baker-lake/article_6fb40a5ae8a5-55db-b31c-45393002e6cf.html
Machine Learning in Geothermal Energy - The U.S.
Department of Energy (DOE) announced in July up to
US$3.6 million to address early-stage research anddevelopment applications in machine learning that will
be key to developing technology improvements in
exploration and operational improvements fordiscovered geothermal resources. Through this Machine
Learning for Geothermal Energy Funding Opportunity
Announcement(FOA),
DOE’s
GeothermalTechnologies Office (GTO) will fund 4-6 projects todevelop new analytical tools for finding and developing
geothermal resources, to establish the practice of using
machine learning in the geothermal industry, andmaximize the value of the rich datasets utilized in thegeosciences.
GTO is providing funding in two areas:
Topic 1: Machine Learning for Geothermal Exploration– GTO seeks projects that advance geothermal
exploration through the application of machine learningtechniques to geological, geophysical, geochemical,
borehole, and other relevant datasets. Of particularinterest to GTO are projects that will identify dataacquisition targets (including drilling) and build
community datasets for future work.
Topic 2: Advanced Analytics for Efficiency andAutomation in Geothermal Operations – GTO seeks
projects that would apply advanced analytics to power
plant and other operator datasets, with the goal of
improving operations and resource management.
The application process will include two phases: aConcept Paper phase and a Full Application phase.
Only applicants who submitted an eligible Concept
Paper by August 23, 2018 will be eligible to submit a
Full Application. The Full
Application submission deadline
is November 1st, 2018.
Source: https://eereexchange.energy.gov/default.aspx#FoaIdbf185673-cdec-49cd-aabeb152fd31e2d5
Jeff Tester on Geothermal
Direct Uses in the U.S. - Jeff
Tester is Professor of Sustainable
Energy Systems at Cornell
University’s
CollegeofEngineering and Chief Scientist
for Cornell’s Earth Source Heat
initiative. He became worldwide
recognized in 2006, when he,leading another 11 geothermal
www.geothermal-energy.org

11experts, published the 358-pages seminal paper The
Future of Geothermal Energy: Impact of Enhanced Geothermal
Systems on the United States in the 21 st Century, prepared by
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), underIdaho National Laboratory Subcontract No. 63 00019
for the U.S. Department of Energy, which made clear
the huge potential of Enhanced Geothermal Systems(EGS) in that country. Recently he wrote the following
small piece in the Expert Voices section of Axios,
stressing the convenience of developing the geothermal
direct uses in the U.S.
Less than a decade after it began its program to deploy geothermalenergy on a massive scale, China now has the largest amount ofgeothermal district heating of any country in the world, providing acleaner, more environmentally friendly way to heat communities
and to mitigate the poor air quality that results from burning coal.

The big picture: First used in Idaho in the 1890s,

geothermal works by recovering heat naturally stored in the earth.
Unlike wind or solar, it provides a consistent, efficient and nearly
emissions-free level of energy production when used for heating.
While China and other countries push forward with geothermal
technology, the U.S. lags far behind, meeting barely 0.01% of ourheating demand with it.

Background: In recent decades, the U.S. has begun using windand solar resources to substitute for coal- and gas-fired electricity
generation, and to use biofuels in place of gasoline and diesel oil.
These new technologies are important, but a completely low-carbon
energy-system transformation should also include geothermalenergy, especially since a fifth of the primary energy the U.S.
consumes annually is for heating homes and water, and comesmainly from burning fossil fuels.
Many countries are already successfully taking advantage of
geothermal district heating’s possibilities.
Iceland has almost completely shifted its energy dependency fromfossil fuels to renewables in less than 50 years by using thecountry’s high-grade geothermal resources to meet about 95% ofheating needs.
In France, more than 750,000 people
now rely on geothermal heat.
There are 240 geothermal district
heating systems in 14 countries in
Europe.

The opportunity: In the U.S.,

indigenous geothermal resources are welldistributed and abundantly available atthe right temperatures for heatingbuildings and water. Developing
geothermal resources for district heating
now would provide the U.S. with a
viable and sustainable long-term
replacement for fossil fuels.
Source:October-December 2018

IGA News No. 113
https://www.axios.com/us-lagging-in-geothermalenergy-as-china-and-others-pull-ahead-ea7ce800-df9b431c-896c-8b1ab4bb9da2.html
PGV Wells Were Capped with Barite – During themore critical days of the Kilauea eruption, when lava
flows threatened the 38-MW Puna Geothermal Venture(PGV) that used to provide 22-25% of the local power
demand in Hawaii, the 11 operating geothermal wells
had to be capped in anticipation of the lava eventuallyreaching them. To do that, the plant workers pumped
cold water into all the wells prior to capping them withiron plugs. Then, they removed topside equipment fromthe wells to present a low-profile to the oncoming lava
(see IGA News 112, p. 26).

Puna Geothermal Venture

In late July it was unveiled that, in addition to thatprocedure, the well-pads were sealed with barite. Barite
is an ore composed of barium sulfate that is used as afire retardant and is capable of harden with hightemperature. The only problem was they needed 68 tonsof barite to be delivered a.s.a.p. There was when thecompany Air Charter Service intervened to provide anaircraft capable of flying in the large amount of barite.
Richard Thompson, President of ACS Americas,
commented: “We were contacted by a specialist freight
forwarder to source an aircraft that could fly in a large
amount of barite… We found an MD-11 that wascapable of carrying the entire shipment in the necessary
timescale. The flight went without a hitch and the wells
were capped with the barite and deactivated shortly
afterwards… Since then, three of the 11 wells at the site
have been covered by the lava flow, meaning that it was
critical to get the barite delivered as urgently as we
managed and in place to protect the wells.”
Source: https://www.aircharter.co.uk/about-us/newsfeatures/news/acs-helps-to-avert-hawaiian-disasterwww.geothermal-energy.org

12
The Oldest District Heating to Be Expanded Started in 1983, Boise’s geothermal system is the largestof its kind in the United States and sixth largest
worldwide, according to city officials, and they want to
see it expand. This year, the city received permission
from the Idaho Department of Water Resources toincrease the amount of water it uses.
According to Public Works Director Steve Burgos, thecity plans to grow the system by encouraging buildingsthat are already near the system to join, as opposed todigging lines farther out of the downtown core.
About a third of downtown Boise is currently heated bygeothermal energy, including some of the largest
buildings. For all of the 92 buildings and 6 million
square feet (55.7 hectares) on the system, it
costs the city approximately US$1000 per
month total to heat, resulting in large energy
savings for buildings that opt in to the system.
Customers on the geothermal system pay for
power costs as well as for each gallon of waterused by their heat exchanger to warm thebuilding.
The water in the geothermal system flows at
170°F (~77°C), and it is heated by the decay of
a large batholith formed from cooled magma
beneath the mountains of central Idaho.
Snowmelt and rainwater seep into the rocks
from the mountains and come in contact withthe rock, which is slowly giving off radioactive
isotopes as it breaks down, producing a hightemperature in the underground rocks. There
has been no indications of decreasing watertemperature over the last 125 years and thewater is not expected to stop being heated tothe current temperature for centuries.
Along the Boise foothills, there is an old fault trace thatallows water heated by the rock to rise to the surface.
There, the city, as well as the other three geothermal
districts in Boise, have drilled wells where the water isdrawn to the surface and sent to heat offices and homes.
The other districts are operated by the state, powering
the state Capitol and a small network run by the
Veterans Administration. The third system, which has
been in place since 1892, provides hot water toapproximately 300 customers along Warm Springs
Avenue. According to the Boise Warm Springs Water
District website, it is the oldest continuously operating
geothermal system in the world.
The water flows into the buildings and then passes
through a heat exchanger that transfers the heat througha series of thin metal plates to then be released into therooms of the structure. Once the water passes through,it is immediately returned to the system and pumped
back into the aquifer beneath the city. On an annual
October-December 2018

IGA News No. 113
basis, the city pumps between 240 and 290 million
gallons (0.9 and 1.1 million of metric tons) of water toheat all 92 buildings on its system.

13of Energy and Natural Resources Artur Grigoryan.
Chief Executive Officer of SUMEC Geopower AG,
Michal Horacek, also attended the meeting.

When the city first started using the geothermal system,
the water was dumped into the Boise River. Thismethod worked as a way to heat the buildings, but thewater levels in the aquifer began to steadily drop overthe next five years. As a solution, the city drilled an
injection well in 1999 to return all of the water back into
the aquifer. There were fears that pumping the waterback into the ground would cause fissures in the groundand increase seismic activity in the area, but that has notoccurred.
Once the city began pumping the water back down into
the ground, the water level in the aquifer began toslowly rise every year. The water levels hit their pre-1983
levels in 2013, and the levels have continued toincrementally climb since.
Source:https://www.idahopress.com/news/local/boise-hasthe-largest-geothermal-system-in-the-countryhere/article_73d9baae-5b08-50fb-8d350b7cbd5c339f.html

ASIA/PACIFIC RIM
Armenia: Ratified Plans toConstruct a Geothermal
Power Plant
SUMEC GeoPower AG has ratified its plans to build ageothermal power plant in Armenia, with a planned
capacity between 30 and 50 MW. SUMEC GeoPower
AG is an international team of geothermal specialists
based in Switzerland and gathered by SUMEC Group
Corporation, which in turn is a member of China
National
Machinery
Industry
Corporation(SINOMACH).
Since 2001 Armenia has announced a program fordevelop alternative energy sources in the country, whose
goal is to reduce dependence on energy imports. One of
the main points of the program is the erection ofgeothermal power plants, with Armenia’s partner being
the International Bank for Reconstruction andDevelopment (IBRD, a division of the World Bank),
which in 2016 signed an agreement on the geothermal
exploration drilling program.
Works on the development of a feasibility study for theconstruction of a geothermal power plant in Karkar
have been carried out since 2017. Its implementation
was recently discussed in the framework of a visit paid
by Petr Mikyska, the Ambassador of the Czech Republic
to the Republic of Armenia, to the Armenia’s Ministerwww.geothermal-energy.org

Approximate location of Mount Karkar near theborder with Azerbaijan
Issues related to Armenian-Czech cooperation in thefield of energy were discussed. In that context, theopportunities and perspectives of implementing joint
programs in the field of renewable energy werehighlighted. It was noted that SUMEC Geopower
intends to build a geothermal power plant in Armenia.
Sources: http://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/czechcompany-planning-to-build-30-50-mw-geothermalplant-in-armenia/,
http://www.sumecgeopower.com/en/66/sumecgeopower-ag-intends-to-build-a-geothermal-powerplant-in-armenia/?id=619

China: The Country Leads inGeothermal Heat, but Power
Generation Lags
China is gradually developing geothermal energy, andthe country’s industrial system has taken initial shape, a
new study shows. Installed capacity of China's
geothermal heat pumps reached 20,000 megawatts by
the end of last year to rank first in the world.
In addition to its primary uses in heating andaquaculture, a lesser portion also goes to generate
power, with the nation’s power capacity by the end oflast year of 27.28 MW ranking it 18th in the world,
according to the country’s first research report on
geothermal energy development issued by the National
Energy Administration, Chinese Academy of Sciences,and other agencies on August 25, 2018.
October-December 2018

IGA News No. 113
Problemsofinsufficient and uncoordinateddevelopment still exist in China's geothermal energy
industry, however, the report also noted.
National geothermal resource statistics are inaccurate,
and a clear gap exists here compared with developed
countries. Only 1230 measured geothermal data are
currently available in China, whereas that figure is
17,000 for the U.S.
Source: https://www.yicaiglobal.com/news/chinaleads-geothermal-heat-capacity-power-generation-lagsstudy-finds

Indonesia: Working Areas,
Rantau Dedap, Microbiologic
Control Trial

14
production wells, with an expected production of 7.8
MW each, and two will be injection wells.
In addition, it was started the construction of the firstphase of the geothermal facility, with capacity of 86
MW. The plant is constructed by the consortium of
Rekayasa Industri and Fuji Electric Co. The first phaseof 86 MW is estimated to obtain commercial on date
(COD) in middle 2020, with the second phase of 134
MW targeted COD by 2025. The overall capacity will be
220 MW, with a total cost estimated at around US$ 700
million.
Rida Mulyana also said that geothermal energy had been
set as one of Indonesia’s energy priorities, considering
the country’s geothermal resources that are estimated to
be 28,500 MW, out of which less than 10% have beendeveloped so far (1948 MW).

