IGA NEWS
Newsletter of the International Geothermal Association
Quarterly No. 107

IGA ACTIVITIES
Message from the President
Dear IGA members, I have just returned from Berlin inGermany, where I attended the Berlin Energy
Transition Dialogue meetings together with Juliet
Newson, our former President. The Berlin Energy
Transition Dialogue clearly has established itself as agathering of key international decision makers in foreignenergy and energy policy, industry, science and civilsociety as well as foremost energy experts from all over
the world. While general in nature, the discussions onenergy development, innovative political instruments,
new investment opportunities in the ongoingtransformation of the global energy sector were very
interesting.
To represent our industry at events like this is very
important, as we need to portrait the opportunities
presented through the utilisation of geothermal energy
in this global energy transformation. Two discussion
rounds on Future Prospects and the Energy Transitionin Latin America were of particular interest. Lead by
the Executive Director of the REN21 Alliance, that
IGA is part of, these rounds included Ministers from anumber of geothermal countries in the region, including
Argentina, Iran, Greece, Croatia, Colombia, Costa Rica,and El Salvador. The sad part is that none of themactual highlighted the role geothermal is playing or
could play in their countries. So, one can see that wereally need to increase the efforts on promoting
geothermal energy and have countries like Costa Ricaand El Salvador highlight the role geothermal energy
plays in their thrive on renewable energy development.
During the events, I also met the Executive Director of
the German Geothermal Association and we discussed
the increasing importance of geothermal heating in theEuropean context.
In January, I attended the IRENA General Assembly
and a meeting by the Global Geothermal Alliance. This
was an important meeting to attend and provided agreat opportunity to connect not only withrepresentatives from geothermal countries around theworld, but also meet representatives from otherrenewable energy organisations around the world. To
represent geothermal energy on this stage is likely themost important one for us. Seeing the involvement ofcountries such as New Zealand, France and Iceland in
www.geothermal-energy.org

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CONTENTS
IGA ACTIVITIES
Message from the President... 1
24th Annual Congress of the AGM… 2
IGA Academy Course on Reservoir Engineering… 3
Maria Richards, New President of the GRC… 4
GEMex Project Is Moving Forward… 5
Upcoming Events… 6

AFRICA
Kenya: Importance of Geothermal & Olkaria V… 6
Union of the Comoros: Karthala Project… 7

AMERICAS
Bolivia: Loan for Sol de Mañana Project… 8
Chile: Cerro Pabellón Starts to Operate… 9
Costa Rica: Las Pailas & 99% Renewable… 9
Guatemala: El Ceibillo Project… 10
Honduras: Platanares Project… 10
Nicaragua: Legal Aspects on Geothermal… 11
United States: San Emidio, Lithium, New Projects… 11

ASIA / PACIFIC RIM
China: Sinopec and the 13th Five-Year Plan… 16
Indonesia: Exploration, Sarulla, Regulation… 17
Japan: Generation, Course, Takigami Plant… 20
Philippines: Acidity in Biliran Wells… 21
Saudi Arabia: Good Geothermal Potential… 22South Korea: First Power Plant... 23

EUROPE
European Innovation Award to enOware GmbH… 23
Belgium: 2nd Phase of Balmaat Project Completed… 24
France: New Geothermal Heating Network… 24
Germany: 32% of Electricity from Renewables… 25
Greece: New Interest in Geothermal… 25
Hungary: News from the Győr Region… 26
Iceland: Well IDDP-2 Successfully Completed… 27
Italy: Campi Flegrei, Spirulina Algae... 28
Slovakia: Tomatoes Produced with Geothermal… 29
Switzerland: Public Consultations…29
Turkey: Proposals for Incentives & Alasehir Plant… 31

OCEANIA
Australia: New Geothermal Association… 32
New Zealand: The Wairakei Bioreactor… 32

OTHER
Technology: New Cements & Drilling Techniques… 33
Climate Change: GHG, Fossils & Carbon Tax… 37
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IGA News No. 107

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the Global Geothermal Alliance and the political things
that one can achieve is great, but also shows that weneed to become a stronger voice in the renewableenergy context.

24th Annual Congress of the
Mexican Geothermal
Association (AGM)

Having started my term as President only in November
2016, I can count on a great group of fellow board
members that are actively supporting our activities. Our
focus is lying on a number of initiatives that we hope
will help strengthen and position IGA for the future. At
the upcoming Board Meeting in Bochum in May, we
will be holding a two-day session on formulizing astrategy for the association, its role and activities. It is
crucial that we evaluate our activities and role towards
our membership on an ongoing basis. We are also very
glad to announce having been able to fill the position of
IGA Executive Director at the IGA Secretariat in
Bochum. The position transfers to Marit Brommer, whostarted in her new role at the beginning of April. She is ageoscience professional (PhD - Reservoir Geology /MSc - Earth Sciences TU Delft) with Dutch nationality
and more than 10 years’ experience in R&D, asset teams
and operational units, at among others at Shell Global
Solutions in the Netherlands and in the Energy Industry
in the UK and the Netherlands. Marit Brommer follows
Marietta Sanders, who left us at the end of 2016.

Luis C.A. Gutiérrez-Negrín, Editor

Until recently, Dr. Marit Brommer has been the R&D
Deployment Lead of Shell Global Solutions in the
Netherlands and before that time she served as a Senior
Geologist and Senior Consultant for the Oil&Gas andthe Energy Industry in the UK and the Netherlands.
In the end of April, I will represent IGA at the
Geothermal Conference for Latin America and the
Caribbean (GeoLAC) in Mexico City. It will beinteresting to not only present an update on Latin
American geothermal development, but also learn about
new developments. With the 48 MW Cerro Pabellon
geothermal plant by Enel Green Power in Chile recently
started, and a large loan announced for the developmentof a geothermal project in Bolivia, one can only hopethat this will kickstart further development in SouthAmerica and the restof Latin America.
With this and also
great news on thedevelopment front inIndonesia, I am very
optimistic for thegeothermal
sectorand likely more sothan in previous
years.
Best wishes,
Alexander Richter,
President of IGA
www.geothermal-energy.org

The Mexican Geothermal Association (AGM:
Asociación Geotérmica Mexicana) held its 24 th Annual
Congress and General Assembly on 30-31 March 2017
in Morelia, capital of the state of Michoacán in central
Mexico. The AGM is the Mexican association affiliatedwith the IGA and is presently composed of about 200
individual members, including about 35 students.
The day before the congress, the AGM organized a precongress workshop on 29 March, composed of two,four hour sessions. The first, titled, ‘Introduction to
Geothermal Reservoir Engineering’, was offered by
Marco Antonio Torres-Rodríguez, a chemical engineer
who specialized in reservoir engineering from thegeothermal division of the Comisión Federal deElectricidad (CFE). The other session was titled,‘Exploration Geophysical Techniques in Geothermal
Zones’ by Cecilia Lorenzo-Pulido, a geophysicist in
charge of these matters in the CFE geothermal division.
Thirty six participants attended the workshop, mostly
Earth Sciences PhD and Master students –plus someresearchers and professionals working in geothermal
development.
The opening ceremony of the congress was held on themorning of March 30th. The presidium was composedof Magaly Flores-Armenta, head of the geothermal
division of the new CFE’s subsidiary CFE-Generación
VI, Michelle Ramírez-Bueno, head of the geothermalarea of the Secretariat of Energy, Georgina IzquierdoMontalvo, head of the geothermal division of the
INEEL (the new National Institute for Electricity andClean Energy that replaced the former IIE) andoutgoing President of the AGM, José Manuel Romo
Jones, head of the Mexican center for innovation in
geothermal energy (CeMIE-Geo), and Abraham III
Molina-Martínez, outgoing Vice President of the AGM.
The congress started with two invited presentations, one
by Wilfred A. Elders (‘A geothermal well in southwest
Iceland has successfully penetrated a supercriticalregime - an update on the Iceland Deep Drilling
Project’) and the second by Aída López-Hernández
(‘Project GEMex: Mexico-Europe Bilateral Consortiumfor Development of Super-Hot Geothermal Systems
and Enhanced Geothermal Systems’). After this, 40
papers were presented orally for 20 minutes during thetwo days of the congress –including five minutes for
Q&A.
The papers covered geothermal exploration (geology,
geohydrology, geophysics, geochemistry), the potentialof enhanced geothermal systems in Mexico, Cerro
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IGA News No. 107

3Participants in the 24th Annual Congress of the Mexican Geothermal Association (AGM).
Prieto and Los Azufres geothermal fields, geothermal
modeling, geothermal heat pumps, and geothermal
turbines. Another 10 papers were presented as posters
during the evening of March 31st, dealing with similar
subjects including geothermal regulation, education andgeotechnical matters.

in geothermal from the CFE, the Mexican Geological
Survey (SGM), Grupo Dragón, GEA, Geocónsul,
ENAL, Nalco, Exergy, and the Energy Secretary. The
amount of participants and of papers presented, makes
this the most successful congress in the 25 years of
AGM’s history.

At the same time as the technical sessions, a commercial
exhibition was mounted in a space adjacent to thecongress. Ten companies and institutions involved ingeothermal in Mexico exhibited their products andservices in 12 booths during both days of the sessions.
The exhibitors and sponsors were: Air Drilling
Equipment Services, CeMIE-Geo, CFE, Exergy,
Geoelec
Instrumentos
Científicos,
INEEL,
Instrumentos y Equipos Falcón, Mitsubishi Hitachi
Power Systems de México, Nalco Water, Spectramex,
PBI Herramientas y Servicios, and Universidad
Nacional Autónoma de México.

On the evening of 31st March, after the conclusion of
the congress, the AGM held its 24th General Annual
Assembly, restricted to members. Besides the official
report from the President and Treasurer, the Assembly
elected the new Board for the 2017-2019 term. The new
Board is composed of Abraham III Molina-Martínez(CFE) as President, Emigdio Casimiro-Espinoza (CFE)as Vice President, Heber D. Diez-Leon (CFE) as
Secretary, J. Ignacio Martínez-Estrella (INEEL) as ProSecretary, Mirna Tello-López (CFE) as Treasurer, andLilibeth Morales-Alcalá (CFE) as Pro-Treasurer. We
wish the best for Abraham and the new members of theBoard.