Three More WKP Assigned to PLN - Ministry ofenergy and mineral resources (ESDM) has again
assigned state-owned electricity company (PLN) to
manage three working areas of geothermal (WKP). They
are: WKP Gunung Sirung with an installed capacity of 5
megawatts (MW), Ranau Lake (55 MW), and Oka Ile
Ange (10 MW).
Ida Nuryatin Finahari, the director of geothermal at theministry’s Directorate General of New Renewable
Energy and Energy Conservation, said her staffers had
evaluated the plan on PLN to develop the three areas
and officially assigned the task to the company.

Rantau Dedap

Ida said her staffers were currently conductionsocialization with the regional government in the threeworking areas to begin the geothermal development.
Earlier, PLN had had a permit to manage eight
geothermal working areas: WKP Mataloko 22.5 MW,
Atedei 10 MW, and Ulumbu 50 MW in East Nusa
Tenggara; Songa Wayaua 10 MW in North Maluku;
Mount Tangkuban Perahu 60 MW in West Java; Tulehu
2x10 MW in Ambon; Ungaran 55 MW in Central Javaand Kepahiang 110 MW in Bengkulu.
Source:https://en.tempo.co/read/news/2018/07/23/0569201
78,uk.html/ESDM-Assigns-PLN-to-Manage-3Geothermal-Working-Areas

Source:http://www.en.netralnews.com/news/business/read/2
3134/rantau.dedap.geothermal.project.starts.exploitatio
n.well.drilling.phase
Successful Trial of Microbiologic Control Program– Effective generation of electricity in a geothermal
power plant depends on the control of microbiologicalslime in the plant condenser cooling system, among
other items.

First Exploitation Well in Rantau Dedap Project The inauguration of Well RD-I3, the first exploitation
well of the Rantau Dedap geothermal power project,
was conducted on early August by Director General of
New Renewable and Energy Conservation at the
Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Rida
Mulyana.

ZI-CHEM is the specialty chemicals business unit of
Zuellig Industrial, a multinational organization foundedin Philippines with focused activities to the industrial
market in Southeast Asia. This company completed in
middle August the plant trial for a MicrobiologicalControl Program at the power plant of an international
geothermal company in Indonesia whose name not wasdisclosed. This program comprised of a uniqueoxidizing biocide and bio-dispersant combination tocontrol microbiological growth in the cooling tower.

RD-I3 is the first production well of the planned 16
exploitation wells to be drilled, 14 of them will be

The trial has reportedly demonstrated the capability of
ZI-CHEM’s biocide and bio-dispersant products to

www.geothermal-energy.org

October-December 2018

IGA News No. 113

15

control microbiological growth below the control limit
at a reasonable cost. This program also proved effectiveat reducing consumption of other chemicals needed tomaintain pH levels in the cooling water.

IoT and AI technology to optimize the use ofchemicals, as well as the timing.

According to ZI-CHEM, the operating company of theplant has accepted the future use of the program tested
in the plant.

Takao Konishi, Director, Vice President of the Thermal& Hydro Power Systems & Services Division at Toshiba
ESS says, “We are confident that these tests will serve
for boosting introduction of geothermal power andcontribute to a realization of a low-carbon society.”

Source: http://www.zi-chem.com/newsdetail.php?newsId=90

Source: https://www.toshibaenergy.com/en/info/info2018_0807.htm

Japan: IoT and AI Technology
to Improve Capacity Factor of
Geothermal Power Plants

Philippines: Geothermal
Production in 2017, News
from EDC

The Japanese firm Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions
Corporation (Toshiba ESS) is conducting research that
employs IoT (Internet of Things) and AI (Artificial
Intelligence) technology to improve capacity factors ofgeothermal power plants. The research program, whichbegan in August and is scheduled to continue until
2020, aims to reduce the rate of problem occurrences at
power plants by 20% while boosting capacity factors by
10%. This research program has won positive evaluation
and a grant from by the New Energy and Industrial
Technology Development Organization (NEDO).

It was unveiled that in 2017 renewable energy resources,
including geothermal, hydropower, biomass, solar andwind, accounted for almost one quarter (24.6%) of thecountry’s power generation mix that was 94,370
gigawatts-hour (GWh). According to data from the
Department of Energy, published by Christine Joyce S.
Castañeda from Business World on Line (BWonline),
renewable energy-based facilities generated 23,189 GWh
in 2017, which represents an increase of 5.5% from the2016’s generation that was 21,980 GWh.
Geothermal and hydro were the most important energy
sources, producing more than 85% of the total ofrenewables. Geothermal power plants distributed inseveral fields of the regions of Visayas, Luzon andMindanao in the Philippines generated 10,270 GWh,
which account for 10.9% of the total power generated
in the country last year. The graph below presents theoutcomes in 2017 by renewable energy source.

Geothermal energy yields steady output, making it
capable of serving as baseload power for expanded useof renewable energy which the world demands. With thethird largest geothermal resource potential in the world,
Japan has high expectations for geothermal energy
generation. At the same time, the cost to generate powerfrom other renewable sources such as solar power isdropping, so geothermal power plants need
to be managed more efficiently.
Takingthese
circumstances
into
consideration, this research program uses
actual models within the geothermal power
plants to run tests on their predictive
diagnostics that utilize big data analytics, andtheir preventive measures for scaling inturbine scales, which is one of the factorsthat decrease capacity factor.
For predictive diagnostics that utilize big
data analytics, research is conducted by
employing analytical tools that break down
and evaluate past and real-time plant
operating data to predict problems ahead oftime which could potentially shut down the
power plants.

Wind

1,094

Solar

1,201

Biomass

1,013
9,611

Hydro

10,270

Geothermal

For preventive measures for turbine scaling, research is
conducted with effective sprays including chemical
agents which prevent scales to be built inside of theturbine. Control of the scaling is also verified by usingwww.geothermal-energy.org

GWh/year02,000 4,000 6,000 8,000 10,000 12,000

Source: https://www.msn.com/enph/finance/topstories/how-reliant-is-the-philippineson-renewable-energy/ar-BBLiseM
EDC to Be Delisted from the Philippine Stock
Exchange - On early August, the Board of Directors ofEnergy Development Corp. (EDC) approved theOctober-December 2018

IGA News No. 113
voluntary delisting of the company’s common sharesfrom the main board of the Philippine Stock Exchange(PSE). EDC is the main producer of geothermal powerwith nearly 1200 MW of installed capacity, accountingfor 61% of the country’s total installed geothermal
capacity. It is also the country’s largest renewable energy
producer, delivering 1472 megawatts (MW) from hydro,
solar, and wind power.
In a disclosure to the PSE, EDC said it would conduct atender offer for up to 2,040,006,713 common shares at
P7.25 (US$ 0.134) each that are held collectively by the
public.
“The intention to eventually delist EDC was sharedwith the market last year and the tender offer that ourboard has approved today presents a meaningful
opportunity for our minority shareholders to realize
their investment prior to the delisting of the company,
at a significant premium to the current share price,”
EDC President and Chief Operating Officer Richard B.
Tantoco stated.
EDC, along with its parent firm First Gen Corp., soughta suspension of trading of its shares because of thedelisting decision. Its shares were last traded at P4.95
each.
The company said the tender offer price is “subject tocertain terms and conditions as now orhereafter set forth” by the company. The
tender offer price represents a 46% premium
over the closing share price on Aug. 7, and a
40% premium over the three-month volume
weighted average price of P5.18.

16
http://manilastandard.net/business/powertechnology/275741/edc-gets-nod-to-extend-tenderoffer-period-for-another-20-days.html
EDC to Upgrade Six Power Units of Palinpinon 1 &2 - Energy Development Corporation (EDC), throughits subsidiary Green Core Geothermal, Inc., will retrofit
and upgrade six power geothermal units at two power
plants in the Philippines, and has awarded the contract
to the firm ABB, currently based in Zurich, which will
also deliver a new Control System Integration (CSI)
solution for these plants and an area control center
facility.
The plants have a total capacity of approximately 200
megawatts (MW), running with Fuji-make turbines andwere initially commissioned in 1983 and completed in
the mid-1990s. The aim of the project is to deliver amodern control system integrated across all plants thatcan be easily upgraded over time to take advantage ofthe latest digital technology as it develops.
The new solution will increase operational andmaintenance efficiency and assist management decisionmaking by providing improved access to better
operational information. It will also facilitate central
control and remote monitoring of the power plants andsteam fields from one location.

View of Palimpinion 1. Photo by First Holdings.

EDC said independent financial adviser KPMG
issued an opinion based on an independentvaluation that the tender offer price is fair andreasonable from a financial point of view.
By middle September, the Securities andExchange Commission extended the tender
offer period by another 20 days, under requestof EDC. EDC said the SEC allowed thecompany to extend the tender offer period foran additional 20 business days from Oct. 22,
2018, if an extension would be necessary or
desirable in order to complete the tender offer.
The tender offer period is targeted to commence from
Sept. 25 to Oct. 22 and is subject to a minimum of
1.162 billion common shares being tendered and eligible
for acceptance by EDC through the tender offer.
The tender offer will reduce the percentage of shares
held by the public to less than 5 percent from 10.9
percent and in turn, allow a voluntary delisting of thecompany, subject to PSE approval.
Sources: http://www.bworldonline.com/edc-delistingfrom-phl-stock-exchange/,
www.geothermal-energy.org

The scope of the contract includes the conversion of amechanical electro-hydraulic governor to a digital
version and the replacement of the existing low-pressure
turbine hydraulic equipment with a new a high-pressure
solution. ABB will also provide performance calculationand comprehensive cyber security solutions to protect
the customer’s assets.
The geothermal plants –known as Palinpinon 1 andPalinpinon 2– are located in Valencia, a municipality on
Negros, the fourth largest island of the Philippines andhome to a number of volcanoes.
October-December 2018

IGA News No. 113

17

Source:http://www.abb.com/cawp/seitp202/9abfab2bca4e25c
5c1258308005495bc.aspx

everyone to meet and getting to know each other.

EUROPEThe project has the following eleven partners: TWI Ltd.
(coordinator), WEIR Group, ON Power, University of
Iceland, University Politechnica of Bucharest, Gerosion,
Technovative Solutions, Technoid, Flowphys, METAV,
and the Innovation Centre Iceland.

The GEO-COAT Project

Source: http://www.geo-coat.eu/blog/

GEO-COAT (development of novel and cost effective
corrosion resistant coatings for high temperaturegeothermal applications) is a new three-year research
project, funded by the European Union under the
Horizon 2020 umbrella, whose aim is to support thedevelopment of the next generation renewableelectricity and heating/cooling technologies.