On the evening of March 30th, the annual Pathé Award
was presented by the AGM to a person who has long
worked in the Mexican geothermal sector and/or who
has made a substantial contribution to the developmentof the AGM. Georgina Izquierdo-Montalvo, theoutgoing AGM President, delivered the award to Luis
C.A. Gutiérrez-Negrín. He is a geologist with 38 years
working in geothermal in Mexico, a former President of
the AGM, a former member of the IGA BoD andcurrently director of the consulting company Geocónsul
and member of the CeMIE-Geo’s Directive Group.
Both days of the congress were attended by about 180
people. These include students from CICESE anduniversities such as UNAM, UMSNH, UANL, UAM
and IPN, researchers from the same institutions and
INEEL, and CeMIE-Geo, plus professionals involved
www.geothermal-energy.org

IGA Academy: Geothermal
Reservoir Engineering Short
CourseThe IGA Academy offers a variety of technical andacademic geothermal courses all over the world. A
majority of the courses are held on site in Bochum,
Germany, where the IGA has its Head Office at thegreat facilities of the International Geothermal Centre.
The IGA Academy offer several general courses, butalso can offer tailored courses based on specific needs
and requirements. The next course, ‘Geothermal
Reservoir Engineering’, will be presented by theprestigious expert Sadiq J. Zarrouk, with the following
features.
April-June 2017

IGA News No. 107
DateLanguage
Place
Participants
Course cost(inclusive
certificate)Contact

15-19 May 2015 (08:30-16:30 hours)
EnglishInternational Geothermal Centre(GZB) Bochum, Germany
20 (maximum)
Regular fee: US$ 1,300
IGA members -15%: US$ 1,105
Students (including PhD Students) 30%: US$ 910
Karolina Andersson (iga@hsbochum.de)The 5-day course is centered on lectures and exercises
concerning Geothermal Reservoir Engineering,
including the latest developments. The curriculum is aneffort to build students’ confidence in understanding
geothermal reservoir assessment, development andutilization. The exercises will provide a basis for
cementing the concepts and problem solving techniques
introduced in the morning lectures.
The syllabus covers the following subjects:- Worldwide geothermal development and types ofgeothermal systems;- Geothermal power systems (steam field and power
station equipment);- Thermodynamics and properties of water and steam
tables;- Fundamentals of geothermal reservoir engineering;- Heat and mass underground, stored heat calculations;- Geothermal drilling & measurements while drilling;- Completion tests & down-hole measurements;- Geothermal flow measurement;- Scaling and corrosion in geothermal development;- Stimulation of geothermal wells; and- Geothermal reinjection.
Students will receive the following teaching materials in
hard copy format:- Course material booklet containing: more than 500
pptx colored slides and problem sets;- Steam tables;- Supporting recent published research (soft copies).
Digital copies of exercise data and macros will be
provided to the students on a USB stick for some of thewell test data. The course attendees are required to bringcalculators from day one and laptop computers fromday three of the course.
Deadline for registration and payment: 18th April 2017www.geothermal-energy.org

4More info:
https://www.geothermalenergy.org/iga_academy/courses.html

MariaRichards,
New
Presidentof theGRC
The Geothermal
Resources
Council (GRC)
has welcomed
Maria Richards as
its 26th President,
succeeding PaulBrophy. The
GRC is anaffiliatedassociation to the
IGA.
Maria Richards is the Southern Methodist University(SMU) Geothermal Laboratory Coordinator in the Roy
M. Huffington Department of Earth Sciences in Dallas,
Texas. Her research is on geothermal resources andenergy development. Maria’s previous projects include
updating the Geothermal Map of North America,
developing temperature maps for Google.org, and on‐site geothermal exploration in the Peruvian Amazon and
the Northern Mariana Islands.
As producing geothermal energy from oil and gas fields
is one of her research goals, she works directly withtechnology companies and the oil and gas industry tofind overlapping opportunities. As an extension of thiseffort, she coordinates the SMU Geothermal Lab
Conference, Power Plays: Geothermal Energy in Oiland Gas Fields. Another area of interest is using
boreholes to quantify the extent and rate of climatechange occurring by measuring the equilibrium
temperature down the length of a well to see the direct
impact of the surface air temperature on the earth.
Maria and her colleagues recently completed a highresolution, shallow Enhanced Geothermal System
potential analysis for the Cascades region of the U.S.
Pacific Northwest for the National Renewable Energy
Laboratory. Other past projects include the SMU Nodeof the National Geothermal Data System funded by the
Department of Energy, the Eastern Texas Geothermal
Assessment, the Dixie Valley Synthesis, and theresource assessment for the influential MIT Report on
the Future of Geothermal Energy.
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IGA News No. 107
Maria previously served on the Geothermal Resources
Council Board of Directors and was chair of theOutreach Committee in 2011‐12. She is also a Named
Director of the 2015-16 Board for the Texas Renewable
Energy Industries Association (TREIA). Maria holds a
Master of Science degree in Physical Geography fromthe University of Tennessee, Knoxville and a BS in
Environmental Geography from Michigan State
University.
Source:https://geothermal.org/PDFs/News_Releases/2017/Ja
nuary_25-GRC_Welcomes_New_President.pdf

GEMex Project: The
International
Cooperation between
Mexico and Europe Is
Moving Forward

5
superhot (>380°C) wells in the Los Humeros reservoir
were identified and material testing was planned by the
Iceland Geosurvey (ISOR) in the wells of the Comisión
Federal de Electricidad (CFE) in this field.
Domenico Liotta (University of Bari, Italy) reported
from the first field trip to Mexico, which was dedicatedto structural geology in the exhumed geothermal
systems close to the sites under investigation in the
GEMex project. During the field trip, scientist alsocollected over 160 kg of rock samples, which were
distributed during the project meeting and are now used
for petrophysical analyses and mechanical testing.
Finally, the GEMex progress meeting was dedicated tothe planning of several surveys on the sites in Mexico:

Katrin Kieling & David Bruhn,
GFZ
From 23 - 24 March 2017 over 70 scientist
from Mexico and ten European countries
met for the first GEMex progress meetingin Utrecht, the Netherlands. Scientist
reported the first project activities,
planned geological, geochemical andgeophysical surveys and discussed further
activities.
GEMex (www.gemex-h2020.eu) is acooperation between nine Mexican and 24
European organizations with the objective
Some participants in the meeting in Utrecht: David Bruhn (left) andto advance research on the exploration
Domenico Liotta (right) in the first row. (Photo by Eugenio Trumpy.)
and the development of unconventional
geothermal
reservoirs.
Under
the
coordination of the German ResearchOver 70 seismic stations are available for a passive
Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) on the European site
seismic experiment, the data of which will be used toand the Michoacán University (UMSNH) on the
better constrain the reservoir architecture and fracture
Mexican site, the project has the ambition to bring
distribution at the two test sites. Other geophysicaltogether the extended Mexican know-how ofmeasurements such as gravimetric and magnetotelluric
discovering, developing, and exploiting geothermal
surveys are planned. Soil gas emissions, from CO 2, H2S
energy systems with a variety of European expertiseand CH4 to radon (222Rn) and thoron (220Rn) will befrom similar geothermal energy systems (Italy, Iceland
recorded while capturing soil temperature at the sameetc.). The focus lies on developing EGS technology, andtime to derive a better correlation with active faults infinding new approaches to make use of super-hot
the subsurface. Active faults in the Los Humeros
geothermal systems. The approach should lead tocomplex will be mapped and monitored and further
concepts for extended future deployment of geothermalrock samples will be acquired for paleomagnetism andenergy in Europe and Mexico.
isotopic studies. All of these surveys will start in thecourse of 2017 and will be supported by complementary
During the meeting in Utrecht, Ernst Huenges (GFZ)
investigations during the 36-months lifetime of thepresented results from a first workshop on ‘Corrosion,
project.
Erosion and Scaling’, held in the Los Humeros, Mexico,
Synergies between the Mexican and the European
geothermal field in early March 2017. During thisexperience proved once again very helpful during theworkshop, challenges due to the acidic fluids in the
www.geothermal-energy.org

April-June 2017

IGA News No. 107

6meeting. The cooperation is advancing and becoming aclose partnership. The next GEMex meeting will takeplace from 2 - 3 October in Iceland.

UPCOMING EVENTSAFRICAGEOLAC 2017 – Geothermal Congress for
Latin America and the Caribbean
25-26 April 2017, Mexico City

Kenya: Dry Periods and Low
Hydroelectric Outputs - The
Importance of Geothermal
Marcelo J. Lippmann, Information
Committee
Two recent notes (1, 2) on the Internet reinforce theimportance of geothermal on Kenya’s economy.
The first one says: “The recent dry period in Kenya
results in lower hydro-power generation and required
use of thermal power stations, pushing electricity priceup… Geothermal energy remains an important tool for
Kenya’s future energy mix and lower electricity prices.
[It is] seen as a key tool to improve the country’s energy
mix and decrease electricity prices for the general public
and the businesses in the country.”
The second note also comments on the effects of thedrought on the cost of Kenya’s electricity by adding:“Power generating firm Kengen had announced thatthey had scaled down on hydro-power at the Masinga
dam. This in essence saw thermal power being utilized
which has raised the fuel cost charge passed on to
consumers by 2.25 cents. The cost of power in the
country has remained rather high at US$0.11per kilowatt
hour, not making Kenya an attractive destination for
manufacturers. The government says it will be scaling
up geothermal power to improve the energy mix that is
to blame for the high power costs.”
An earlier note (3) from 2015 entitled “Electricity costdecreases by 30% in Kenya due to geothermal”
estimates that those savings amount to US$24 million
per month.
Some background information
According to (4), Kenya has 2,150 MW (other sources
report 2,370 MWe) of generation capacity to serve a
population of more than 43 million. The government
aims to increase generation capacity by 23,000 MW by
2030.

IGC Turkey 201722-24 May 2017, Izmir, Turkey
IGA Academy Course: Mine water as ageothermal reservoir and/ or energy storage
25 June 2017, Rauha, Laappenranta, Finland
Fiji Geothermal Conference
7-11 August 2017, Savusavu, Vanua Levu, Fiji
International Renewable Energy Conference
11-13 September 2017, Mexico City
German Geothermal Congress (DGK 2017)12-14 September 2017, Munich, Germany
41st GRC Annual Meeting & Expo
1-4 October 2017, Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.
Note: Please check the IGA website for more
events.
should stress that worldwide not only geothermal, butalso solar, wind, and biomass, help reduce how muchfossil fuel is needed to generate sufficient power whendrought occurs. That dependency should greatly
decrease as the installed capacity of geothermal andother renewable resources increases in the future.
References
http://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/dry-period-and-lowhydro-output-highlights-importance-of-geothermal-inkenya/ (1)https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/ktnnews/video/wat
ch/2000122372/-kenya-power-has-reiterated-that-thereare-no-plans-to-ration-power-that-kenya-has-enoughreserves (2)https://cleantechnica.com/2015/03/02/electricitycost-decreases-30-kenya-due-geothermal/ (3)https://www.usaid.gov/powerafrica/kenya (4)Omenda and Simuyo (5) mention that as of 2015, thecountry’s installed generating capacity based on
geothermal was 573 MWe and that the total potential isabout 10,000 MWe.

https://www.geothermalenergy.org/pdf/IGAstandard/WGC/2015/01019.pdf(5)Kenya is (or was) a country highly dependent onhydroelectric project to satisfy its electricity needs, but it
is not the only one (e.g. Costa Rica and Panama). One

Kenya: Status of the Project
Olkaria V

www.geothermal-energy.org

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IGA News No. 107
Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Ltd. (MHPS) has
secured a contract to deliver two sets of geothermal
power-generation equipment for the Olkaria V
Geothermal Power Plant in Kenya. MHPS, along with
Mitsubishi Corporation and H. Young & Company(East Africa), has received a full-turnkey contract from
Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) to
install the equipment at the plant located in the Nakuru
district of central Kenya.
The order includes two 70 MW class steam turbines,
condensers, generators and other key auxiliaries. As partof the contract, MHPS will also be responsible for thedesign aspects of the geothermal facilities.

7
equipment-to-olkaria-v-project-in-kenya-2802175751124
In other news, the Managing Director of the stateowned Kenya Electricity Generating Company(KenGen), Albert Mugo, confirmed that procurementof the contractor for the Olkaria V project was
concluded last month. “We have already secured
funding and we expect construction to be completed by
mid-2019,” Mugo said. The geothermal power plantconsists of two plants, each producing 79 MW.
KenGen has also received funding from the European
Investment Bank and the German Development Bank
to construct another 70 MW geothermal power plantthat should be connected to the national grid in 2019.
The power producer plans to add 743 MW of electricity
by the year 2022, out of which 653 MW will begeothermal power and 90 MW will be wind power.
Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/201703/06/c_136107196.htm

Union of the Comoros: First
Results of the Karthala
Project

Steam turbine for geothermal power plant (Photo:courtesy of MHPS, Ltd.).

A recent study has concluded that the Karthala
Geothermal Project on the Comoros Islands, off thecoast of Africa, offers favorable conditions to develop
high-temperature geothermal energy for power
generation. Studies imply a potential of 40-45 MW ofelectrical generation capacity, as reported byThinkGeoEnergy.

Slated to be commissioned in 2019, the new geothermal
plant is located about 100km northwest from the
Kenyan capital, Nairobi. It stands at an elevation of
about 2,000m in the Great Rift Valley. The current
power plant facilities in the Olkaria geothermal field will
be expanded by this new project.

Not only did the study confirm the commercial
opportunities of the untapped thermal resource, ithighlighted the significant impact it would have on
driving economic growth and development. This project
was announced at the IRENA General Assembly and ameeting of the Global Geothermal Alliance.