New GECO Project under
Horizon 2020 Program

Late August, the project published its first newsletter,
which informs that it aims at developing corrosion anderosion-resistant coatings to improve the lifetime ofcomponents within geothermal plants:• Liners• Well casings• Pipelines• Heat exchangers• Pumps• Turbine components
Specialized coatings will be developed based on:• High Entropy Alloys (HEA)• Ceramic/metal mixtures (Cermets)• Ni-P-PTFE
Applied via thermal powder coating and plating
techniques:• High Velocity Oxygen Fuel (HVOF)• Laser Metal Deposition (LMD).
• Electroless plating
A decision-based approach will be implemented in theselection of the coatings,
based on experimental
results,
computationalmodelling of the geothermal
fluid
and
economic
considerations.
The
newsletter
also
informed the project held it
kick-off
meetingon
February 2018 at the TWI
Ltd. premises in Granta
Park, Cambridge, UK, wheneach work package, together
withfinancesandmanagement details, werediscussed in detail andpossible project challenges
highlighted. The meeting
also gave the chance for

Reykjavík Energy and a group of 17 partners from ninecountries across Europe (France, Germany,
Iceland, Italy, Norway, Spain, The Netherlands, Turkey
and United Kingdom) have received a EUR 16 million
grant from the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation
program. The funding contributes to the GECO
(Geothermal Emission COntrol) project, and aims toadvance the provision of cleaner and cost-effective
geothermal energy across Europe and the world with
reduced emissions of carbon and sulfur.
The core of this project is the application of an
innovative technology (CarbFix), recently developed andsuccessfully demonstrated at a pilot-scale in Iceland,
which can limit the emissions from geothermal plants bycondensing and re-injecting gases in the subsurface orturning them into commercial products (see figure).
GECO aims to increase public acceptance andgeneralize this novel approach. To that end, thereinjection method will be applied in four distinct
geothermal systems in four European countries:
1) a high-temperature basaltic reservoir in Iceland; 2) ahigh-temperature gneiss reservoir in Italy; 3) a hightemperature volcanoclastic reservoir in Turkey; and 4) a
low-temperature sedimentary reservoir in Germany.

Scheme showing the method of re-injecting CO2 and H2S back into the geothermal
reservoir, wherein carbon and sulfur are expected to mineralize naturally for a longterm underground storage. Figure taken from paper: Towards ‘green’ geothermalenergy: Co-mineralization of carbon and sulfur in geothermal reservoirs, by Marieni
et al., 2018.

www.geothermal-energy.org

October-December 2018

IGA News No. 113
Within GECO, gas capture and purification methods
will be advanced by lowering consumption of resources(electricity, water and chemicals) to deliver cheaper
usable CO2 streams as commodity to third parties.
GECO’s unique approach consists of capturing thewaste gases, dissolving them in the exhaust geothermal
water stream, and reinjecting the aqueous solution. The
re-injected acidic gas-charged fluid provokes thedissolution of subsurface rocks, which increases thereservoir permeability, and promotes the fixation of the
dissolved gases by mineralization. The waste gases are
therefore stored in the long term, in an environmentallyfriendly manner, while geothermal emissions are costeffectively cleaned compared to standard industry
solutions.
A detailed and consistent monitoring program,geochemical analysis, and comprehensive modelling will
characterize the reactivity and consequences of fluidflow in the geologically diverse field sites of GECO.
This will create new and more accurate modelling tools
to predict the reactions that occur in the subsurface in
response to induced fluid-flow and favor the scalabilityof gas capture and purification.
Finally, gas capture for reuse will be demonstrated byproducing a CO2 stream with only trace H2S levels. This
prerequisite for most utilization pathways will bedemonstrated as part of the GECO project.

SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL ENDORSED BY THE
IGA

18
The GECO project is largely based on the CarbFix
method, and is scheduled to be developed over the next
five years. The CarbFix project was founded in 2007 by
the University of Iceland, CNRS in Toulouse, the Earth
Institute at Columbia University in New York andReykjavik Energy, but since then several universities andresearch institutes have in the project.
Source:https://www.carbfix.com/sites/default/files/atoms/fil
es/geco_pressrelease_en.pdf

Climate Change Made
Europe’s Heatwave Twice as
Likely to Happen
The summer heatwave in northern Europe was madetwice as likely by climate change, according to apreliminary analysis.
Temperatures have soared over much of Europe overJuly, regularly exceeding 30°C and several temperaturerecords have been broken. The conditions have been so
extreme that wildfires have broken out in Sweden andthe UK.
Heatwaves are one of the most likely consequences ofclimate change. As the average global temperature rises
due to higher levels of greenhouse gases, more extreme
bouts of high temperatures follow.
However, heatwaves do happen anyway. To find out if
the current heatwave was made more likely by climatechange, a team at World Weather Attribution led byFriederike Otto of the University of Oxford, UK has
conducted a rapid-response study.
They ran climate models with and without greenhousegas emissions and tracked how often heatwaves like thecurrent one occurred in both cases.
“We estimate that the probability to have such a heat or
higher is generally more than two times higher today
than if human activities had not altered climate,” theteam reports.
The intensity of the climate effect varies somewhat fromcountry to country. “In Ireland and Denmark climate
models give a very similar increase in probabilities to theobservations –roughly a factor two more likely in
Dublin and a factor four in Denmark,” the team writes.
The team estimates that similar heatwaves will returnsoon. In particular, comparable heatwaves will now
strike Dublin and the Netherlands every four to sevenyears in the current climate –“even though they areclose to record-high compared to earlier climates”.

TAKE A LOOK HERE.

“In fact, I think that these sorts of analyses are overly
conservative,” says Michael Mann, of Pennsylvania State
University. He says this summer’s extreme weather in

www.geothermal-energy.org

October-December 2018

IGA News No. 113
the Northern Hemisphere is related to a near-stationary
perturbation in the jet stream. Such patterns have been
implicated in “many of the most extreme, persistentsummer weather events in recent years, including the2003 European heat wave, 2010 Moscow wildfires, 2011
Texas and Oklahoma drought [and the] 2016 Alberta
wildfires.”
In a study published last year, Mann and his colleagues
showed that such patterns are becoming more common
as a result of human-caused climate change (Scientific
Reports, doi.org/f9vwxh). Mann says the “amplified
warming in the Arctic” seems to be a major contributor.

19
installed in the Metropolitan area. In addition, theInstitute of Seismology at the University of Helsinki
used its own geophones to independently monitor the
stimulation. The highest micro-earthquake during thewater simulation test was a magnitude of 1.9. The limit
values for the micro-earthquakes were predefined by theauthorities to a much lower level than for example areused in blasting operations. Within these limits, thestimulation was performed in a controlled and safemanner, without posing a danger to people or damage
to structures.

“Events like the massive wildfires breaking out aroundthe Arctic Circle really have no precedent in modern
history and they are consequently very difficult toanticipate in advance,” says Mann. “It is a reminder that
there are many surprises lurking in the greenhouse andthey are unlikely to be welcome surprises.”
Source:https://www.newscientist.com/article/2175358climate-change-made-europes-heatwave-twice-as-likelyto-happen/

Finland: Stimulation Stage of
St1 Geothermal Project
Successfully Completed
Nordic company St1 Renewable Energy Oy has
announced having made significant progress for its
geothermal pilot project in Otaniemi, Finland. The
company successfully completed the stimulation stage.
The stimulation was used to open closed rock fractures
and to investigate the water flow by pumping water into
the existing 6.4 km-deep well in highly controlled cycles,
so that the micro-earthquakes induced by pumping in
the bedrock remained within the limits predefined by
the authorities. During the next 5 to 7 months, theresults will be analyzed and more cost-efficient drilling
technology will be developed. The analysis phase will
determine the project’s continuation. The planned
geothermal heat plant in Otaniemi could fulfil up to 10
percent of district heating demand with emission-freeenergy in the Espoo area.
“The stimulation test proved that water can be pumped
into Finland’s tough granite bedrock and be made toflow through the rock. The controlled stimulation
technology we opted for, and the pinpointing of theappropriate fracture zones, proved to work and the
bedrock behaved as we had expected,” said Tero
Saarno, Production Director at St1 Deep Heat.
During the stimulation stage, experts from St1 pumped
water into the 6.4-km deep injection borehole,monitoring this process with underground geophones
www.geothermal-energy.org

Otaniemi

2 km“Because the site is located in Helsinki Metropolitan
area near housing and infrastructure, the magnitudes
were set so low that the disturbing effects would
probably remain minor. On site, the effects ofstimulation were closely monitored and reacted toquickly when needed,” says seismologist Tommi
Vuorinen of the Institute of Seismology.
According to Tero Saarno, the only surprise during thestimulation phase was the noise nuisance caused by themore powerful micro-earthquakes, whose transmission
through the rock could not be anticipated. During thestimulation, these micro-earthquakes in the bedrock
were audible as distant rumbling or banging noises,
while the largest caused structures to vibrate in certain
areas.
“I hear for the first time such loud noises coming fromso small micro-earthquakes, even though I have lived
and worked most of my life in very active earthquake
areas, such as California, Hawaii, New Zealand andTurkey. It is very exceptional that these sounds are evenaudible, as the sediment layers of the Earth normallyabsorb them. The unique data now recorded opens up awhole new area of research, aimed at identifying theircauses, including the potential effect of nearby bays andthe uniqueness of Finnish bedrock,” said Peter E. Malin,a member of the project expert team, R&D Director at
the seismic monitoring company ASIR, and a Professor
October-December 2018

IGA News No. 113
of Seismology at the German Geoscience ResearchCenter in Potsdam.
“The measured vibration levels on the ground werereally low: only 1/100 of the level measured in blasting
operations and far from the actual level that could cause
damage to the buildings. Also, the noise measurements
were clearly below the guidelines of the Ministry ofSocial Affairs and Health throughout the project,” says
Vesa Holmström, Technical Manager in Kalliotekniikka.
A team of 25 experts have been working in shifts
around the clock during the stimulation phase at St1
Deep Heat’s Otaniemi construction site. The project
deploys best international geothermal expertise andexperience from previous projects.
Source: https://www.st1.eu/Stimulation-stage-of-St1sgeothermal-project-successfully-completed

France: Anti-Corrosion Well
Concept, New CHP ProjectAnti-Corrosion Well Concept Validated in the Paris
Basin - On late July the French engineering consultancy
GPC Instrumentation Process (GPC IP) announced a
new milestone and success in smart-well architecture.
The company informed it has successfully completed a
new anti-corrosion, fiberglass lined, production well at
the Bonneuil-sur-Marne (Paris southern outskirts)
geothermal district heating (GDH) site, operated by
SETBO, the local heating company managed by the city.

20
annulus (i.e. not cemented). It is a design started in 1985
on the emblematic Melun l’Almont GDH well GMA4,
completed through a simplified architecture: single 13
3/8” casing and 9 5/8” fiberglass liner, and a selfflowing mode production (see IGA News 20, pp. 12-13).
The former experience of the well GMA4 validated thefiberglass lining concept to prevent material aging(fiberglass doesn’t weep or de-structuring), keep the wellintegrity (it has not been necessary any heavy duty
workover or acidizing in the well so far), reduce
maintenance (only one master valve has been changed),maintain the well productive performance (it stillpresents an artesian, non-sustained, 300 m3/h flowing
rate under 2 bar wellhead pressure), in spite of below
bubble point self-flowing production and related fluid
degassing.
The architecture of the present well in Bonneuil-surMarne addresses an artificial lift, pump sustained,
production, which implied significant designmodifications. The main changes and improvements are
the following:- An upper and wider liner section of 13 3/8” Outer
Diameter (11.97” Internal Diameter) acting as a
pumping chamber, sized to accommodate a 500 HP
rated ESP, placed under compression between thewellhead and the lower section.
- A lower and slimmer production liner of 9 5/8” OD(7.74” ID) freely suspended and connected by thesystem described below.
- A liner connecting system of 13 3/8” x 9 5/8”, placedat the casing interface of 20” x 13 3/8”, which allows afree annular fluid (a make-up corrosion inhibitor agent)passage and is a key issue indeed.
- A wellhead expansion spool.
The additional capital investment costs are around 20%
compared to a conventional 13 3/8” x 9 5/8” steel
cased well architecture, but it is estimated will get payedback in less than eight years thanks to yearly OM costs
savings.
This smart well design is a positive measured against
thermo-chemically hostile corrosive fluid environments,
capable to secure well longevity and low
operation/maintenance (OM) costs.
The project, due to its innovative impact, was awarded
financial support from ADEME, the French
Environmental Agency.