KenGen has been supported in the project by an ODA(Official Development Assistance) loan arrangement by
the Japanese government, represented by the Japan
International Cooperation Agency (JICA) (see IGA
News 106, p. 14).

According to ThinkGeoEnergy, the project has been
financially supported by the African Union under the
Geothermal Risk Mitigation Facility (GRMF) with
US$8.2 million, and the Global Environment Facility(GEF) with US$6.6 million. The Government of New
Zealand confirmed support for the project of US$4
million. Together, these partners have been able toprovide US$18 million to start the drilling phase of the
project.

MHPS would also provide technical advisors to help
H.Young in installing and commissioning the power
generation facilities.
Previously, the Japanese manufacturer of thermal powersystems had supplied six sets of power generating
equipment for the Olkaria I and II geothermal power
facilities, with a 150 MW total output.
Source: http://geothermal.energy-businessreview.com/news/mhps-to-deliver-geothermal-powerwww.geothermal-energy.org

The project still seeks US$27 million. “The Comorian
Government is therefore implementing a strategy tomobilize technical and financial resources to ensure theestablishment of a strong partnership around the projectto guarantee the implementation of the second phase ofthis initiative,” ThinkGeoEnergy reported.
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IGA News No. 107
In September 2014, the Government of the Union of
the Comoros, the Government of New Zealand, andthe UN Development Program (UNDP) decided to join
forces and support the project.

8
construction of a 100-megawatt geothermal power
plant, transmission lines and incidental facilities in Sol
de Mañana, which is located in the Department ofPotosí in southwest Bolivia. The loan funds will beallocated to civil work such as well drilling, theconstruction of the geothermal power plant andincidental facilities and consulting services as second
stage of the project following the Laguna Colorada
Geothermal Power Plant Construction Project (Phase 1of First Stage), for which a Japanese ODA loan wasprovided in July 2014.
Mineral resources are actively being developed in thesouthwest area of Potosí Department, which is one of
the foremost areas in the world, for zinc, lead and silver
production. Mineral resource development requires aconsiderable amount of electricity, which is supplied to
the region by long-distance transmission lines since thepower generating facilities connected to the national
grid network are concentrated in the central region of
the country.

Location of the Union of the Comoros (Graph by
Alvaro 1984 18 - Own work, Public Domain.)“With the positive results of the studies conducted lastyear, a full business plan has been completed andenvironmental studies and preliminary work on thescoping and design of site access and services areunderway… The Karthala Geothermal Project inGrande Comore is now moving into an exploration
drilling program,” ThinkGeoEnergy said. It is expected
the well will confirm the resource and sites for theplant’s production and installation drilling.

Due to the poor combustion efficiency at the highaltitude and the high fuel transportation costs,
constructing a thermal power station is inappropriate
for the region, and there are no locations suitable for ahydroelectric power plant, so the region has no largescale power plants. Those limitations notwithstanding,the potential for geothermal development has been
confirmed in the Sol de Mañana geothermal field, and it
is expected that such development would greatly
contribute to the stable power supply, which is a longstanding development issue in the region which has no
main power supply.

Source: https://www.esi-africa.com/news/karthalageothermal-project-looks-promising/

AMERICAS
Bolivia: Loan Agreement toConstruct the 100 MW Sol deMañana Geothermal Project
On March 24, the Japan International Cooperation
Agency (JICA) signed a loan agreement with theGovernment of the Pluri-National State of Bolivia in La
Paz to provide a Japanese ODA (Official Development
Assistance) loan of up to 61,485 billion yen (US$553.2
million) for the Laguna Colorada Geothermal Power
Plant Construction Project (Second Stage).
The project will meet the growing power demand,
contribute to diversification of the energy matrix andmitigate the impact of climate change through thewww.geothermal-energy.org

Geothermal wellhead in Laguna Colorada.
The geothermal power plant to be constructed in thisproject will be the first plant in Bolivia, therefore JICA
has been providing technical assistance since 2010 for
the purpose of promoting understanding and capacity
building for the geothermal power plant and ensuring
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IGA News No. 107

9the smooth implementation of the project through thedispatch of experts. JICA will continue technicalcooperation, such as organizational capacity building,toward successful completion of the project.

around 340 GWh annually, avoiding the emission of
166,000 tons of CO2. Cerro Pabellón incorporates themost advanced geothermal technology for working atextreme climate conditions and high altitude.

The project is planned to be completed in November
2023. The issuing of letters of invitation for consulting
services (including basic design) is scheduled in July
2017, and the tender announcement of initial
procurement package for international competitive
bidding on well drilling will be released in April 2017.

Sources:
http://www.elmostrador.cl/noticias/pais/2017/03/31/
primera-planta-geotermica-de-sudamerica-enel-y-enapinyectan-energia-al-sistema-con-cerro-pabellon/,
https://www.enel.it/en/media/press/d201703-eneland-enap-connect-to-the-grid-first-geothermal-plant-insouth-america-cerro-pabelln-.html

Source:https://www.jica.go.jp/english/news/press/2016/1703
27_02.html

Chile: The First Geothermal
Plant Starts to Operate
The first geothermal power plant in South America
started to operate on 31st March. It is the Cerro
Pabellón geothermal plant, located at the Ollagüe
community, Antofagasta Region, Chile, and wasconstructed by Enel Green Power Chile Ltda. (EGPC),
and ENAP (Empresa Nacional del Petróleo) that is thestate-owned utility for hydrocarbons in Chile.
Cerro Pabellón has an installed capacity of 48 MW,
composed of two 24-MW each binary-cycle units
manufactured by Ormat, and is the first geothermal
plant operating with high-enthalpy resources at ~4500
meters above the sea level, in the Atacama Desert. The
plant is owned and operated by Geotérmica del Norte,
SA, which is a joint venture between EGPC (81.7% of
the shares) and ENAP (18.3%). The plant had been in
pre-operational tests since late January 2017, supplying
electric energy into the Norte Grande interconnected
electric system (SING: Sistema Interconectado del delNorte Grande), located in northern Chile.

In other related news, it was unveiled that the InterAmerican Investment Corporation (IIC) has signed a
US$30 million corporate loan facility with Enel GreenPower Chile to finance further development of the
Cerro Pabellón geothermal power plant in Chile. The
loan will be funded by the Clean Technology Fund
Loan (CTF), administered by the IIC. The project
includes a third power plant of similar capacity, to reacha combined capacity of 75 MW, an 80-kilometertransmission line and other associated facilities.
Source: http://newenergyevents.com/chile-30m-loanfor-exploratory-phase-at-cerro-pabellon-geothermalproject/

Costa Rica: Advances in Las
Pailas II Project, 99%
Renewable Electricity

Las Pailas II - The flagship project of the Instituto
Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE), Las Pailas II in theProvince of Guanacaste, has entered into its second halfof construction. The project includes a 55 MW steam
turbine by Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS),and construction began in January of the five-cell
cooling tower. According to the construction
coordinator of Las Pailas II, Didier Ugalde, in previous
Once the plant be at its full capacity, it will produce
projects the cooling towers have been
built with concrete and wood, never
Cerro Pabellón geothermal power plant.
with fiber glass. This new material
reduces the investment in the project,
it brings down the costs of operationand it benefits the environment,
explained Ugalde.
INITEC Energía, S.A., a Spanish
engineering firm, is in charge ofengineering,procurement
andconstruction (EPC) management on
the project, under the generalsupervision of ICE. In addition,
MHPS has engineers at the site fortechnical support in installation andcommissioning.
A
generator,
manufactured by Mitsubishi Electricwww.geothermal-energy.org

April-June 2017

IGA News No. 107
Corp., will also be supplied for the project. The machineroom will take up less space than the ones alreadyoperating in the country, a world trend in the design ofgeothermal projects. In this area, they will use a lightconcrete panel system to improve the sound isolation of
the equipment.
The construction of Las Pailas II began in 2013. Whenit begins operating in 2019, it will be the seventh of its
kind in Costa Rica. During 2015 and 2016, the country
has produced more than 98 percent of its electricity
from renewable sources, including geothermal energy.
Source:http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/2016/
11/costa-rican-utility-secures-turbine-for-las-pailas-iigeothermal-plant.html

10
The geothermal developer and operator, U.S.
Geothermal, has announced plans to participate in a 40
MW Request for Proposals (RFP) for geothermal in
Guatemala with its El Ceibillo geothermal project inGuatemala. In early January, the Guatemalan
Government, through the National Electrical Energy
Commission (Comisión Nacional de Energía EléctricaCNEE), announced it is preparing to issue an RFP later
this year for 420 MW, of which 40 MW is to be reserved
specifically for geothermal energy. When the RFP is
issued, the El Ceibillo project will be bid into theprocess.

With the commercial, shallow resource now proven, in2017 a deep well to test the producing structure down
dip from well EC-5 is planned to a projected depth of
1,970 to 2,300 feet (600-800 meters). Well EC-5,
99% of Renewable Energy in the First Quarter completed to a depth of 1,450 feet (442 meters),
Costa Rica continues its trend of achieving near totalintersected a high permeability zone at 1,299 feet (396
renewable energy production with a first quarter record
meters) with a temperature of 388°F (198°C). Chemicalof 99.06 percent, said the National Energy Control
analyses of fluid samples taken from well EC-5 at theCenter (CENCE).
end of a flow test indicate a potential, deep reservoir
temperature of 450 to 523°F (232 to 273°C). A deeper
Geothermal generation is rebounding from damages
intersection in the reservoir could increase the reservoir
suffered at the Miravalles III plant in northern Costa
capacity and production temperature, and change the
Rica from Hurricane Otto late last November.
design of the power plant. Well EC-1,
drilled in 2013 to a depth of 5,650 feetContribution of RES to electric generationin Costa Rica in the first quarter of 2017: (1,722 meters), had a measured bottomgeothermal 11.2% (Graph by ICE). hole temperature of 526°F (274°C) but
did not intersect permeability. The
comparative geology between wells EC5 and EC-1 suggests a fault or otherstructure feeding the reservoir may belocated in the area between the two
wells.
U.S. Geothermal is planning to install a
25 MW plant for the El Ceibillo site.
Of the total 2,744.41 GWh produced in the first quarterof 2017, 69.3 percent was from hydro, 16.2 percent
from wind, 11.2 percent from geothermal, 2.2 percent
from biomass, 0.16 percent from solar; and bunker anddiesel, the one non-renewable source of electricity, wasused for 0.94 percent of the country’s needs fromJanuary 1 – March 31. Geothermal energy provided
13% of Electricity during the last year (see IGA News106, pp. 17
Source: http://news.co.cr/costa-rica-runs-99renewables-first-quarter-2017/58840/

Guatemala: El Ceibillo ProjectTo Be Offered in a 40 MW RFP
for Geothermal Powerwww.geothermal-energy.org

Source:http://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/u-s-geothermal-toparticipate-in-40-mw-rfp-for-geothermal-projects-inguatemala/,
http://www.marketwired.com/pressrelease/us-geothermal-inc-provides-update-ondevelopment-and-expansion-projects-nyse-mkt-htm2193619.htm

Honduras: Platanares Projectto Start Operations this Year
Construction of the Platanares geothermal power plantin Honduras is at an advanced stage, according to theadvisor to the Honduran Council of Private Enterprise(COHEP), Salomón Ordóñez. The first geothermal
power plant to operate in Honduras, it will have an
installed capacity of 35 MW and is expected to start
operating this year.
April-June 2017

IGA News No. 107
The US$200 million geothermal project – inclusive of
Honduran and foreign capital – is located in themunicipality of La Union, department of Copán, inwestern Honduras. In February last year, Ormat
Technologies, Inc. issued a press release in which itannounced that its indirect subsidiary, wholly owned,
confirmed the start of construction of the geothermal
project, and that in 2013, Ormat signed a contract tobuild, operate, and transfer the Platanares geothermal
project with Electricidad de Cortés (Elcosa), a privatelyowned Honduran energy company. In December 2015,
Ormat concluded the drilling activity, and the evidence
supporting the project’s decision.
The energy generated by Platanares will be marketed
under the 30-year energy purchase agreements signedwith the National Electricity Company of Honduras(ENEE) (see also IGA News No. 105, pp. 12-13).
The Platanares geothermal project is regulated under the‘Law for the Promotion of the Generation of ElectricPower by Renewable Resources’, enacted in 2007.
According to the law, it can benefit from a tax
exemption during the first 10 years of operation.
The company expects to reach commercial operation by
the end of 2017 and generate annual revenues of about
US$33 million.
Source: http://newenergyevents.com/hondurasgeothermal-plant-in-advanced-stages-of-construction/

11of the project’s operations.
A key aspect to be noted is that ENEL (Empresa
Nicaragüense de Electricidad), a state-owned company
for power development, should own at least a 10%
equity interest in the specific geothermal exploitation
project and must have a seat at the Board of Directors
with right to speak and vote in the company that was
granted the exploitation concession. On the other hand,
the remaining 90% equity interest must be owned by the
specific domestic or foreign investor for up to a 30-year
exploitation concession period following the executionof the exploitation agreement.
The geothermal exploitation concession may be
extended by the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM)
for a similar period to that initially granted –up to 30
years-, provided that the concessionaire has applied foran extension after five years following thecommencement of the exploitation and/or at least three
years before the expiration thereof, and to the extent
there is technical evidence on the possibility to increase
its generation capacity.
The fact that geothermal power flows 24 hours a day in
a consistent and uninterrupted way is an attractive factor
which favors its high profitability, along with the steadyinvestment environment in Nicaragua over the last five
years, which represents a positive global landscape forthe commencement of geothermal energy development
projects in the country.

Nicaragua: Legal Aspects on
Geothermal Development

Source: http://www.blplegal.com/nicaragua-legalupdates-on-geothermal-power/

Following are some interesting data on the Nicaraguan geothermal
regulation, written by Attorney Fidel Sánchez.

United States: San Emidio,
Lithium, Federal Budget,
Unconventional and New
Projects

In Nicaragua, geothermal power provides attractive tax
incentives based on Act 443,“Law on the Explorationand Exploitation of Geothermal Resources” and any
amendments thereto, published on November 17, 2014.
Some of these tax incentives for the development ofgeothermal power in Nicaragua include the following:- Exoneration of customs duties and VAT on
machinery, equipment, andmaterials
for
works
construction;

More Capacity in San Emidio - US Geothermal Inc.
announced that the estimate of the geothermal reservoir
capacity associated with its San Emidio II project has
increased from the earlier estimate of 10 MW net to an
San Emidio plant (Photo by Us Geothermal Inc.)- Exoneration of thepayment of income tax fora 10-year period following
the commencement of the
project’scommercial
operations;- Exoneration of paymentof municipal income tax(IMI) for a 5-year period
following commencement
www.geothermal-energy.org

April-June 2017

IGA News No. 107
estimated generation capacity of up to 47 MW net. This
increase is in addition to the current 10 MW being
produced by the existing San Emidio I plant.
“Now, we would use those three power plants weown”, said Douglas Glaspey, President and Chief
Operating Officer of US Geothermal, in early March.
“With a temperature of over 320°F (160°C), this new
resource is a perfect fit for these three power plants andmost of the equipment is already stored on site at San
Emidio. We received permits to deepen three morewells in the new resource area and are ready to proceedwith drilling as soon as weather allows...”12
develops proprietary molecularly imprinted polymers
for minerals extraction in mining applications, andTriLateral Energy, LLC that is an independent energy
developer with extensive geothermal operations andconstruction experience.
6th Wave has already begun laboratory testing of the
proprietary lithium extraction technology, which could
significantly reduce the cost of producing lithium andother minerals compared to traditional mining and othermineral extraction techniques. Such minerals arenaturally present in the brine utilized by many existing
geothermal power plants in the U.S. and worldwide.

In early 2016, five 1,000 foot (~300 m) temperature
gradient wells were drilled in the Southwest Zone andlater in the year, two of those wells were deepened. Bothwells intersected a high permeability, high temperaturegeothermal reservoir. Data from flow tests that took
place in late 2016 on the two deepened wells wereincorporated into a Probabilistic Power Density model
developed by Geothermal Science Inc., an independent
geothermal reservoir engineering company. Based on
the flow rate and temperature produced by the two
wells, and by measurement of pressure response acrossthe well field, the model estimates that the area
encompassed by the five wells drilled in 2016 (0.18
square miles or 0.47 km2) has a 90% probability of 18.8
MW net of generation capacity as the Minimum. A
larger area (1.4 square miles or 3.6 km2), defined byadditional temperature gradient wells and geophysics,
has a 50% probability of 47 MW net of generation
capacity and was rated as the Most Likely outcome.

Geolithic Corp. plans to construct a pilot project
extraction plant at one or more U.S. geothermal energy
facilities, to seamlessly integrate into the facility’s
existing brine handling processes the extraction oflithium and other minerals prior to reinjection of thebrine into the geothermal reservoir.

The three remaining 1,000-foot-deep temperature
gradient wells all have high temperature gradients andbottom-hole temperatures indicating that an active
geothermal resource exists below them. Permits todeepen these three remaining wells down into the
production reservoir were received from the Bureau ofLand Management (BLM) and the State of Nevada inlate December. Subject to weather conditions, drilling todeepen those wells is planned for the first quarter of2017.

6th Wave Lab in Salt Lake City, UT (Photo 6thWave).

Sources: http://www.marketwired.com/pressrelease/us-geothermal-announces-substantial-increasein-the-san-emidio-ii-reservoir-capacity-nyse-mkt-htm2187722.htm,
http://seekingalpha.com/article/4054302-usgeothermals-htm-ceo-dennis-gilles-q4-2016-resultsearnings-call-transcript
Joint Venture to Extract Minerals from Geothermal
Brines - In early January a new company, Geolithic
Corp., was formed with the purpose of extracting
lithium and other minerals from geothermal brine.
Geolithic is a joint venture between 6 th Wave
Innovations Corp., a nanotechnology company thatwww.geothermal-energy.org

Under the Joint Venture agreement, 6th Wave will retain
all rights to its proprietary molecularly imprinted
polymer nanotechnology but will provide an exclusive
license to Geolithic Corp. for geothermal minerals
extraction.
Dr. Jonathan Gluckman, CEO of 6th Wave, said, “We
are pleased at the opportunity to work closely with
Trilateral Energy, which has decades of geothermal
power plant construction and operations experience andextensive contacts in the industry. I am confident thisjoint venture will establish proof of concept with a pilot
lithium extraction plant in the United States.”
Don O’Shei, CEO of TriLateral Energy, stated, “I wasan early investor in 6th Wave and believe that theapplication of this groundbreaking extraction
technology to geothermal brine has the potential tosignificantly lower lithium and other mineral production
costs. TriLateral will manage the commercial aspects of
the joint venture and 6th Wave will manage the technicalaspects as we move forward to combine our skill sets toApril-June 2017

IGA News No. 107
construct the first pilot plant at an existing geothermal
facility.”
Source: http://www.prnewswire.com/newsreleases/6th-wave-innovations-corp-and-trilateralenergy-form-geolithic-corp-a-geothermal-mineralsextraction-nanotechnology-joint-venture300396530.html
Renewables Probably Won’t Be Deeply Affected by
the New Federal Budget - On March, the Trumpadministration released a preliminary 2018 budget
proposal outlining changes to discretionary spending
that, if implemented, would likely cut spending on
renewable energy.
Among a list of 15 government entities that would see
cuts under the proposed budget, two that could affectrenewable energy programs are the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department ofEnergy (DOE). Trump has proposed a 31% cut inspending for the EPA and a 6% cut for the Energy
Department.

13
Raven Petroleum’s managing director, Christopher
Moore, announced February that they will partner with
Austin-based Thermal Energy Partners to build a 55,000
barrel-per-day crude oil refinery with an onsite
geothermal plant on 832 acres (~337 hectares) in Duval
County, just east of Laredo, Texas. The refinery willprocess sweet crude oil from Texas’s Eagle Ford Shaleand export diesel, jet fuel, naphtha, gasoline, andliquefied petroleum products to Mexico via railway.
“This is going to be a near-net-zero emission, and wewill not be burning any dry gas for our energy,” Moore
told The San Antonio Express-News during a press
conference. “We will be pulling that completely fromthe geothermal.”

The budget proposal also seeks to cut funding for the
DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable
Energy (which includes the Geothermal Technologies
Office - GTO) and the Advanced Research Projects
Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) and “…takes a big axe to the
EPA’s budget,” said Raj Prabhu, CEO of Mercom
Capital Group, a clean energy research firm.
Even with the budget proposal, experts do not believe
the momentum of renewable energy installations willslow down.
“I hope the final budget is based on reality, jobs, and astrategic energy plan and doesn’t just make cuts becausesome members of the Republican Party don’t believe inclimate change science or support newer, clean-energy
technologies,” Prabhu said. “What Congress does
understand is jobs and the renewable sector is creating
plenty of them in both red and blue states.”“By and large Congress ignores what a President isasking for and enacts a budget that most closely
resembles the funding levels it allocated the year
before,” Prabhu said. “Congress disregarded President
Obama’s request for significant increases in spending on
renewables and energy efficiency programs, even when
Democrats controlled the legislative branch, and they
are likely to do the same this year.”
Source:http://www.arnnet.com.au/article/616147/here-whattrump-budget-means-renewable-energy
Geothermal in Texas? - A Houston-based company,
Raven Petroleum, plans to build the largest new oil
refinery in the United States in 40 years, and they saythat they’re going ‘green’.
www.geothermal-energy.org

A clean refinery. Image by Raven Petroleum.
The geothermal plant will be capable of generating up to
20 MW of power using the heat from wells dug 12,000
feet (~3650 m) deep to power turbines, according toJames Jackson, Chief Business Development Officer at
Thermal Energy Partners.
“Many people don’t even realize that geothermal ispossible in Texas,” Jackson said. But according to thenative Texan, the state has vast untapped potential: He
estimates Texas holds up to 10% of the total geothermalenergy latent in the United States.
“The idea is to make the cleanest, greenest refinery
possible, and the intent is to replicate this model,” said
Jackson, who has already been approached not just byother oil companies, but by other industries interested inusing geothermal energy to power their operations.
However, while the new refinery has generated buzz on
the pros and cons sectors of the spectrum, the project isstill in its infancy. Raven Petroleum has yet to apply forthe necessary permits through the Texas Commission
for Environmental Quality (TCEQ), but is expected to
do so by the second quarter of this year. Until then, theApril-June 2017

IGA News No. 107
full scope of the refinery’s ‘greenness’ remains
uncertain.
Source: http://fusion.net/story/392049/major-oilrefinery-claims-it-will-be-green-with-geothermal/, sendby Marcelo J. Lippmann.
Started Project To Use Hot Springs at Less than
90°C - Modoc County, located in northeastern
California, is beginning a project to generate constantelectrical power from the geothermal water using a new,entirely green engine technology developed byReceivable Acquisition & Management Corporation
d/b/a Cornerstone Sustainable Energy (CSE),
headquartered in New York City. The Modoc County
Board of Supervisors has contacted CSE to supply its
PwrCor™ engine as part of a demonstration projectthat will convert ultra-low-grade heat into electricity.
The project was started in early January and is sited at
the Surprise Valley Hot Springs resort. The heat will beobtained from a geothermal well or hot spring.
Surprise Valley is designated by the U.S. Geological
Survey as a ‘Known Geothermal Resource Area’(KGRA). Substantial research to develop thisgeothermal potential has taken place since the 1950s. A
major step in developing the resource occurred recently
when CSE entered into an agreement with Warner
Mountain Energy Corporation (WME) to begin thefirst-phase development of a geothermal energy plant tobe located at the Surprise Valley Hot Springs east of
Cedarville. This phase of development includes afeasibility analysis, conceptual design, and budgeting toinstall CSE’s PwrCor™ engine with required site
infrastructure to generate electrical power. The
electricity generated would be entirely renewable.
WME controls about 1,000 acres (~0.405 hectares) at