This is a 2020 m deep and 38° slanted well thatcombines a large (20” x 13 3/8”) steel cased proppingcolumn and a twin (13 3/8” x 9 5/8”) fiberglass
production liner assembly, being free the casing-liner
www.geothermal-energy.org

Source:http://www.geoproduction.fr/sites/default/files/GDC
E18052_press%20release-v2.pdf
ES Starts a New CHP Project in IllkirchGraffenstaden - Electricité de Strasbourg (ES), theOctober-December 2018

IGA News No. 113

21

utility in the city of Strasbourg in Alsace, started on lateAugust the first drilling on the deep geothermal site
located in the innovation park in Illkirch-Graffenstaden.

exploration and utilization rights with ventures on theisland Lesvos and Methana, a peninsula in northeast
Peloponnese.

The project plans construction of a geothermal power
plant will produce heat and electricity to supply anurban heat network and the surrounding industrial
activity. The first well will be drilled to a depth of 3000
meters and the water to be derived is expected with atemperature of 150°C. The second well is planned to be
drilled in November.

These starting choices, where geothermal exploration
work is believed to be imminent, have the purpose ofdemonstrate that geothermal development isenvironmentally friendly. Locals on Milos and Nisyros,
two other spots also being eyed, both object togeothermal development. Back in the 1980s, islanders
on Milos strongly reacted against a geothermal
development plan, fearing its environmental impact.
However, PPC Renewables officials are now hoping thispast resistance will ease once islanders are fully
informed of technological advancements in the sector.

Source: http://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/electricite-destrasbourg-starts-drilling-at-illkirch-geothermal-projectfrance/

Germany: First Well of
Thalkirchen Project Produces
430 Tons per Hour of Hot
Water
The city utility of Munich, Stadtwerke München (SWM)
has announced that drilling of its first well for the newplanned combined heat and power plant South (HKW
Süd) in Munich has been successful. Drilling of this firstwell, called Th1, took about three months.
Pumping tests at a depth of 2800 meters produced>100°C water at a rate of more than 120 liters per
second (432 metric tons per hour). These are bettercharacteristics than expected. In early August thesecond well started to be drilled, and by the end of2019 all the six planned wells should be completed.

PPC Renewables plans to establish a strategic
partnership with Helector SA, a member of the Ellaktor
group, for these ventures. Helector is the winningbidder in a related tender. A wholly-owned subsidiary of
the main power utility PPC, PPC Renewables isanticipating the signing of a ministerial decision by theenergy ministry before it proceeds with the formation of
its partnership with Helector.
PPC Renewables plans to develop an 8-MW geothermal
power station on Lesvos and 5-MW geothermal facilities
at each of the other locations.

As informed before (see IGA News 112, p. 38), at
HKW Süd in Thalkirchen, the most powerfulgeothermal heating plant in Munich is being built –and the largest geothermal plant in Germany to date.
With a thermal output of 50 MW thermal, it isexpected to deliver eco-heat for at least 80,000
Munich residents by the year 2020.
SWM currently operates five geothermal plants in
Munich and in the region. Its goal is to make Munich
the first major German city by 2040, in which district
heating is generated 100 percent from renewableenergy sources. The main contribution will be
provided by geothermal energy.
Source: http://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/utility-ofmunich-successfully-drills-first-well-of-ambitiousgeothermal-heating-project/

Greece: Two Geothermal
Projects to Be Started
PPC Renewables plans to start developing two of fourgeothermal fields to which the company holds exclusive
www.geothermal-energy.org

Source: https://energypress.eu/ppc-renewables-to-startgeothermal-work-at-lesvos-methana/

Iceland: Production of
Hydrogen and Algae, Flúðir
Power Plant
Hydrogen to Be Produced with Geothermal Energy- The Icelandic power company ON Power (Orkanáttúrunnar) started to produce hydrogen at the end of
October-December 2018

IGA News No. 113
August, as part of a European project. An electrolyzer
has been installed by Hellisheiði Geothermal Power
Plant in Southwest Iceland. Sale of hydrogen forvehicles could begin as early as October. Two other
Icelandic companies, Orkan, owned by Skeljungur hf.,
and Icelandic New Energy, participate in the project.
Orkan opened two hydrogen stations earlier thissummer. Until ON Power starts its sale, importedhydrogen will be used at those stations.
The electrolyzer to be used has the capacity to produce
enough hydrogen for all hydrogen-powered cars in use
in the country already, in addition to five hydrogenpowered buses, to be taken into use by the end of nextyear.
Bjarni Már Júlíusson, CEO of ON Power, states thatthe idea is to produce the hydrogen by the geothermal
power plant and to distribute it in bottles to prevent any
loss in transport. The hydrogen will be produced at one
location and delivered at two to three stations.
The project’s startup cost is funded by European grants,
in addition to ISK 100 million (US$ 949,000) comingfrom ON Power. Bjarni does not expect the operation
to be profitable at first, but notes he hopes that a
successful market will be established for clean Icelandic
energy in the future.
ON Power has set up charging stations for electricvehicles around the country. Bjarni said that, in his
opinion, a dream car for Iceland would be one poweredby electricity, but able to switch over to hydrogen during
longer trips.
Source:https://icelandmonitor.mbl.is/news/news/2018/07/31/hydrogen_to_be_produced_in_iceland/

22with Icelandic energy utility and operator ON Power forthe purchase of energy and other inputs for small-scalealgae production, which will be the first of its kind in
the world.
Algaennovation is an international technology startup
that has been developing new technologies for the
production of microorganisms. The first phase of the
project will be done this year. It is planned to start
production of seafood feed in the middle of next year.
The project is a step towards further utilization of theenergy generated by ON Power at Hellisheiði, where
Algaeennovation buys hot and cold water, electricity andcarbon dioxide for production. The Algaennovation
small algae production will be located in Geothermal
Park ON and the Hellisheiði Power Station will provide
electricity, hot and cold water and carbon dioxide.
Collaboration with ON enables Algaennovation to havenegative footprints and use less than 1% of freshwaterand terrestrial areas used by conventional small-scalealgae companies in their production.
Small algae are micro-organisms that multiply rapidly
and get their energy and nutrition from light and carbon
dioxide. In nature, a small algae is a source of a varietyof nutrients, such as Omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants
and dyes, all key factors in both human and animal diet.
In autumn 2017, Algaennovation started experimental
cultivation of small algae at the Hellisheiði power plant.
ON provided facilities, electricity, hot and cold waterand carbon dioxide for the experiments. Algaennovation
has decided building a small algae production within the
Geothermal Park of ON, which will be the first of its
kind in the world.
Source: http://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/algaeproduction-to-be-set-up-at-hellisheidigeothermal-plant-in-iceland/Flúðir Geothermal Power Plant to Start
Producing Electricity - At Flúðir, small
community in southern Iceland, a new low
temperature geothermal plant is rising. The first
four heat power modules were delivered to thepower plant, and a delivery ceremony was held.
Approximately 50 guests attended including
Ministers from Sweden and Iceland, suppliers,
partners and customers. The new power plant isestimated to start producing electricity in the fallof 2018.

The power plant uses a binary cycle system toproduce electricity. The geothermal well contains
hot water at 116°C and produces 45 liters per
Hellisheidi power plant (Photo credit: mbl.is/Golli, taken fromsecond, as it was informed before (see IGA Newsthe source).
111, p. 25). The power plant was constructed byAlgae Production to Start in Hellisheiði - Israelthe Swedish company Climeon, and is composed ofbased Algaennovation has signed a 15-year contract
Heat Power modules that can generate electricity by
www.geothermal-energy.org

October-December 2018

IGA News No. 113

23

utilizing resources with temperature from 70 to 120°C
and cool the geothermal water. The system operates at
low-pressure levels in comparison to traditional heat
power solutions using flash power plants.

- The heat is produced from depth intervals between
1600 and 2800 meters and from various geological units
like Upper-Jurassic, Lower-Cretaceous, Triassic andLower Carboniferous.

The four heat power modules of this plant were the firstof a series of a total of 197 modules to be delivered toapproximately 20 different sites over the next 36
months. The original contract was recently increased
from 100 modules to 197 modules.

- The produced heat is mainly used to heat commercial
greenhouses. One project also supplies heat to a public
utility facility and several buildings. Another project will
supply heat to a heating network in an urban area.
- The 14 operational installations produced 3.042
petajoules (PJ) of heat in 2017, equivalent to ~845
gigawat-hour thermal (GWhth). It is the highest
production since 2007 (see figure below).
900
800
700

600

2000

500

1500

400

1000

300

Heat in GWh

The Netherlands:
HighestGeothermal Heat
Production in 2017

Heat in TJ

Sources: http://www.efla-engineers.com/aboutus/news/utilizing-low-geothermal-heat-with-latesttechnology, https://climeon.com/investorenglish/?type=single&title=annlinde-on-site-when-climeon3500
delivers-the-first-heat-power3000
modules-iniceland&encrypted_id=2F223B70D
2500
C28438A#cision-table

200

500

100

In late July 2018 the Ministry of00
Economic Affairs and Climate
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Policy of the Netherlands released
its annual report on natural
TJ
GWh
resources and geothermal energy
corresponding to 2017. Chapter 13- Small amounts of hydrocarbons are co-produced withis devoted to geothermal energy, which is only used in
the geothermal energy. In most installations the
direct applications, and some of the more relevanthydrocarbon is gas, but in one installation oil isoutcomes are the following:produced as well.
- As of 1 January 2018 there were a total of 47
Source: https://www.nlog.nl/en/annual-reports
geothermal energy exploration licenses in effect,
covering a surface of 1751 km2, representing an averageof ~37 km2 per area granted with a minimum of 2 and a
Poland: Country Update
maximum of 325 km2.
Following are excerpts of a report prepared by Michal Kruszewski- At the same date, there were only 12 geothermal(GZB), and published in the IGA’s website on August 23,
production licenses, covering 91 km2 with an average of2018.
7.6 km2, ranging from 2 to 41 km2.
Poland is one of the central European countries with
- Just for comparative purposes, there were 31
high geothermal potential and strong interests fromhydrocarbon exploration licenses in the continental
government as well as local authorities. The country has
shelf and 11 on land, with 8067 km2 and 3197 km2,
only low-enthalpy resources, connected in most cases
respectively. Regarding hydrocarbon producing licenses,
with the Mesozoic sedimentary formations. Six
they were 112 in the continental shelf covering 18,845
geothermal district heating plants are currently in
km2, and 38 in the territory covering another 14,815
operation in Poland: Podhale region since 1994, Pyrzyce
km2.
since 1996, Mszczonów since 2000, Uniejów since 2001,Poddębice since 2012 and Stargard since 2012, with
- In 2017, 15 geothermal wells were completed.
total installed capacity of 76 MWth and heat production- As of 1 January 2018 there were a total of 20
of 227 GWh.
geothermal installations, 14 out of which were
The most attractive direct applications of geothermal
operational in 2017.
energy in Poland are space heating, balneotherapy,
www.geothermal-energy.org

October-December 2018

IGA News No. 113
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 and 3 km. Most of deep geothermal
installations are based on doublet systems, withexception 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 constantdevelopment and experienced immense progress since2013, with 500 MWth installed capacity and 714 GWh ofheat production as for 2015.
At the end of September 2017 local authorities of
Szaflary, Koło, Lądek Zdrój, Sochaczew and Sieradz
municipalities received large subsidies (in total EUR 46
million) from Polish National Fund for Environmental
Protection and Water Management (NFOŚiGW) in
order to investigate and explore geothermal resources invarious areas in Poland.

24
Another geothermal investment is planned in LądekZdrój (south-western Poland) municipality. A 2.5 km
deep exploratory well will be used for district heating,balneotherapy, bathing and snow melting purposes incascade application. It is expected that geothermalenergy development in southern Poland will help tomitigate the smog and air pollution problem, which is
caused by outdated heating systems, heavy traffic andeconomy’s dependence on coal.
One of the shallowest wells is also planned in the areaof 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 ofKoło, which is regarded as one of the most promisinggeothermal areas in Poland with plans for geothermal
power plant, and Sieradz (both located in central
Poland). Production well in municipality of Sieradz isplanned 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 andflow rate of approximately 34 l/s. Drilling operations
are scheduled to be finished by theend of November 2018.

In
September
2017,
newdirectional “S”-type well GT-1 bis
was drilled and connected to the
Pyrzyce geothermal district heating
plant, which now owns 5 wells, innorth-western Poland with its final
depth of 1.8 km, geothermal watertemperature of 66°C and flow rateof approximately 56 l/s.
In 1900, Poland was the third
biggest oil producer in the world.
Wellhead of geothermal well in southern Poland in Podhale area (source:
Currently, many of these oil andgeotermia.pl)
natural gas wells are abandoned(or/andnegative)andlocated nearby residential or
The deepest planned exploratory well Bańska PGP-4
industrial
areas.
This
creates
perfect opportunity towill be drilled in Szaflary (southern Poland) municipality
extract
geothermal
heat
from
already
drilled petroleum
with target depth of 5.3 km. The well will investigate
wells.
First
project
of
such
kind
was
attempted
in Suchapotential resources of geothermal waters in Podhale
Beskidzka.
Due
to
poor
insulationof
innercolumn,region. It will be the fourth production well in the area
project did not achieved satisfactory results. Currently,
and the deepest in the field. Well temperatures areresearch works are ongoing in order to improve
expected to reach temperature of 130°C, which isinsulation properties of inner column and increasearound 40°C higher than temperatures from the typicalefficiency of borehole heat exchangers.
wells in area drilled to 3 km depth. Such temperature
Poland has also contributed at many European
will allow not only for district heating but also create
programs on various geothermal aspects from shallow
possibility of electricity production, which was not yet
to deep geothermal, in order to exchange experience
investigated in Poland. The new well is planned to startand learn from other, more advanced in geothermal heatproduction by the end of November 2020 and will also
and electricity production countries such as Iceland. The
provide new insights about geology and reservoir
outcome of such projects shall enable for polishconditions below current production intervals. The wellgeothermal industry to develop and also draw attention
will the deepest geothermal well in Poland and one ofof the public.
the deepest in Europe.

www.geothermal-energy.org

October-December 2018

IGA News No. 113

25

Source: https://www.geothermal-energy.org/countryupdate-poland/

Portugal: Governmental
Support for Geothermal
Projects
The Portuguese government approved on early Julythree financing lines totaling EUR 2.1 million (US$2.45m) to support geothermal projects. Launched andoperated by the Innovation Support Fund (FAI), thisinitiative has as its main objective the increase of the use
geothermal energy in the country.
The largest of the three funding lines, for total of EUR
1.7 million, is intended for projects such as thedevelopment and expansion of the heat distribution
network or the connection of new users to the said
network, the government said.
The other two lines are intended to finance technical orscientific studies so that Portugal can better understandits geothermal resources. The first of these two is a
EUR 300,000 support line to assess the hydrothermal
exploration and geothermal resources potential for
temperatures above 25 degrees centigrade. The otherline, EUR 100,000 total, is for the elaboration ofgeothermal cartography for the integration and updatingof the National Geothermal Atlas, the government

noted.
Source: https://renewablesnow.com/news/portugaloffers-eur-21m-in-geothermal-financing-618387/

Russia: Second GEO-HEAT
Conference Successfully Heldin Kamchatka
Luis C.A. Gutiérrez-Negrín, Editor
From September 4 through 7, it was held inPetropavlosl-Kamchatsky, the city capital of theKamchatka Peninsula in far eastern Russia Federation,
the second annual meeting titled GEO-HEAT
International Geothermal Conference. The event wasorganized by the Research Geotechnological Center of
Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciencesfrom the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of
the Russian Federation, and particularly by its director,
Dr. Roman I. Pashkevich.
The conference gathered around 100 participants
distributed in the two first days (September 3 and 4),
from Russia (Kamchatka, Moscow and Irkutsk) andother eight countries: Bulgaria, China, Costa Rica,
France, Germany, Mexico, Switzerland, and the UnitedStates. They attended 30 oral presentations, including
one presented remotely via teleconference, as well as 20
poster presentations, among them some of eight

Some of participants in the GeoHet 2018 Conference.
www.geothermal-energy.org

October-December 2018

IGA News No. 113
additional countries: Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Colombia,
Democratic Republic of Congo, India, Indonesia,
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, and Ukraine.
Oral presentations were in English or Russian, but all
the slides were presented in the two languages
simultaneously in the same slide, which made it easier
for all participants to follow the speakers. Since theconference was developed in a cinema room with a wide
screen, all the slides were perfectly clear and readable.
Questions and answers were translated at the moment.
The poster presentations were continuously running insmall screens outside the main room.
Dr. Pashkevich gave the opening and closing remarks ofthe conference, but also there was a brief welcome by
Mario César Suárez-Arriaga, from Mexico, on behalf of
the Organizing Committee. International organizations,like the International Geothermal Association (IGA)
and the IEA-Geothermal, were also represented by
Margaret Krieger and Lothar Wissling, respectively.
The final hour of the conference, before the closing
remarks and farewell, were devoted to a panel
discussion, were some of the participants expressed
their ideas about the conference and possible ways andproposals to improve it and make it more visible in thefollowing years.
During the last two days of the conference, September 5
and 6, two field trips were offered to the foreign
participants, one to the Mutnovsky geothermal field andpower plant, and other to the nearby Malkinskoe hotsprings where direct uses like bottling mineral water andgeothermal bathing has been developed.
Around 13 participants from Bulgaria, Germany,

26
France, Mexico, Switzerland, and the U.S. attended thefield trip to the geothermal power plant, located at thefoothill of the Multnovsky volcano and around fourhours driving from Petropavlosk-Kamchatsky. They
were guided by some of the members of the Dr.
Pashkevich staff, including the translator.
The power plant started to operate in 2002, according to
the explanations from the expert in charge of theoperation, a young and well-informed Russianmechanical engineer who leaded the group inside themachine house and the cooling tower. The plant iscomposed of two flash, condensing turbo-generators,
arranged in tandem, of 25 MW each, manufactured by a
Russian company. Both operate at 6 bar (absolute) ofinlet pressure and 160°C of temperature, and are fed by
11 production wells at different depths of around 2000
meters. Apparently each turbine needs 160 tons perhour (t/h) of steam, which make it very efficient sincethat means that only requires 6.4 t/h to generate one
megawatt-hour. The separators, that seem to have been
designed and constructed in New Zealand, are ofgravitational type instead of the more common
centrifuge type. They deliver almost pure dry steam,with a purity of 99.99% in average. The control andelectric part of the plant was not visited but apparently it
was provided by the German company Siemens.
After visiting the turbines, the expert of the well-field
conducted the visitors to one nearby production well of
1700 meters depth, producing 12 kg/s (or around 40t/h) of fluids, which contain between 2-4% of noncondensable gases. The separated brine, of sodiumchloride type, is completely returned to the reservoir
through 3 injection wells.
Then, the visitors were conducted to an area ofsuperficial manifestations located not far of the power
plant, probably aligned to a fracture. It contains hot
springs, fumaroles and an extended alteration zone
composed mainly of clay minerals. It was a hard
hiking, since the weather was a little rainy, cold andfoggy, and the manifestations area was very slippery,
but the effort was highly compensated.

View from the cooling tower to the machine house of
50MW Mutnovsky power plant (photo by Lcagn).
www.geothermal-energy.org

Dr. Pashkevich and his enthusiastic team of the
Research Geotechnological Center are decided tocontinue with this conference in the following years.
As stated in the announcements of the conference,
their objectives are “…to distribute scientific andindustrial information concerning current state ofgeothermal science, technology and industry; to shareknowledge and results in theory, methodology,
technology and applications of geothermal science; tobring together scientists, researchers, engineers,
students and managers interested in geothermalscience; to promote geothermal innovations; provide aforum to exchange ideas on the exploration,
development and use of geothermal resources; (and)October-December 2018

IGA News No. 113
to encourage
collaboration.”international

27
communicationandAnd the place is well suited, since Kamchatka is a partof the Pacific Ring of Fire, and presents hot springs,
geysers, fumaroles and volcanoes. The announcement
also stated that “There are 30 active volcanoes, about
300 extinct and destroyed volcanoes, more than 2500
volcanic cones, great number of cold mineral water andhot springs and geysers. The Mutnovsko-Gorely Groupis located about 80 km south of PetropavlovskKamchatsky on the south side of Avacha Bay.
Mutnovsky volcano has one of the world’s
largest fumarole fields; and it is one of themost active volcanoes in Kamchatka.”
Incidentally, the rivers of the Kamchatka
region “…are a spawning place for one of theworld largest populations of salmon.”All of those findings are described in the paper: A GISbased method for analysis of a better utilization of thermalmineral springs in the municipality of Kursumlija (Serbia),
recently published in the journal Renewable andSustainable Energy Reviews. The paper is authored byAleksandar Valjarević, Danica Srećković-Batoćanin,
Dragana Valjarević, and Vesna Matović from the Ton
Duc Thang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, theUniversity of Belgrade, Faculty of Mining and Geology
and the University of Kosovska Mitrovica, Departmentof Mathematics.

Serbia: Kursumlija
Preliminary Potential,
and First Geothermal
District Heating
In Serbia, there are more than 240 hot springs.
The municipality of Kursumlija, located at thesouth-eastern corner of the country, covers an
area of 952 km2, with many hot springs, three
official and ten unofficial spas. The indoor
temperatures in the spas are between 20°C
and 68°C, and they are valuable for spaceheating, balneology, greenhouse heating, etc.
Currently, the three main spas in themunicipality are Lukovska, Prolom, andKursumlija. The average depth of the wells
feeding the spas is between 200 and 300 m.
Indoor temperatures vary; in the Kursumlija
Location of the studied area. Figure 1 of the cited paper.
spa, the indoor temperature is 68°C and theoutdoor temperature is 25°C. In the spa of
Lukovo the indoor temperature is 67°C with an outdoor
In other related news, if was unveiled that Serbia istemperature of 35°C, while in the Prolom spa the
expecting to build its first geothermal district heating
indoor temperature is 31°C and outdoor is 24°C.
system. The system will be in the municipality of
Bogatić in western Serbia and will initially be used to
Regarding the chemical composition, 90% of the hotheat public facilities, after which it will also be madewaters are of calcium-carbonate type, excluding water inavailable to individuals and businesses.
Devil city, which is composed of rare acid water.
The new geothermal heating system will result in the
Using an advanced GIS, and after more than two years
reduction of air pollution, and annual savings ofof collecting data, a recently published study has
between 100,000 and 150,000 euros. The contract for
estimated the energy potential for the total area of
construction was signed at the end of 2017, with the
Kursumlija municipality (see location figure), andtotal value of the project coming to one million euros,
concluded that the most important potential is locatedthree quarters of which will be financed through a loan
at the north-east edge of the municipality. The total
and the rest from the budget of Bogatić municipality.
energy in the whole territory is 620 TJ/year, or 19.6
The municipality’s mayor, Nenad Beserovac, stated that
MWt, which could be enough to heat 500 households or
the project is to be completed “within 120 days.”more than 100,000 sq. meters.
www.geothermal-energy.org