14
delivering about 850 gallons per minute (53.6 liters per
second) at 205°F (96°C). CSE will tap the hot springwater to supply heat to its PwrCor™ engine. “One of
the major costs in developing geothermal power is thedrilling. We are bypassing this step by only using thesurface flow of hot water,” explains Peter Fazio, Chief
Operating Officer for CSE of New York.
CSE’s technology is projected to produce 250 kW ofelectric power with 150 gallons per minute (9.5 lps) of
water at 180°F (~82°C). At that level of output, theSurprise Valley Hot Springs site represents a potential
estimated at 1.5 MW of constant, uninterrupted electric
power. “The hot spring water is basically boiling at thesurface and will be placed in a ‘closed loop’ heatexchange system which means it will never touch theworking fluid. This way it guarantees no possibility forcontamination to the environment or any surrounding
water sources,” said Curt Rose, partner with the WME.
Once online, the PwrCor™ engine will operate at input
temperatures and flows that are considerably less thanthose required by competing technologies.
“The engine is quiet and does not use turbines togenerate power. Traditional geothermal plants use
ammonia, pentane or other noxious gases for their heatexchange. Their equipment is usually expensive torepair. CSE’s engine uses a non-toxic liquid in its heatexchanger and replacement parts are relatively
inexpensive,” said Fazio. The engine, weighing
approximately 30,000 pounds (~13,600 kg) is 25 feetlong (7.6 m), 8 feet wide (2.4 m) and 9.5 feet (2.9 m) talland will be housed in one of the existing buildings at the
hot springs.
Branded by CSE as PwrCor™, the technology operates
on thermal hydraulic principles, in contrast to thethermal pneumatic principles employed by steam(Rankine cycle) engines and their
cousins, the organic Rankine
cycle (ORC) technologies. The
PwrCor™ technology uses thephysical expansion of fluids
under heat to drive a piston. The
company claims that thistechnology has very low or nofuel costs, no internal fuelcombustion,
producesnopollution and operates silently.

CSE will assume the financial
burden of developing the entire
project. WME will provide thelocation, engine oversight, andgeneral sweat labor. WME will
also monitor the project to see if
Hot springs in Surprise Valley, California (photo from a CSE’s press release).
the grid can support more
the Surprise Valley Hot Springs. The site has several
engines. If so, more engines will be placed beside theartesian hot springs free flowing to the surface,
original engine inside the building.
www.geothermal-energy.org

April-June 2017

IGA News No. 107

15

It will take 90 to 120 days to manufacture and deliver
the pretested engine to the hot springs. Because this is
the first of its kind, it is estimated that getting the engine
up and running will take another 30 days. “This is a
prototype for our company and could change energy
production worldwide,” said Fazio. CSE has patents on
their engine and exclusive rights in the Western
Hemisphere. Research contributions to the WME
project site have been provided by the U.S. Geological
Survey (USGS), the National Space and Aeronautics
Administration(NASA),NaturalResource
Conservation Service (NRCS), the State of California’s
California Energy Commission (CEC), UC Davis,
Stanford University and others. Grant funding touniversity programs has come from sources such as the
National Science Foundation (NSF) and Petroleum
Research Fund.

For several years, the company has been developing
special electronics that will work on the 500°C Venus
surface. “With this award, Ozark IC will now use its
expertise and technologies to develop high-temperature
data logging electronics for geothermal wells that canoperate at 300-500°C for hours to years with little or nothermal insulation,” said Dr. Ian Getreu, director of
business development and strategic partnerships for thecompany.

CSE will be paid directly by Modoc County fromfunding that was arranged via a grant from the
California Energy Commission, with the CSE
responsible for certain project expenses. The mission of
the California Energy Commission includes supporting
the use of alternative energy sources, which the
PwrCor™ technology will accomplish.

Ozark IC has many years of experience in developing
Silicon Carbide ultra-high temperature electronics and isa leader in this field. It has received five contracts fromNASA to develop electronics suitable for the 500°C
Venus surface as well as from the U.S. Air Force for the
packaging of these electronics in aerospace applications(jet engines).

The project will be managed by Warner Mountain
Energy Corporation. Dr. Roy Mink, Chief Executive ofWarner Mountain and former manager of the U.S.
Department of Energy geothermal program, explained,“The demonstration project will illustrate how low
temperature geothermal heat resources, heretofore notconsidered economically feasible for power generationby the geothermal industry, can be tapped using thisbreakthrough technology.”

This DOE award is a significant step in Ozark IC’s
strategy to commercialize its NASA-funded technology.
“The oil and geothermal exploration market is an
obvious first application of this expertise andtechnology since the environment inside deep wells isvery similar to the Venus surface environment,” said
Francis.

Sources:
http://www.marketwatch.com/(S(rnrsydaynixa5x55oiibxm45))/story/cse-selected-for-clean-energy-project2017-01-04, http://cseindustries.com/?p=1150
Award for Geothermal Data Logging at Very High
Temperatures - Ozark Integrated Circuits (Ozark IC),won a US$155,000 Small Business Innovation Researchaward from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to
provide an enhanced solution for geothermal well datacollection. Ozark IC is a fabless semiconductor
company, based in Fayetteville, Arkansas, that develops
integrated circuits designed to operate in extreme
environmental conditions.
Usually, the deeper a geothermal well, the hotter thetemperature. “Reliable data logging is needed todetermine what is happening inside the well and toensure the stability of the well. Typical electronicsystems cannot operate at temperatures above 225°C
without expensive thermal insulation systems – andeven then, can only operate for a few hours,” said Dr.
Matt Francis, CEO of Ozark IC.
www.geothermal-energy.org

Ozark IC has received expressions of interest in the useof its technology from companies in the oil andgeothermal exploration market. Ozark IC has also
extended its license to NASA’s SiC IC technology toevaluate as part of this project – recently demonstratedby NASA operating for a record 22 days in Venus
surface conditions.
Source: http://asbtdc.org/ozark-ic-wins-dept-ofenergy-sbir-award-for-geothermal-data-logging/
Demonstration Project to Use sCO2 for Geothermal
Power Generation - GreenFire Energy Inc. announced
in March that it has been selected for a grant award
from the California Energy Commission (CEC) to build
the world’s first demonstration of closed-loop
geothermal power generation using supercritical carbon
dioxide (sCO2) instead of water. GreenFire Energy
Inc.’s geothermal power generation process could
enable thousands of megawatts of new carbon-free
power plants in California and other markets. The
proposed US$1.48 million grant from the Energy
Commission’s Geothermal Grant and Loan Program
will be considered for approval by the Energy
Commission at its Business Meeting in June.
April-June 2017

IGA News No. 107
California has an aggressive goal of generating 50% ofelectricity retail sales with eligible renewable energy
resources by 2030. Geothermal energy is an essential
part of California’s energy mix, as well as an importantpart of the state’s clean energy efforts. The purpose of
the Geothermal Grant and Loan Program is to promote
development and maintenance of California’s vast

16
existing geothermal projects to boost power output
using the existing infrastructure,” said Joseph Scherer,
chief executive officer, GreenFire Energy Inc.
There is another similar project using sCO2 that wasrecently received an award from the DOE. It is a sixyear project to design, build, and operate a 10 MW
supercritical carbon dioxide pilot plant test facility in
San Antonio, Texas (see IGA News 106, pp. 32-33).
Source: http://www.greenfireenergy.com/greenfireenergy-inc-awarded-major-grant.html

ASIA/PACIFIC RIM
China: Sinopec and the 13thFive-Year Plan
Oil Giant Taps China’s Vast Geothermal Reserves Chinese state-run energy giant, Sinopec, has drilledhundreds of wells across the country without finding asingle drop of oil. But that was precisely the point:
instead of black gold, the almost mile deep holes areproviding clean heat for local homes.

Schematic of the process. Source: GreenFire
Energy Inc.
geothermal energy resources.
GreenFire Energy Inc.’s innovative ECO2G™
technology harnesses recent advances in deep anddirectional drilling technologies from the oil and gas
industry to access high-temperature geothermal
resources that cannot be exploited with existing
geothermal technology. The demonstration project
involves inserting a co-axial, closed-loop tube into an
existing geothermal well that lacks sufficient
permeability to generate power. Supercritical carbon
dioxide will then be circulated to transfer heat to thesurface and generate power from a small turbo
expander.
The ECO2G™ technology developed by GreenFire ispresented as a solution to harvest the earth’s ‘thermal
battery’, which is by far the largest source of continuous
renewable energy. ECO2G™ accesses the extremely
large, hot and deep geothermal resources that have beenpreviously unreachable, and its modular scalable
architecture fully exploits deep geothermal resources toprovide grid-scale power generation. The company has
been awarded two grants by the U.S. Department ofEnergy (DOE), and this demonstration project “…willshow that ECO2G projects can be co-located withwww.geothermal-energy.org

While two-thirds of China’s electricity is generated bycoal, almost all of the homes in northern Hebei
province’s Xiong district –home to 400,000 people– areheated by wells as deep as 1,500 meters. Chen Menghui,director of Sinopec’s geothermal branch in Hebei, said,“These underground wells are pumped with water,which comes out at a temperature of around 70°C
before flowing into the heating system.”Though experts say there is immense potential in
China’s subterranean heat reserves, they remain largely
unexploited, accounting for less than 0.5% of the Asian
giant’s energy consumption. Sinopec’s geothermal
projects in China heat more than 40% of the total
number of homes heated by geothermal energy in the
country, making them a potential model for how to tap
this resource.
Before launching itself into the geothermal industry,
Sinopec found an unusual partner in the Icelandic
company, Arctic Green Energy. Sinopec needed
technical support and Iceland is regarded as the leader
in extracting energy from the ground. In a joint venture
beginning in 2009, they invested 400 million yuan
(US$58 million) into the Xiong project, where they
drilled almost 70 wells.
“Iceland, on the mid-Atlantic ridge, has exceptional
resources, with temperatures exceeding 250°C –hotenough to supply power plants,” said Wang Yanxin, ageological research officer at Sinopec. “In China, withthe exception of Sichuan and Tibet, there are hardly any
temperatures exceeding 150°C, which forces us toconcentrate on heating systems,” he added.
April-June 2017

IGA News No. 107
Sinopec has geothermal facilities in 16 Chinese
provinces, allowing it to heat some 40 million square
meters of homes and factories –and avoiding an
estimated three million tons of CO2 emissions. One
potential benefit of the project could be a significant
reduction in local air pollution, a problem that has
plagued much of northern China.

17
Thus by 2020 the country is aiming for a geothermal
power installed capacity of 530 MW and a geothermal
heating area of 1.6 billion square meters, according to
the country’s energy planner.