October-December 2018

IGA News No. 113
Sources: https://sciencetrends.com/dreams-aboutclean-and-renewable-energy-in-one-small-municipalityin-south-eastern-serbia/,https://emergingeurope.com/in-brief/serbia-to-increase-focus-on-greenenergy/

Turkey: Baklamici, Buharkent
and Manisa Power Plants
19.4 MW Power Plant Started to Operate - Turkish
company Akca Enerji said has brought its 19.4 MW
Baklamici Geothermal Power Plant on line by July 20,
2018. The plant is located in Alasehir/Manisa, and iscomposed of a binary cycle power turbine (ORC)
constructed by Ormat, under a contract signed on
December 2016.
Within the scope of the contract made between Akca
Enerji and Alasehir Municipality, Alasehir Baklami
determined that there was a high potential for electricity
generation in the four geothermal wells that thecompany drilled as a result of the technical studies
carried out with licenses for geothermal energy. EPRK
license application was made and production license wasobtained.
Domestic turbines and equipment have been used in thegeothermal plant and the electricity produced will be
evaluated commercially under the local incentive
mechanism of YEKDEM.
Source: http://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/19-4-mwbaklamici-geothermal-plant-in-alasehir-turkey-startsoperation/

28
This is a project developed by Limgaz Elektrik Üretim
Madencilik Sanayi Ve Ticaret A.S., operating under
Limak Holding. The project was successfully completed
as a turn-key engineering, procurement and construction(EPC) project in Aydin, Illi, Bharkent District, executedby the Turkish firm EGESIM, that has been involved in
up to 28 geothermal power projects in Turkey andcooperated with Atlas Copco for this project.
Source: http://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/limgaz-startsoperation-of-13-8-mw-buharkent-geothermal-plantstarts-operation-in-turkey/
More Investment in Manisa’s geothermal plants Türkerler Holding, which operates in Turkey’s energy
and construction sectors, plans to invest an additional
US$ 664 million in geothermal energy power plants in
the Aegean city of Manisa, company Chairman Kazım
Türker said in early September.
Türker in a statement said that the company has alreadyinvested US$200 million to complete two geothermalenergy power plants, JES 1 and JES 2, in the region.
The two plants have an installed capacity of 48
megawatts, and can produce 360 GWh of electricity
annually, according to Türker.
The company is currently working on the JES 3 power
plant. This US$136-million plant will produce 220 GWh
of electricity annually.
“After completing the third geothermal power plant inManisa, we will respectively start constructing JES 4, 5,
6, 7 and 8 power plants. We will invest almost US$ 664
million in these new plants. Thanks to these plants, thisBaklamici geothermal plant, Alasehir/Manisa, Turkey (source: Akca Enerji).
Buharkent Geothermal Power Plant Started
Operations in September – Turkish EGESIM
reported by September 7th that the 13.8 MW Limgaz
Buharketn Geothermal Power Plant, located in Aydin,
Turkey, has been completed and received its operational
acceptance by the Turkish Ministry of Energy andNatural Resources.
www.geothermal-energy.org

region’s installed power capacity will reach 248 MW.
Thus, our total geothermal investment in Manisa willreach almost US$1 billion”, Türker announced. He,
however, did not elaborate on when these plants will becompleted.
In other related news, it was unveiled in late Septemberthat company Soyak Enerji, has received the final
October-December 2018

IGA News No. 113
acceptance from the authorities for the official start ofoperations of the Mis 1 geothermal power plant. This
plant has an operating capacity of 12.3 MW, and wasdeveloped by Mis Enerji Üretim A.S. in Alasehir/
Manisa. It is the first of three plants (Mis 1, Mis 2 andMis 3).
Sources:
https://www.dailysabah.com/energy/2018/09/07/turki
sh-conglomerate-to-invest-up-to-1b-in-manisasgeothermal-plants,
http://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/soyak-enerji-startsoperation-of-12-3-mis-1-geothermal-power-plant-inturkey/

Oceania
New Zealand: New 25MW
Plant, Commercial Productionof Silica, Geothermal Bacteria,
and Old Prediction
Te Ahi O Maui Has Entered the Commissioning
Phase – After securing resource consent in July 2014,
then getting the green light in September 2015 to begin
construction, New Zealand’s latest geothermal power
plant has now entered the commissioning phase. It’s the
Te Ahi O Maui power plant that, when fully operational,
will generate around 25 MW of baseload renewableenergy.

Te Ahi O Maui power plant (credit: Eastland Group).

29
now being undertaken to allow commissioning tobegin.”
Initial heating up of the plant began the last week of
September, with the first synchronization of the plant to
the national grid in the first days of October. A
reliability run will follow an extensive testing regime,
which is being conducted with Ormat Technologies Inc.
Israeli company Ormat, a world leader in thedevelopment of binary cycle geothermal power plants,
supplied and constructed the Te Ahi O Maui power
plant.
Todd said that Eastland Group’s original business case
had Te Ahi O Maui being commissioned from August
2018. “As with any multi-year project of this scale andcomplexity, many activities run in parallel. The
construction component was delivered ahead of plan,
and we’re beginning commissioning only a few weeks
behind our initial ambitious schedule.”
The Te Ahi O Maui facility consists of three geothermal
production wells, two geothermal injection wells, an
Ormat binary power station similar to many others
already in operation in New Zealand and around theworld, and a transmission connection to the national
grid.
Consents allow for the extraction of 15,000 tons ofgeothermal fluid daily from the Kawerau geothermal
reservoir, for the next 35 years. Nearly 100% of thisfluid will be injected back into the reservoir, ensuring
the operation is sustainable.
Initially considered a 22MW plant, the Te Ahi O Mauiplant is expected to achieve around 25MW. The increasein output has improved the plant construction cost,
including drilling, to US$5.45 million per installed
megawatt.
Te Ahi O Maui is a partnership between Eastland
Generation and the Kawerau A8D Ahu Whenua Trust.
“Both partners have brought strong commitments tothe cultural wellbeing and safety of the whenua and thepeople working on the project,” says Ben Gibson,
Eastland Generation general manager and Te Ahi O
Maui project director. “Our kaupapa of development
has ensured the project was executed in anenvironmentally friendly, sustainable and culturally
appropriate way.”“This is a momentous stage in the project,” says Matt
Todd, chief executive of Eastland Group, the Gisbornebased infrastructure company that owns Te Ahi O Mauioperator Eastland Generation.

“One of our aims was to build a geothermal plant fromthe ground up, managing multiple contractors and highrisk hazards, respecting and working closely with local
iwi – with zero harm to workers and visitors,” explained
Todd. “We’re proud to have achieved this, and it’s atestament to all the teams involved.”“All pre-operational resource consent and safety
requirements have been met. Operational checks are

Te Ahi O Maui is the first geothermal power station to
be built in New Zealand under new health and safety

www.geothermal-energy.org

October-December 2018

IGA News No. 113
legislation, and the first of its type to submit a Safety
Case. On 16 April 2018, they received notification fromWorkSafe that their Safety Case had been accepted.
An official opening ceremony will be held early nextyear.
Source: http://www.eastland.nz/2018/09/28/nzsnewest-geothermal-power-plant-is-full-steam-ahead/
Commercial Extraction of Silica from Geothermal
Brines - The NZ based company Geo40, in
cooperation with Contact Energy and the Ngati Tahu
Tribal Lands Trust, is set to start commerciallyextracting silica from geothermal fluid as part of a world
leading sustainable energy partnership.

30
that live along the Te Toke road,” said Aroha Campbell,a spokesperson for the Trust.
“We have strengthened our relationship with Contact
Energy as an enabler to form new relationships, and wehave already seen the benefit of Whanau being
employed by Geo40. We will see positive changes to ourlandscape over time while being fully in control of that
destiny.”

The operation will see Geo40 use its technology to
extract silica from geothermal fluid used at Contact’s
Ohaaki power station. Once extracted, the silica will besold to manufacturers for use in everyday consumer
goods, such as paint, providing an environmentallysound source of silica that would otherwise requireamounts of carbon-intensive energy to make. The
potential volume of high grade silica that will be sourced
from Ohaaki is up to 10,500 tons a year, most of which
will be exported overseas.
“Geothermal energy is a proven source of renewableenergy and this partnership builds on geothermal’salready impressive environmental credentials,” said
James Kilty, Chief Generation Officer at Contact
Energy.
“It’s part of our de-carbonization strategy. Our focus ison using innovative ways to support customers to shift
off carbon-intensive inputs by maximizing the benefitsof the abundant renewable resources in New Zealand.”The partnership offers clear benefits to all parties. For
Contact, the operational benefits are significant. Silica
builds up in the geothermal pipes over time, andremoving the silica significantly reduces equipment
maintenance costs and increases the overall life-span of
the plant. Removing silica also allows the plant to
extract more heat from the geothermal fluid, making it
more efficient to run.
The deal provides financial and social benefits to Ngati
Tahu Tribal Lands Trust. The partnership will provide
an ongoing revenue stream to the Trust, and theprocessed fluid will restore clarity to the Ohaki Ngawha,
a sacred natural hot spring. This will be the Trust’s firstcommercial venture of this nature, with the proceeds
going towards restoring the Ohaki Community.
“Our initial aim has been to support the Ohaki Marae
Reservation Trust to improve the clarity of fluid
supplied to the Ngawha, Marae protection from the
Waikato River and re-establish the road from the Maraeto the Ohaki Bridge, thereby connecting the Whanau
www.geothermal-energy.org

View of the Ohaaki’s 105 meter-high cooling
tower. Using natural convection, the tower cools
the water used to condense the steam as it exits
the power turbines. Photo credit: © GNS Science /Science & Society Picture Library.
The benefit for Geo40 is the ability to access a source ofsilica that does not require the same level of heatprocessing as silica sourced through traditional means.
“Ohaaki’s geothermal fluid enables us access to avaluable mineral without harming the environment,”
said Geo40 Chief Executive John Lea. “The beauty ofour technology is that nature –the geothermal reservoir–
has already done most of the work for us, by dissolving
the naturally occurring silica. Our process extracts thesilica and turns it into silica products that will be
exported around the world.”
There are also positive economic benefits for the
Waikato and Bay of Plenty regions, since Geo40’s
extraction and processing plants will need to be situatedclose to geothermal fields, creating additional jobs inprovincial New Zealand. Plans are already progressing
on expanding the partnership, with the parties
investigating the possibility of processing up to 10 times
as much fluid per day.
Source: https://contact.co.nz/aboutus/mediacentre/2018/07/19/contact-geo40-partner-with-maorion-world-leading-energy-project
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IGA News No. 113
New Protein from Geothermal Microorganism Antimicrobial resistance is one of the biggest threats to
global health and the race is on to find new moleculeswith antibiotic properties. One way scientists try to findthese molecules is to study proteins produced by
microorganisms themselves, as the bacteria often uses
these to fight off other competing bugs.
Scientists analyze the microorganism’s genetic make-up–its genome– looking for sequences of code that
correspond to types of proteins known to haveantibiotic properties. One group of such proteins arecalled lanthipeptides that have a particular structure
known to be effective at fighting off bacteria.
Researchers in New Zealand recently applied thisprocess, known as ‘genome mining’, to a strain ofThermogemmatispora –a type of bacteria that lives inextreme conditions in the heated soil of New Zealand’s
Taupo geothermal zone. They discovered a new type oflanthipeptide, called tikitericin, which they believe is partof the microorganism’s host defense system.
Using a number of different techniques to analyze theprotein isolated from the Thermogemmatispora strain,
the team were able to identify the structure of tikitericin,
enabling them to build the peptide in the lab. Now thatthey can produce larger quantities of the molecule, theteam can investigate its antimicrobial properties andhope that it will one day play a role in fighting bacterial
infections.
Source: http://www.rsc.org/news-events/journalshighlights/2018/sep/geothermal-antimicrobial-protein/
Astounding Prediction on Climate Change - On
August 14, 1912, the New Zealand daily The Rodney
and Otamatea Times published in its section ScientificNews an article, signed by Francis Molena, commenting
the effects of burning coal on worldwide climate. In thesection titled Coal Consumption Affecting Climate,appeared the following astonishingly correct paragraph:31
The original information seems to have been taken from
the March 1912 edition of the magazine Popular
Mechanics, whose only flaw is it resulted too optimistic
about the time when this effect would be considerable:
it really took less than one century.
Source: http://www.milenio.com/ciencia-y-salud/106anos-alguien-predijo-cambio-climatico

Other
Climate Change: IPCC Special
Report on Global Warming of
1.5°C
The Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5ºC wasapproved by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) on October 6 in Incheon, Republic ofKorea. It will be a key scientific input into the Katowice
Climate Change Conference in Poland in December,when governments review the Paris Agreement to tackle
climate change.
“With more than 6000 scientific references cited and the
dedicated contribution of thousands of expert andgovernment reviewers worldwide, this important reporttestifies to the breadth and policy relevance of the
IPCC,” said Hoesung Lee, Chair of the IPCC.
Ninety-one authors and review editors from 40
countries prepared the IPCC report in response to an
invitation from the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) when it
adopted the Paris Agreement in 2015.
“One of the key messages that comes out very strongly
from this report is that we are already seeing theconsequences of 1°C of global warming through more
extreme weather, rising sea levels and diminishing Arctic
sea ice, among other changes,” said Panmao Zhai, CoChair of IPCC Working Group I.
The report highlights a number of climate change
impacts that could be avoided by limiting global
warming to 1.5ºC compared to 2ºC, or more. For
instance, by 2100, global sea level rise would be 10 cm
lower with global warming of 1.5°C compared with 2°C.
The likelihood of an Arctic Ocean free of sea ice insummer would be once per century with global warmingof 1.5°C, compared with at least once per decade with
2°C. Coral reefs would decline by 70-90 percent with
global warming of 1.5°C, whereas virtually all (>99percent) would be lost with 2ºC.
The report also examines pathways available to limit
warming to 1.5ºC, what it would take to achieve themand what the consequences could be. It finds that
limiting global warming to 1.5°C would require “rapid
and far-reaching” transitions in land, energy, industry,

www.geothermal-energy.org

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IGA News No. 113

32
ExxonMobil, Chevron and Occidental Petroleum havejoined a global group of oil giants aiming to limit theirclimate impact. According to the Oil and Gas Climate
Initiative (OGCI), its three new members recognize andsupport the Paris Agreement goal of keeping thetemperature increase below 2°C. As a first gift, they will
be contributing US$ 100 million to the group’s climate
fund.
Created in 2014, the OGCI comprises 13 oil and gas
companies and aims to minimize the impacts ofgreenhouse gases through investments and research intogreen technology. The group funds research into cutting
emissions related to the production of fossil fuels. It
advocates for carbon capture mechanisms and more
efficient transport engines as ways to decrease
emissions.
Oil companies are under pressure to report and mitigate
the risks climate change poses to their business fromshareholders and lawsuits.
Environmentalists have slammed the initiative as
superficial and aimed at distracting from the
opprobrium the industry has drawn for its inaction on
climate change.

buildings, transport, and cities. Global net humancaused emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) would needto fall by about 45 percent from 2010 levels by 2030,
reaching ‘net zero’ around 2050. This means that any
remaining emissions would need to be balanced byremoving CO2 from the air.
The IPCC is the leading world body for assessing thescience related to climate change, its impacts andpotential future risks, and possible response options.
The report was prepared under the scientific leadershipof all three IPCC working groups. Working Group I
assesses the physical science basis of climate change;
Working Group II addresses impacts, adaptation andvulnerability; and Working Group III deals with the
mitigation of climate change.
The Paris Agreement adopted by 195 nations at the 21 st
Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC in December
2015 included the aim of strengthening the global
response to the threat of climate change by “holding theincrease in the global average temperature to well below
2°C above preindustrial levels and pursuing efforts tolimit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels.”
Source: http://ipcc.ch/report/sr15/

Climate Change: The U.S.
Giants Exxon and Chevron
Join the OGCI
www.geothermal-energy.org

Newly released documents revealed oil companies suchas Exxon and Shell had already linked their products toclimate change as early as the 1980s. Such findings were
kept away from the public.
Exxon and Chevron are the first U.S. members of the
OGCI. The move comes as an increasing number ofcities, states, and private actors are defying U.S.
president Donald Trump’s decision in June to withdraw
from the Paris Agreement by taking independentclimate change action.
The OGCI existing members are BP, CNPC, Eni,
Equinor, Pemex, Petrobras, Repsol, Saudi Aramco,
Shell and Total.
Source:http://www.climatechangenews.com/2018/09/20/exx
on-chevron-first-us-companies-join-oil-gas-climatealliance/

Climate Change: Summer HeatMay Soon Be Literally
Unbearable in South Asia
Scientists and economists are warning of a quieter, more
far-reaching danger: Extreme heat is devastating thehealth and livelihoods of tens of millions more. If global
greenhouse gas emissions continue at their current pace,
they say, heat and humidity levels could become
unbearable, especially for the poor.
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IGA News No. 113
It is already making them poorer and sicker. Like theKolkata street vendor who squats on his haunches fromfatigue and nausea. Like the woman who sells water totourists in Delhi and passes out from heatstroke at least
once each summer. Like the women and men with feverand headaches who fill emergency rooms. Like theoutdoor workers who become so weak or so sick thatthey routinely miss days of work, and their daily wages.
Indeed, a recent analysis of climate trends in several ofSouth Asia’s biggest cities found that if current warming
trends continued, by the end of the century, wet bulb
temperatures –a measure of heat and humidity that can
indicate the point when the body can no longer cool
itself-- would be so high that people directly exposed forsix hours or more would not survive.
In many places, heat only magnifies the more thorny
urban problems, including a shortage of basic services,like electricity and water.
The science is unequivocally worrying. Across theregion, a recent World Bank report concluded, risingtemperatures could diminish the living standards of 800
million people in South Asia, a region that is alreadyhome to some of the world’s poorest and hungriest
people, if nothing is done to reduce global greenhousegas emissions, as shown in the graph. The World Bank
defines a decline of more than 8 percent in householdliving standards as high or ‘severe’; four to eight percent
as moderate; and zero to four percent as low. Living
standards are measured by per capita consumption
expenditures.
Worldwide, by 2030, extreme heat could lead to a US$2
trillion loss in labor productivity, the International
Labor Organization estimated. And by 2050, there will
be around 100 most populous cities
where summer highs are expected toreach at least 95 degrees Fahrenheit,
according to estimates by the Urban
Climate Change Research Network.

33
hotspots.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgt
ype=Article

Climate Change: The World’s
Biggest Farms Pollute Morethan any Oil Company
The world’s biggest meat and dairy operations
combined pump more greenhouse gas into Earth’s
warming atmosphere than any one of the largest fossilfuel giants.
A report published in late July 2018 by the nonprofit
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) shows
the top five animal agriculture companies emit more
greenhouse gases than Exxon-Mobil, Shell, or BP.
Researchers drew information from JBS, Tyson Foods,
Cargill, Dairy Farmers of America, and Fonterra. The
number researchers came up with –578.3 metric tons-was conservative, as much of animal agriculture does
not make available data about their environmental
footprints, the report states.
The report is a significant at a time when nearly every
nation on the planet, with the exception of the UnitedStates, has agreed to keep the global temperature
increases to “well below 2 degrees Celsius,” with thegoal of limiting it to 1.5°C. And major animal
agriculture companies expect to be doing more businessin the near future, which stands to work against efforts
to scale back emissions. The demand for meat is on therise, particularly in developing parts of the world such as
China, where a rising middle class is eager to spend
more on meat and dairy.

Rajkiran Bilolikar, a professor at theAdministrative Staff College of India in
Hyderabad, says it’s hard to persuade
policymakers, even the public, to takeheat risk seriously. It’s always been hot
in many places like Hyderabad. It’s
gettinghotterslowly,almostindiscernibly. Heat, he says, is “a hidden
problem.”
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/17/climate/india-heat-waveGHG atmospheric emissions per source. Data from IATP.
summer.html?ncid=newsltushpmgnews__TheMorningEmail__071918,
As the researchers point out, massive meat and dairy
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/06/28/cli
companies have for years managed to escape muchmate/india-pakistan-warmingcriticism of their collective environmental impact, unlike
www.geothermal-energy.org

October-December 2018

IGA News No. 113

34

petroleum companies such as Exxon-Mobil and Shell.
That’s, in part, because most of them don’t make publicdata on their greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, only
four companies –one Japanese and three European-- ofthe 35 largest provided detailed data that the IATP
considered credible. Fourteen companies haveannounced emission-reduction targets. How they plan
to do that remains unclear.

included:

The world’s biggest farming companies contribute toemissions in three ways. Some are direct emissions fromtheir facilities, machinery, and even methane thatliterally comes from the digestive systems of grazingcows. Then there are indirect emissions, such as thepower it takes to generate enough energy to keep thefacilities up and running. Finally there’s the larger supply
chain –the emissions that come from shipping animals,meats, and milk, as well the energy it takes to grow andtransport the food that feeds the animals.

- A commitment to exchange knowledge on clean
energy and explore the development of interconnecting
networks.

A large portion of the emissions are from a small
handful of countries. The report calls out the UnitedStates, Canada, the European Union, Brazil, Australia,
and New Zealand. Together, they account for 43% ofanimal agriculture’s global greenhouse gas emissions.
Source: https://qz.com/1332254/the-worlds-biggestfarms-contribute-more-to-climate-change-than-any-oilcompany/

Climate Change: EU and China
Joint Statement on Climate
ActionThe China-EU joint statement, adopted in Beijing on
July 16th, 2018, at the 20th EU-China Summit,
committed the world’s largest and third largest carbon
polluters to driving progress in UN climate talks.
They said both would push for agreement on therulebook of the Paris climate deal, negotiations overwhich stalled this year, with continuing disagreements
between Chinese and European diplomats.
The statement, signed by European Council president
Donald Tusk, European Commission president JeanClaude Juncker and Chinese premier Li Keqiang, also

- An agreement to release long-term strategies for their
low carbon development by 2020;- Agreement to step up their efforts before 2020;- “Triangular” cooperation with developing countries toincrease their capacity to combat climate change andbuild clean energy;

The statement also called on “all parties” to uphold theParis deal. That includes Donald Trump’s U.S., which
remains a signatory until 2020.
In the face of U.S. efforts to undermine international
cooperation, leaders said the Paris Agreement was“proof that with shared political will and mutual trust,
multilateralism can succeed in building fair and effective
solutions to the most critical global problems of ourtime”.
The climate statement, as the only annex to amemorandum on a wide range of bilateral issues, places
global warming at the center of the complex, often
fraught EU-China relationship.
The move, which encouraged climate campaigners
around the world, could fill a vacuum left by Trump,said Léa Pilsner, a researcher for E3G based in Brussels.
The statement “enshrines climate change at the heart of
the EU-China relationship and shows an intention to
jointly drive the global climate governance process
forward. At a time when climate leadership is very muchneeded”, said Pilsner.
“Yes! Finally!” tweeted Isaac Valero, an advisor to theEU’s climate commissioner, calling it “historic” and a“major boost” to the Paris Agreement.
The EU has signaled it may be ready to increase its
emissions reduction pledge to the Paris deal. An
influential government think tank in China (the National
Centre for Climate Change Strategy and International
Cooperation) has recommended the country consider asimilar move.