According to Sinopec, Xiong has become China’s first‘smokeless town’ by eliminating the coal-fired heating
systems common throughout other parts of the country.
Although the area is still regularly covered with a thicklayer of pollution coming from surrounding industrial
districts, Sinopec aims to develop 20 such ‘smokelesscities’ nationwide by 2020.
The company’s ambitions align with the ruling
Communist Party’s plan to significantly reduce air
pollution in Chinese cities, in part by increasing the useof clean energy to replace carbon-based fuels. That goal
includes a ten-fold increase in geothermal resources:
growing electrical output to 530 MW by 2020 andtripling the floor-space of buildings heated bygeothermal energy (see note below).
Lin Boqiang, the director of the energy research centerat Xiamen University, is skeptical of the project. “It’sclean, but compared to solar or wind, the cost ofgeothermal is incredibly high,” he told, questioning
whether the project could survive without state support.
At Sinopec, Duan Qiaohong, who is responsible for theCommunist Party committee involved with the SinoIcelandic joint venture, discussed the problem in veiled
terms. “It is evidently a crucial question whether there isdemand in the market, that’s ultimately what decides inthe end,” he told. The sector produces only “meager
profits” and in the absence –for the time being– ofnational support, it still depends on subsidies from local
authorities, he said.
But “Other big public groups have followed in
Sinopec’s footsteps and increased competition could
encourage the development of cheaper geothermal
technologies,” Duan said. “Either way,” he added, “thefuture looks bright: the geothermal industry
corresponds perfectly with current clean energy
priorities.”
Source: http://www.rappler.com/sciencenature/environment/162600-china-sinopec-geothermalenergy
Plan to Reach 530 MWe by 2020 - China has recently
issued the 13th Five-Year Plan for geothermal energy,
the first such plan in the country, in a bid to boost
clean-energy
development
andimprovetheenvironment. From 2016 to 2020, China will add togeothermal power’s installed capacity by 500 MW, andthe geothermal heating area by 1.1 billion square meters.
www.geothermal-energy.org

A worker from Sinopec Company shows how theheat pump is operated to journalists in
Zangangzhen, Heibei province (Photo by Fred
Dufour/AFP, taken from the source).
Source: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/201702/15/content_28201883.htm

Indonesia: Exploration,
Sarulla & Muara Laboh
Projects, Geothermal Pricing,
Regulation 10/2017, and WB
GrantsMore Investment in Exploration & Drilling - Stateowned energy giant Pertamina has allocated US$54
billion in investment for upstream industry between
2016 and 2025, aiming for a 185 percent increase in oil,gas and geothermal production.
In 2025, Pertamina aims to produce oil, gas andgeothermal energy of around 1.91 million barrels of oil
equivalent per day (boepd), a significant jump from 0.67
million boepd in November 2016.
“Hence, we want to be more aggressive in strengthening
the upstream industry by trying to exploit moredomestic and overseas oil and gas blocks,” Pertamina
spokesperson Wianda Pusponegoro said in January.
Source:http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2017/01/17/per
April-June 2017

IGA News No. 107
tamina-allocates-us54-billion-to-strengthen-upstreamindustry.html
First Unit of the Sarulla Project Starts Operation Toshiba Corporation and Ormat Technologies Inc.
announced on March 21 that the first unit of the Sarulla
geothermal power plant, one of the world’s largest
power plants, located in Indonesia’s North Sumatra, hascommenced commercial operation.
The approximately 110 MW power plant, which
combines flash and binary technologies to provide ahigh efficiency power plant and 100% reinjection of the
exploited geothermal fluid, is operated by Sarulla
Operations Ltd. (SOL). As participants in the project,
Toshiba supplied the geothermal steam turbines andgenerators (STGs) for the flash systems, while Ormat
provided the conceptual design of the Geothermal
Combined Cycle Unit (GCCU) power plant andsupplied its Ormat Energy Converter (OEC), which
serve as the condensing units for the steam turbines andutilize the separated brine for maximum resource
exploitation and maximum power output.

18
Power Indonesia (18.9975%), INPEX Corp.
(18.2525%), and Ormat International Inc. (12.75%).
Total capacity of the Sarulla project will be 320.8 MW inthree units, and the EPC contractor is Hyundai
Engineering and Construction Co., Ltd.
Source: http://www.ormat.com/news/latestitems/one-world-s-largest-geothermal-power-plantscommences-commercial-operation
Construction of Muara Laboh Geothermal Station
Commences - The Japan Bank for International
Cooperation (JBIC) and the country’s three megabanks
will provide financial support for the Indonesiangeothermal power plant planned by Sumitomo Corp., as
Japan pushes infrastructure exports as a key growthstrategy.
JBIC, together with Mizuho Bank, Bank of TokyoMitsubishi UFJ and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.,
will offer a syndicated loan with the Asian Development
Bank. The sum will total around US$440 million, of
which JBIC will cover roughly US$200 million. Nippon
Export and Investment Insurance will insure loans
provided by the megabanks.
Sumitomo broke ground on the 80 MW Muara Labohgeothermal power plant in South Solok in West
Sumatra, on 24th March, and plans to begin commercial
operations in 2019. Fuji Electric will supply the plant’s
main parts such as steam turbines and power generators.
Sumitomo will handle surveying of the project area, as
well as operations and maintenance after construction iscompleted. It is the first time that Sumitomo, a trading
house, will run a geothermal power plant. Indonesia’s
Supreme Energy and France’s ENGIE will also
participate in the project.

Aerial view of Sarulla. Photo by Kyushu ElectricCompany.
Toshiba and Ormat will continue to collaborate
strategically on global promotion of highly-efficientgeothermal combined cycle flash and binary systems,
and both companies continue to seek to utilize andpromote renewable energy globally. Isaac Angel,
Ormat’s CEO, said, “The Sarulla supply contract is thelargest single contract that Ormat has signed to date…
We continue to share our expertise as work continues
on the second and third units of the Sarulla project thatare expected to come on line by 2017 and 2018,
respectively.”
SOL is owned by Itouchu Corporation (25%), Kyushu
Electric Power Co. Inc. of Japan (25%), PT Medcowww.geothermal-energy.org

Supreme Energy holds the Muara Laboh concessions
and the geothermal license, and formed the company
Supreme Energy Muara Laboh (SEML) that signed thePower Purchase Agreements (PPA) with Perusahaan
Listrik Negara (PLN). SEML has developed the
exploration program since 2010 and it has completed
the Micro Earth Quake (MEQ) and Airborne
topographic surveys, civil engineering studies, and landacquisitions which were required for the exploration.
Between 2012 and 2013 SEML drilled six exploration
wells, and in 2014 made the well monitoring, data
evaluation and reserve calculations. SEML obtained
certification of the amount of steam backup of an
independent agency, confirming that there is sufficientsteam to build a power plant with a capacity of 80 MW.
Finally SEML completed the EPC tender process.
French energy company ENGIE said it was making its
debut in geothermal energy with a commitment to help
build a power plant in Indonesia. ENGIE said it has thedrilling and other subterranean experience necessary tohelp build a facility that at 80 MW, will have the capacity
April-June 2017

IGA News No. 107
to power 120,000 average homes. The company said
construction will take about 30 months. ENGIE CEO
Isabelle Kocher said her company has the technology
needed to help Indonesia “…provide their population
with efficient low-carbon power generation sources.”
The project’s cost is estimated at 70 billion yen (US$610
million), of which Sumitomo will invest around 35
percent. According to that, the unitary cost of the
project will be around US$7.6 million per megawatt
installed, which seems to look high even for a green
field project.

19
the Energy Ministry’s regulation No. 12/2017 on theuse of new renewable energy for electricity. INAGA
fears that the rule will hamper efforts to discovergeothermal reserves.
“The clauses are so biased, they could hamper
geothermal exploration,” INAGA chairman Abadi
Purnomo said on early February. Abadi said the 11
clauses govern that a geothermal SPA (Sales andPurchase Arrangement) can only be signed once thedeveloper has proven reserves, which requires
exploration that costs US$8 million-US$10 million perwell. “Who would want to pay for the explorations?
And businesses will not take risks of drilling wells if
there is no guarantee someone will buy the electricity,”he said.
Energy Minister Regulation No. 12/2017 governs theprice of electricity generated from new renewable energy
sources –including biomass, sun, wind, water, biogas,
waste, and geothermal. The Ministry’s Director Generalfor Renewable Energy and Conservation, Rida Mulyana,said the sales price is based on each producing area’s
costs.
Rida also said that the rule provides certainties forelectricity developers, guaranteeing that PLN will buy
electricity from them. The rule, he said, clearly mandates
PLN to buy power from clean energy sources.

Location of the project. Graph by Sumitomo.
For its part, the Asian Development Bank (ADB)
announced it has signed a US$109 million financing
package for the same Muara Laboh geothermal power
project. This project is one of the first to get funding
from ADB’s recently created Leading Asia’s Private
Infrastructure Fund (LEAP), which is capitalized by
US$1.5 billion in equity from Japan International
Cooperation Agency (JICA). The support, which wasapproved in December 2016, includes a US$70 million
loan from ADB’s own capital and a US$19 million
participation from the Clean Technology Fund (CTF).
Sources: http://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Deals/Japanbanks-to-back-Indonesian-geothermal-power-project,
http://www.supreme-energy.com/company/se-muaralaboh/, https://renewablesnow.com/news/adb-backs80-mw-indonesian-geothermal-project-555850/,
http://www.upi.com/Former-OPEC-memberIndonesia-makes-geothermal-move/7471485512163/,
http://www.sumitomocorp.co.jp/english/news/detail/id=29868
INAGA Considers that Electricity Price Rule May
Hamper Geothermal Exploration - The IndonesianGeothermal Association (INAGA) is disappointed withwww.geothermal-energy.org

The government has also allowed PLN to negotiate with
developers farming energy sources in Java, Sumatera,
and Bali. Abadi argues that negotiations are a source ofproblems hampering power purchase agreements (PPA)
between PLN and developers.
However, Rida ensured that negotiations will not stall
power plant constructions, as the Ministry has thepower to determine the final sales price.
Source:https://en.tempo.co/read/news/2017/02/06/0568434
26/Electricity-Price-Rule-May-Hamper-GeothermalExploration-INAGA
MEMR’s Regulation 10/2017 – Besides Regulation
12/2017, mentioned before, the Indonesian Ministry ofEnergy and Mineral Resources (MEMR) issued new
regulations, numbers 10/2017 and 11/2017. The
10/2017 regulation deals with the terms and conditionsof PPAs. Under existing conventional PPAs, the PLN’s
monthly payment to the IPPs is made up of a capacity
component and a variable component. But regulation 10
states that a: (i) PLN is only required to take and pay forelectricity produced by the IPP for a certain period oftime; and (ii) this period of time should be agreed upon
between the parties by considering the period of
repayment to the IPP’s lenders. This provision has,
therefore, triggered concern among developers that thenext model PPA issued by PLN may not provide forApril-June 2017

IGA News No. 107

20

capacity payments once the IPP has paid off its seniordebt. It is also unclear how refinancing would be treatedin this context.

went into effect on November 4, 2016. The nation now
faces some extra scrutiny from global society on how totackle the issue of climate change.

Regulation 10 also requires the developer to transfer theplant to PLN at the end of the PPA period (i.e. 30
years). This is already a requirement for coal plants but
has not been a requirement for geothermal or hydroplants. This loss of residual value will impact the way inwhich a developer would calculate the potential value ofdeveloping such a plant.

Domestically, various problems related to the current
power system became evident after the Great East
Japan Earthquake in 2011. In response, the governmentis implementing power system reforms, including thecomplete deregulation of the retail electricity market.
During the fiscal year 2015 (FY2015), the power
generation in Japan from renewable sources was 76,205
GWh, as shown in the following table:

Projects with an existing PPA, a letter of intent or whichhave reached bid closing stage before the issuance ofRegulation 10 are not required to implement thechanges. Furthermore, Regulation 10 will not apply to
any ongoing amendment process for an existing PPA
that commenced prior to the issuance of Regulation 10.
It only applies to power projects that are in a
procurement process but have not yet reached bid
closing.
Source:http://www.mondaq.com/x/573020/Renewables/Indonesia+Briefing+Latest+Changes+In+Energy+Law+Pa
rt+1
World Bank Grant for Geothermal - The World Bank
said in early February it will extend Indonesia a
US$55.25 million grant to facilitate geothermal energy
power plant development in the country,
which aims to become the world’s biggest
geothermal producer. The bank said in astatement that the grant will support
Indonesia’s Geothermal Energy Upstream
Development Project and will mostly be
used to fund infrastructure development
and drilling exploration. “Insufficientenergy holds back Indonesia’s growthpotential
andlimitsthefutureopportunities of millions of Indonesians,”
said Rodrigo Chaves, the bank’s country
director for Indonesia.

Technology
Solarphotovoltaic (PV)Wind
Geothermal
Small-scalehydropower
Biomass
Total

Estimated Annual
Generation (GWh)
34,085

% of
total
3.31%

5,381
3,115
17,777

0.52%
0.30%
1.73%

16,39576,205

1.59%
7.41%

Trends in the last 25 years, are shown in the following
graph:

Source:http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asea
n/1196364/world-bank-to-give-indonesia55m-to-develop-geothermal-energy

Japan: Generationfrom Renewables,
Geothermal Training
Course, Takigami Power Plant
Power Generation from Renewable Sources in
FY2015 - Japan was four days late to ratify the Paris
Agreement, which meant that its name was not includedin the list of participating countries when the agreement
www.geothermal-energy.org

Source:http://www.japanfs.org/en/news/archives/news_id03
5668.html
JICA and Kyushu University Hosted Intensive
Geothermal Training Course – The Japan
International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has started an
April-June 2017

IGA News No. 107

21

Intensive Training for Geothermal Resource Engineers
in 2016 in cooperation with Kyushu University. The
training course is one of the JICA Knowledge CoCreation Programs (Group & Region Focus) to be
implemented as part of the Official Development
Assistance of the Government of Japan. After a breakof 15 years since 2001, the training course has beenrevised and restarted by accommodating requests fromdeveloping countries with geothermal resources.

plants in Japan. Idemitsu also unveiled its plans tocontribute to Japan’s energy security and to therealization of a sustainable society by using domesticallysourced renewable energy, such as geothermal power toincrease the supply of electricity.

In fiscal year 2016, there were 14 participants from
Bolivia, Djibouti, Ecuador, Indonesia, Kenya,
Nicaragua, Papua New Guinea and Tanzania. The six
month training course includes lectures and project
study for three months each. Participants receive
lectures on geothermics, geothermal geology,
geochemistry, exploration geophysics, reservoir
engineering and other related topics presented by faculty
member and specialist for each area. For three months
after the lectures, participants undertake a project on
specific topics under the guidance of professors. The
participants presented a poster on their work at theInternational Symposium on Earth Science andTechnology (CINEST) held at Shiiki Hall, Kyushu
University. It was a great opportunity to show theirwork and to network with colleagues.

Philippines: Acidity in Wells ofBiliran Solved

Study trips were undertaken to geothermal fields, aturbine factory and a solar power plant during thecourse. Participants visited the actual site and learned
not only present situation of geothermal development inJapan but Japanese culture, as well.
On 16th December 2016, the course was completed witha closing ceremony in Kyushu University. The Presidentof Kyushu University and the Director General of
JICA-Kyushu International Center congratulated all theparticipants for their achievement.

Source: http://v4.eirparts.net/v4Contents/View.aspx?template=ir_material&sid=65877&code=5019

Biliran, located in Leyte and considered one of thelargest green field geothermal projects in thePhilippines, has a potential of 350 MW. The initialdevelopments of the Biliran project started in the 1980s
but the 49 MW project was not completed due to theacidity of the geothermal brine. Now, according to astatement by the company Biliran Geothermal Inc.
(BGI) released in late January, Filipino scientists havefound a way to overcome this problem for successful
development. The company said that a series of tests
effectively treated the acidic nature of the fluids fromthe drilled wells, making the field fit for the generationof geothermal power.
“Acidic wells are very problematic. This is a challenge
faced by every geothermal energy developer much like
Biliran,” said Aylmer Marbello, a Biliran geothermal
geologist.
“When we completed the drilling, a majority of thewells were acidic. We had to address the situation to

The training course in 2017 will be held about the sameschedule as of 2016 at the Ito Campus of Kyushu
University.
Contacts:
JICA Kyushu, Training Program Division: Rie
OGATA: Ogata.Rie@jica.go.jp
Kyushu University, Dept. of Earth Resources
Engineering, Faculty of Engineering: Junko
KAMITAKI: kamitaki@mine.kyushu-u.ac.jp
Takigami Binary Power Plant Starts Operations Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd. announced that on 1 st March,commercial operation began of a binary power plant at
the Takigami Office of its wholly owned subsidiary
Idemitsu Oita Geothermal Co., Ltd. The constructionof the plant, with an installed capacity of 5 MW, started
in March 2016 in the area of the Takigami Power
Station of Kyushu Electric Power Company, Inc. The
new Takigami plant is one of the largest binary power
www.geothermal-energy.org

Biliran Geothermal Well Pad Bn-11. Photo by Jalmz,
taken from: http://www.biliranisland.com/bilirangeothermal/history/#foobox4/10/BiliranGeothermalPadB-11.jpg).
April-June 2017

IGA News No. 107
ensure the success of the project. After a number ofstudies, we identified the solution we now call FMS,”
said Biliran geothermal geophysicist, Nilo Apuada.
FMS involves the injection of chemicals into the wells
to treat the acidity, making the brine acceptable for use
in the generation of geothermal power. It entails careful
and rigid monitoring of the well geochemistry andcorrect dosage and application of chemicals. Thischemical treatment was also used in the Miravalles
geothermal field in Costa Rica, where the geothermalbrine required treatment for acidity.
“We took every consideration and precaution to ensure
the available resources arrive at favorable test results so
we could move on to the next phase of the project, theconstruction of the geothermal power plant,” said BGIProject Director Danilo Catigtig.

22
province of Jizan, where there are a number ofstructurally related hot springs.
Saudi authorities are encouraging and supporting not
only research in the area but earmarking hugeinvestments in renewables. Abu Dhabi, the home ofInternational Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA),
hosted the week-long conference, and internationalsummit on renewables.
Al Falih highlighted Saudi Arabia’s rich geothermal
resources, which are located mainly in the country’s
western region and related to the general tectonic
activity of the Red Sea. They are associated with a seriesof volcanic rocks and ridges.

The BGI development scheme is modular, with at least
5 MW per wellhead unit. “We are confident we will
deliver the first 5 MW out of the 49 MW project, asdetailed in the environmental compliance certificate(ECC),” said Catigtig.
Emerging Power Inc. acquired 60 percent of BGI in2016 and proceeded with the development of the
project. Emerging Power is majority owned by Nickel
Asia Corp., one of the country’s biggest mining
companies.
Sources:
http://thestandard.com.ph/business/227964/bilirangeothermal-problem-addressed.html,
http://www.biliranisland.com/bilirangeothermal/history/

Saudi Arabia: Attractive
Preliminary Geothermal
Potential in the Kingdom
Saudi Arabia is eyeing geothermal power as part of its
strategic energy plan that also includes massive uses ofsolar energy and wind farms, a senior official told in a
conference in Abu Dhabi in mid-January. Saudi Energy
Minister, Khalid Al Falih, speaking at the World Future
Energy Summit in the UAE capital, said his country will
generate a total of 10 gigawatts from a combination ofsolar, wind and geothermal power projects to beinstalled by 2023.
Al Falih, also the Chairman of Saudi Arabian Oil
Company (Aramco), has said Riyadh is set to start soon
the first round of bidding for up to US$50 billion worthof renewable energy projects for the fresh energy
projects, including geothermal energy. This is not
surprising, since there are at least 10 known hot springs
in Saudi Arabia. Recent studies show potential
geothermal sites in Al Khouba area, in the southwesternwww.geothermal-energy.org

Energy Minister Khalid Al Falih, speaking at the World
Future Energy Summit (Photo by the Ministry of
Climate Change and Environment of the UAE).
Analyses of available satellite images, geo-indicators and
2D electric geophysical surveys gave experts a clue
about Saudi Arabia’s geothermal reserve potential forpossible energy production. One study revealed thepresence of many good geothermal anomalies in Jizan
province, where the Al Khouba geothermal resource isconsidered the most important.
Researchers found good surface lithological and thermal
properties (high temperatures, up to 78°C and goodflow rates) and subsurface characteristics —goodvertical and lateral extensions— as well as potential
thermal properties in these sites. A preliminary
geothermal potential of ~18 MWth is estimated for the
Al Khouba hot spring, providing a reservoir area of 1.1
km2.
Geothermal resource exploration studies started in 1980
in Saudi Arabia. In the Western region near Jeddah and
Makkah, there are large volcanic areas, known as‘harrats’, which are formed by volcanic activity. The
volcanic eruptions of harrats near the Medina area wererecorded in the year 1256 AD.
April-June 2017

IGA News No. 107
Experts have seen at least six thermal springs in Jizan
and four in the Al-Lith area and temperatures at someof these locations are around 120°C.
In Saudi’s northwestern area, there are other volcanic
regions, like Harrat Al Shamah, Harrat Al Raha andHarrat Uwayrid near Tabuk, and Harrat Ithnayn.
The volcanoes by the side of the expressway from
Jeddah-Makkah to Medinah have basaltic lava-field
chain up to 600 km long, called the Makkah-MadinahNafud volcanic line. Between Makkah and Madinah, theHarrat Rahat lava-field is spread over an area of 20,000
km2, where some 36 shield-volcanoes and 24 domes arefound. Between Madinah and the Great Nafud are thecoalesced harrats Khaybar, Ithnayn and Kura with anarea of 20,560 km2.
Source:http://gulfnews.com/business/renewables/now-oilrich-saudi-arabia-eyes-geothermal-energy-too-1.1963641

South Korea: First Power
Plant to Be Installed in April
Pohang is a city on the southeastern coast of the Korean
Peninsula, which has been making use of geothermalenergy from a reservoir located some four kilometers
below the surface at the Heunghae Basin, an area
covered by Tertiary sedimentary rocks and Quaternary
alluvium. The project began in 2011 thanks to efforts
from South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry &Energy, and a total of 43.2 billion won (US$38 million)–18.4 billion government and 24.8 billion private– hasbeen invested so far.
The 1.2 MW project will be completed by April and is23
expected to provide electricity to some 1,000
households as early as the latter half of 2017, if not by
next year, officials said. Upon the first successful supplyof geothermal electricity, officials will raise an additional
80 billion won in investment through a power plantconsortium to expand the current facility to generate 6.2
MW by 2019.
The current development of the Pohang project is partof the DESTRESS project, funded by the European
Union, the Swiss Confederation and the National
Research Foundation of Korea (see IGA News No. 106,
pp. 23-24). The development of a megawatt-capacity
enhanced geothermal system (EGS) on non-volcanic
grounds will be the first of its kind in Asia.
Officials said regions in Pohang were found to have theoptimal conditions for generating geothermal electricity,with some reaching 180°C at a depth of five kilometers.
Source: http://koreabizwire.com/geothermal-powerplant-is-a-first-for-korea/75748

EUROPE
Europe: German Company
Wins the European Innovation
Award 2017
enOware GmbH received the European Geothermal
Innovation Award 2017 during the opening session of
the GeoTHERM exhibition and Congress 2017 in
Offenburg, Germany. The award was given for its
miniaturized sensor designed to professionally plan,
monitor and measure near-surface geothermal wells andprobes.
The European Innovation Award, now
in its fourth year, is an initiative of theEuropean Geothermal Energy Council(EGEC) and Messe Offenbourg. The
award is given to companies that havemade an outstanding contribution in
the field of geothermal energy in theform of innovative products, scientificresearch or project initiatives.
enOware specializes in sensor systems
for
fluid
applications,energymonitoringandResearch&
Development services. The wirelesssensor for which they were given theaward, is designed to swim throughgeothermal wells up to 450 m deep
and measure a very precise
temperature-depth profile, the absolute
well depth as well as the permeability.