GEOTHERMICS
International Journal of Geothermal Research and its
Applications
Write to JournalsCustomerServiceEMEA@elsevier.com if
you want a suscription at a special rate for IGA members.
Content of the latest issues:
http://www.elsevier.com/locate/geothermics
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October-December 2018

IGA News No. 113

35

Source:http://www.climatechangenews.com/2018/07/16/euchina-agree-sweeping-joint-statement-climate-action/

mantle, which ascended through a water-rich mantle transitionzone to produce melting and age-progressive volcanism.
The eruptions were very explosive, Zhou added. A
theoretical seismologist, Zhou created X-ray-like imagesof the Earth’s deep interior from USArray –part of the
Earthscope project funded by the U.S. National Science
Foundation–
anddiscoveredananomalousunderground structure at a depth of about 250 to 400
miles (402-644 km) right beneath the line of volcanoes.

Science: Yellowstone Supervolcano Has a Different Origin
The long-dormant Yellowstone super-volcano in theAmerican West has a different history than previously
thought, according to a new study by a Virginia Techgeoscientist. Ying Zhou published in Nature
Geoscience, Volume 11, pages 449–453, in May 2018
the paper Anomalous Mantle Transition Zone beneath the
Yellowstone Hotspot Track. The abstract reads as follow:“This evidence was in direct contradiction to the plumemodel,” Zhou said.
The use of the X-ray-like images for this study is uniquein itself. “This is the first time the new imaging theory
has been applied to this type of seismic data, whichallowed us to see anomalous structures in the Earth’s
mantle that would otherwise not be resolvable using
traditional methods,” Zhou said.

The origin of the Yellowstone and Snake River Plain volcanism
has been strongly debated. The mantle plume model successfully
explains the age-progressive volcanic track, but a deep plume
structure has been absent in seismic imaging. Here I apply
diffractional tomography to receiver functions recorded at USArraystations to map high-resolution topography of mantle transitionzone discontinuities. The images reveal a trail of anomalies thatclosely follow the surface hotspot track and correlate well with aseismic wave-speed gap in the subducting Farallon slab. Thisobservation contradicts the plume model, which requires anomalies
in the mid mantle to be confined in a narrow region directly
beneath the present-day Yellowstone caldera. I propose analternative interpretation of the Yellowstone volcanism. About
16 million years ago, a section of young slab that had broken off
from a subducted spreading center in the mantle first penetrated
the 660 km discontinuity beneath Oregon and Idaho, and pulled
down older stagnant slab. Slab tearing occurred along pre-existing
fracture zones and propagated northeastward. This reversedpolarity subduction generated passive upwellings from the lower

Zhou will continue her study of Yellowstone. “The next
step will be to increase the resolution of the X-ray-like
images of the underground rock,” she added.
“More detailed images of the unusual rocks in the deep
earth will allow us to use computer simulation torecreate the fragmentation of the gigantic oceanic plate
and test different scenarios of how rock melting andmagma feeding system work for the Yellowstone
volcanoes.”
Sources:
https://sciencebulletin.org/archives/25994.html,
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-018-0126-4

Science: Injection Wells Can
InduceEarthquakes
Miles Away
from the Well
2.0

A study of earthquakes
induced by injecting fluids
deep underground has
revealed
surprising
patterns, suggesting thatcurrent recommendations
for hydraulic fracturing,
wastewater disposal, andgeothermal wells may need
to be revised.

12.7
10.2
16.5

Location of the Yellowstone hotspot track (Figure 1 of the referred paper, taken fromthe second source; numbers are ages in million years).
www.geothermal-energy.org

Researchers at UC Santa
Cruz in the U.S. compiled
and analyzed data fromaround the world forearthquakes
clearly
associated with injection

October-December 2018

IGA News No. 113
wells. They found that a single injection well can cause
earthquakes at distances more than 6 miles (10kilometers) from the well. They also found that, ingeneral, injecting fluids into sedimentary rock can cause
larger, more distant earthquakes than injecting into theunderlying basement rock.
“This is problematic, since the current advice is topreferentially inject into the sedimentary sequence as atheoretically safer alternative to the basement rock,” said
Emily Brodsky, professor of Earth and planetarysciences at UC Santa Cruz.
Postdoctoral researcher Thomas Goebel said the key
issue is the spatial footprint of induced seismicity
around the injection well. “It’s not that the basementrock is safe, because there is still the possibility ofencountering a fault in the basement rock that can causea large earthquake, but the probability is reduced
because the spatial footprint is smaller,” he said.
In a paper published August 31, 2018, in Science, Goebel
and Brodsky described two distinct patterns of induced
seismicity, which they associated with different physicalmechanisms acting in basement rock and sedimentaryrock. In the first pattern, associated with injection into
basement rock, earthquakes tend to occur in a compact
cluster around the well, with a steep decline inearthquakes farther from the well. In the other pattern,
associated with sedimentary rock, induced earthquakes
decline gradually with distance from the well and occur
at much greater distances.
The physical mechanism by which injection wells induce
earthquakes was thought to be a direct result of
increased fluid pressure in the pores of the rock, causing
faults to slip more easily. This mechanism can accountfor the spatial pattern of seismicity seen with injection
into basement rock, Goebel said. But the pattern seen
with injection into sedimentary rock suggests a different
mechanism resulting from efficient “poro-elastic
coupling,” which controls the ability of the rock totransmit fluid stresses into the solid rock matrix.

36
Goebel said their findings help explain the extent of
induced seismicity in regions such as Oklahoma where
there are many injection sites in oil and gas fields.
Oklahoma has seen a dramatic surge in earthquakes
since 2010, to the extent that there are now more
earthquakes each year in Oklahoma than in California.
Goebel and Brodsky did not include sites in Oklahoma
in their study, however, because there are so many
injection wells they couldn’t isolate the effects ofindividual wells.
“In Oklahoma, they are injecting into the high-porosity
sedimentary unit above the basement, but these elastic
stresses can be transmitted over a large distance, so you
could activate a large basement fault at a distance of 10

In this diagram of an injection operation, the blue andred areas represent the spatial footprint of induced
seismicity for injection into basement rock (blue) or theoverlying sedimentary layer (red). Gray lines represent
the fault network. The graphs below show thecorresponding earthquake probabilities as a functionof distance from the well. Credit: Goebel and Brodsky,
Science, 2018 (taken from the source.)
kilometers,” Goebel said. “That may be what we’reseeing in places like Oklahoma.”“When you inject water into the ground, it pushes on
the surrounding rock and creates elastic stress in therock, which can put pressure on faults at a distancewithout putting water into those faults. So if poroelasticity is dominant, you end up with a larger footprint
because it’s loading neighboring faults beyond the areaof increased pore pressure,” Brodsky said.

Source:https://sciencebulletin.org/archives/26949.html

According to Goebel, the crystalline basement rock is
stiffer and has lower porosity than sedimentary rock.
“Therefore, the increase in pore pressure is limited toisolated pockets around the well, and the coupling ofthat with the overall stress field is low,” he said.

One of the ways to extract geothermal heat from the
Earth’s crust is through Deep Borehole Heat
Exchangers (DBHE). These can be either drilledespecially for a heat extraction or, more cost-effectively,
reconstructed from already-existing, negative, orabandoned oil or natural gas wells.

www.geothermal-energy.org

Technology: Potential
Application of Vacuum
Insulated Tubing for DBHE

October-December 2018

IGA News No. 113
In many depleted boreholes, exploiting undergroundgeothermal waters is either impossible or technicallycomplex, therefore potential reconstruction for aborehole heat exchanger might be the only potential
solution that allows for utilizing geothermal heat.
Borehole heat exchangers allow an exchange of
geothermal heat between rock formation and heat
carriers, circulating in the closed-loop system between
the surface and an underground reservoir. The heat canbe supplied directly, for instance from deeper wells withhigher geothermal gradient, or indirectly using heatpump systems. During reconstruction operations of analready-existing well, the inner column is the mostimportant feature, which in large part determines theoverall success of the DBHE investment. Other
properties include already existing well construction andcharacteristic of an underground rock mass.
The application of an insulated inner pipe with thelowest thermal conductivity coefficient will drasticallyreduce heat losses of a circulating heat carrier and, as aresult, will increase the overall heat uptake. Wellreconstruction for the DBHE includes partial
abandonment, which constitutes of removing heavy
mud from the borehole, sealing off perforated intervals
using cement plugs and implementing inner, insulated
column in leak tight, closed-loop system.
Vacuum Insulated Tubing (VIT), widely used in
offshore industry, might be one of the potential
technologies to efficient extract geothermal heat fromthe DBHE installations. VIT constitutes of two coaxial
steel pipes, where air between them is evacuated using avacuum pump during the manufacturing process.
After achieving the desired level of vacuum, pipes aresealed and welded. This process creates very highthermal insulation and minimizes heat exchange
between the vacuum pipe and annulus. VIT technology
decreases heat transfer between the inner coaxial
column and existing well construction, because its
thermal conductivity coefficient varied from 0.006 to
0.0008 W/(m·K), whereas for conventional steel pipes
this value amounts to 40 W/(m·K).
Conventional in the petroleum industry, L-80 steel grade
is most commonly used for an outer VIT pipe, whereas
steel grades with higher chrome content are applied forinner pipe due to potentially hostile and corrosive
downhole environment. The main drawback of VIT isthe significantly high weight of double steel pipes, whichleads to increased costs of transport and operations ofrunning into the borehole with a drilling rig onsite.
Other disadvantages include high market price andlimited availability.
Source: https://sciencetrends.com/potentialapplication-of-vacuum-insulated-tubing-for-deepborehole-heat-exchangers/
www.geothermal-energy.org

37

IGA News
IGA News is published quarterly by the International
Geothermal Association. IGA News disseminates
timely information about geothermal activities
throughout the world. To this end, a group of
correspondents has agreed to supply news for eachissue. The core of this group consists of the IGA
Information Committee:
Peter Meier, Switzerland (Chairman)
Rolf Bracke, Germany
Varun Chandrasekhar, India
Albert Genter, France
Lúdvík S. Georgsson, Iceland
Luis C.A. Gutiérrez-Negrín, México
Susan F. Hodgson, USA
Herman Darnel Ibrahim, Indonesia
Liu Jirong, China
Kristín Vala Matthíasdóttir, Iceland
Georgina Izquierdo-Montalvo, Mexico
Marcelo J. Lippmann, USA
Diego Morata, Chile
Fernando S. Peñarroyo, Philippines
Horst Rüter, Germany
Ka Noel Salonga, Philippines
Marietta Sander, Germany
Surya Darma, Indonesia
Massimo Verdoya, Italy
Shigeto Yamada, Japan
Meseret T. Zemedkun, Ethiopía
The members of this group submit geothermal news
from their parts of the world, or their areas of
specialization. If you have some news, a report, or anarticle for IGA News, you can send it to any of theabove individuals, the Editor or directly to the IGA
Secretariat. Please help us to become essential
reading for anyone seeking the latest information on
geothermal worldwide.
While the editorial team makes every effort to ensure
accuracy, the opinions expressed in contributed
articles remain those of the authors and are notnecessarily those of the IGA. The editorial team does
not assume any liability for external content takenfrom public sources and websites, or endorse theproducts or services mentioned.
Send IGA News contributions to the editor(l.g.negrin@gmail.com) and/or:International Geothermal Association (IGA)
c/o Bochum University of Applied Sciences,E-mail: iga@hs-bochum.de
This issue of IGA News was edited by Luis C.A.
Gutiérrez-Negrín. Marit Brommer proofread thearticles. Distributed by the IGA Secretariat. Design
layout by François Vuataz.
October-December 2018

IGA News No. 113

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