Hot springs near Pohang (image: KobizMedia/ Korea Bizwire).
www.geothermal-energy.org

Commenting on the award, Ruggero
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IGA News No. 107
Bertani, Enel Green Power, President of EGEC andmember of the jury said, “The product developed by
enOware shows that there are high-tech innovations
also for shallow geothermal, which can assist planners
and designers developing advanced ground source
systems, and can convince the customers of thereliability of geothermal heating and cooling. This kindof innovation, with its potential to facilitate GSHP
system design by decreasing costs and increasing
efficiency, is a good step forward for further developing
the market in Europe.”
The German company won against strong competition
from the four other endorsed nominees: HakaGerodur
AG (Switzerland), for the pressure-resistant boreholeheat exchanger (BHE) for difficult geological conditions
and applications up to 300m; Huisman Well Technology
BV (The Netherlands), for the application of theEnhanced Casing Installation (ECI) system in ageothermal well; Jansen AG (Switzerland), for the
JANSEN shark technology, which reduces the flow
resistance in the pipe and results in less pumping power;and SWM Services GmbH (Germany), for the project toprovide 100 percent renewable energy for the district
heating of Munich, including a major contribution bygeothermal energy.
The jury for the 2017 edition of the award wascomposed of Ruggero Bertani (Italy), Adele Manzella(Italy), Sandra Kircher (Messe Offenburg), Pierre
Ungemach (France), and Javier Urchueguia (Spain).
Source: http://egec.info/enoware-gmbh-awarded-theeuropean-geothermal-innovation-award-2017/

Belgium: Completed Two First
Phases of Balmaat Project24
the limestone layer, be reheated and pumped back out,
creating a closed water loop. A second well drilled to reintroduce cold water reached a depth of 3830m. The
tests on the reintroduced water were completed in
September 2016.
The site is now ready to install a power station on thesurface where water will be pumped up from the depths,
used as a source of energy and then re-injected into thelimestone layer to be reheated naturally. Now the cycle
will be repeated. Works on the third phase are expected
to be completed by the end of the year.
After that, other sites in the region, also with theunderground limestone layer, will be investigated.
According to forecasts, the layer could provide enoughpower from the natural heat of the earth’s crust to
supply 80 geothermal plants in Antwerp and Limburg
provinces, providing heat for 800,000 homes.
The investment for the Balmatt project, resulting in an
operating deep geothermal energy plant, would amountto €22 million. The exploratory drilling project, costing€7 million, is funded by Vito and the government of
Flanders, which contributed €2 million (see IGA News
102, pp. 21).
Source: http://www.flanderstoday.org/innovation/vitogets-closer-harnessing-geothermal-energy

France: New Geothermal
Heating Network in the Plaine
Rive Droite Area of Bordeaux
Fully committed to the energy transition in its area,
Bordeaux Métropole (comprising the city of Bordeaux
and some of its suburbs) is taking another step forward
in its Climate Plan with the creation of the Plaine Rive
Droite geothermal heating network, which will serve theneighborhoods of Brazza, Niel, Benauge and GaronneEiffel.

The Flemish institute for technological research (Vito)
has completed the first two phases of a local project
aimed at extracting geothermal heat. The third phaseconsists of installing a
power station at theBalmatt site. At the Vitosite in Mol, Antwerp
province, drilling went
down to 3610 meters, tothe350-million-year-old
limestone layer where thetemperature reaches 138°C.
When pumped to thesurface, the water from thatlayer retains a temperatureof 126-128°C, which allows
it to be used for heating. In
the second phase of testing,
Artistic conception of the heat production plant, an iconic building tol be
it was found that water
could also be returned toconstructed from sustainable materials. Source: Engie.
www.geothermal-energy.org

April-June 2017

IGA News No. 107
To best meet the city’s expectations, ENGIE
subsidiaries ENGIE Cofely and Storengy joined forces
to submit a single integrated tender for deep geothermalenergy, combining ENGIE Cofely’s expertise in heating
networks and Storengy’s expertise in subsurface
exploration and development. In selecting ENGIE’s
tender, Bordeaux Métropole has chosen a partner that iscommitted to the long-term success of all aspects of thisambitious project, which marks a revival of deep
geothermal energy in France. The concession has been
awarded to ENGIE for a 30-year period.
Bordeaux Métropole Council has chosen geothermal asa green source of energy for its heating network. The
Council has decided to explore a new geological horizon
with the aim of finding a deeper and hotter resource –the first time this has happened in France, outside theParis region, in 30 years. The natural heat of deep
aquifers will meet 82 percent of the heating needs, withthe rest being supplied by natural gas. Work on theheating network will begin once all the administrative
permissions have been obtained. The drilling of the twogeothermal boreholes, a production well and areinjection well, will start in early 2019 and last for fourmonths. It will be carried out by Storengy, an ENGIE
subsidiary with extensive expertise in geoscience and in
the design, development and operation of boreholes.
The heat production plant will make reference to the
local industrial heritage. Blending naturally into thelandscape, this iconic building designed by the Bordeauxfirm Moon Safari will be constructed from sustainable
materials.
ENGIE will build a Maison des Energies Citoyennes(House of Civic Energy), which will play host to city
residents and school groups, with interactive learning
programs catering for a range of needs. The House will
adjoin the heating plant, making an ideal base fromwhich to visit the energy generating equipment. It willbring together all the project stakeholders, forging
lasting links between them that will work to the benefitof the energy transition.
Source: http://www.engie.com/en/journalists/pressreleases/geothermal-bordeaux/Germany: 32% of Electricity
Came from Renewables in2016

25
estimate in late 2016. If the projections are correct,
more than 191 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) (191,000GWh) of electricity were generated from renewables by
end of the year. This marks an increase from theprevious year during which the country consumed
slightly more than 187,000 GWh, which is 31.5 percentof the gross amount of electricity consumed that year.
The federal government’s energy targets call forrenewables’ share in gross electricity consumption toarrive at 35 percent by 2020 and the country is clearlyon track to achieve that goal.
The energy sources breakdown as follows:
Offshore wind 13,000 GWh – up 57 percent over 2015
Onshore wind 67,000 GWh – down 6 percent from2015
Solar PV 38,000 GWh – down 1 percent from 2015
Hydropower (including pumped storage hydro) ~22,000
GWh – up 13 percent from 2015
Biomass and waste 52,000 GWh – up 3 percent over2015
Geothermal power 200 GWh – up 12 percent over 2015
Stefan Kapferer, Chairman of BDEW’s General
Executive Management Board, said while the growing
share of renewables is positive, the country still needs
conventional sources of power in the mix to back up
the ongoing conversion of the country’s energy supply.
He also stated that the grid expansion is necessary.
Source:http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/2017/
01/germans-get-almost-one-third-of-electricity-fromrenewables-in2016.html?cmpid=enl_REW_SOLARENERGYNEWS_2017-0110&email_address=l.g.negrin@gmail.com&eid=291021
978&bid=1630507

Greece: Geothermal Energy
Could Play a Pivotal Role in
the Country
The largest power generation company in Greece, PPC,
has announced that geothermal energy will be a crucial
element in its plans for renewable energy project
deployment. Through its renewable energy subsidiary

In 2016 Germany used more renewable electricity thanever before, receiving 32 percent of the gross amount ofelectricity consumed in the country from sun, wind andother renewable sources. The Centre for Solar Energyand Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW)
and the German Association of Energy and Water
Industries (BDEW) arrived at this figure in an initialwww.geothermal-energy.org

April-June 2017

IGA News No. 107
PPC Renewables, the company is active with renewableenergy sources, even though the company’s renewableenergy sources (RES) current market-share is just 3
percent –as Manolis Panagiotakis, PPC’s chief executive
said recently.
A newly appointed board at PPC Renewables appears
determined to rectify the firm’s faults committed in thepast and establish better prospects for the subsidiary.
The fresh PPC Renewables board aims to triple therenewable energy firm’s installed capacity over the next
three years. A business plan is underway to establish a
strategic objective that may elevate PPC Renewables asa key player, if not the market leader, in Greece’s RES
market.
The development of geothermal technology is expected
to play a pivotal role, the PPC chief executives noted,
while also pointing out the major prospects in this field
for the Cyclades islands and possibly further south.
Panagiotakis added that geothermal technology,
combined with other technologies, could end theregion’s high-cost dependence on fuel, diesel and mazutfor electricity generation.
He pointed out the utility’s unsuccessful investment of
62 million euros on geothermal technology research inprevious decades, while adding that, despite the setback,he remains optimistic on the domain’s prospects for the
Cyclades and possibly beyond. Major foreign
corporations, including Enel, Ormat and Mitsubishi,
have expressed an interest in helping develop thecountry’s geothermal energy potential.
Source: http://energypress.eu/geothermaldevelopment-pivotal-in-ppc-renewables-business-plan/

Hungary: Two Notes from theGyőr Region
Audi Factory Uses Geothermal Heat - Audi Hungariais the largest industrial geothermal energy user in
Hungary. Since its conversion to green energy, thevolume of the company’s geothermal energy
consumption has grown to 100 thermal GWh, which so
far has reduced carbon dioxide emission by 20,170 tons.

26
The Győr-based, Audi Hungaria Ltd., is an entity of the
Audi Group, the key engine supplier of the Audi andVolkswagen Group. Two years ago, the company placed
its energy supply on new foundations, and sinceNovember 2015 renewable geothermal energy has been
supplied by the Heating Center of Bőny. Within theframework of the Geothermal Project of Győr, Audi
Hungaria has entered into a long-term heat energy
supply agreement for the provision of geothermalenergy to the company’s Győr site with PannErgy Plc’s
subsidiary, DD Energy Ltd. This cooperation has been
forged for 17 years, and can be optionally extended foran additional period of 15 years.
“Sustainability and efficiency is a dominant element of
Audi Hungaria’s efficiency, and therefore we put greatemphasis on their encouragement in day-to-day
operations, as well as manufacturing processes”, said
Axel Schifferer, Audi Hungaria’s Managing Director for
Finance. “Its reliance on geothermal energy ensures thecompany’s environmentally conscious operations in thelong term, because this way we can cover nearly 70
percent of our heat energy demand in a carbon-neutral
manner.”Source: http://www.4-traders.com/PANNERGYNYRT-6491748/news/PannErgy-Other-Informationndash-Even-greener-future-for-Audi-Hungaria-rsquo-sheat-23827481/
Győr Concession to PEGE Ltd - The Hungariancompany PannErgy Geothermal Power Plants Ltd.
(PEGE Ltd), which is a PannErgy Plc subsidiary,
disclosed in late February it has signed a concessionagreement with the State of Hungary for a definite termof 35 years (with a non-recurrent renewal option foranother term of 17 and half years) in relation to the areaof Győr, toward the exploration, extraction andutilization of geothermal energy. By relying on the rights
acquired with the concession agreement, PEGE Ltd andits concession company, to be founded later, will
examine the concession-based geothermal endowmentsof the region potentially found under 2500 meters
depth, and thereafter will decide on the investment
opportunities. The company added that it has the longterm objective to enhance energy safety with the use ofrenewable geothermal energy at an even larger scale –with proper respect to environmental sustainability,
thereby supporting the goals of climate policy.
Source: http://pannergy.com/wpcontent/uploads/2017/02/eo_pannergy_20170206.en_.
pdf

Iceland: Drilling of Well IDDP2 Successfully Completed
A significant milestone was reached in the Iceland Deep
Drilling Project at the Reykjanes Peninsula in Icelandwww.geothermal-energy.org

April-June 2017

IGA News No. 107

27

when well IDDP-2 was completed on January 25th atcirculation materials or with multiple attempts to seal
4659 meters depth. All of the initial targets werethe loss zone with cement.
reached: to drill deep, extract drill cores, measure theAt 3180 m, the team chose stop the cementing attempts.
temperature and search for permeability. Temperature at
Below that depth no drill cuttings returned to thethe bottom of the well has already been measured atsurface. Consequently the drill cores were the only deep
427°C, with a fluid pressure of 340 bars; drill cores wererock samples recovered.
retrieved; and the rocks appear to be permeable at
The purpose of the IDDP-2 project is research and thedepth. It’s clear that the bottom of the well reacheddrilling completion is only one phase of the activities
fluids at supercritical conditions, so that the mainplanned. The next steps will be to undertake further
drilling phase objective of the project has been achieved.
testing and research on the well, and, most importantly,
The drilling operation lasted 176 days since drilling
flow tests and fluid handling experiments will be
operations began on August 11, 2016.
conducted within the next two years. Final results on
The depths beneath the production zone of thethe technology and economics of production from thegeothermal field at Reykjanes have never before been
well will not be clear until end of 2018.
explored. Well IDDP-2 took
advantage of HS Orka’s well
RN-15, which was a 2500
meter deep production well.
The first phase of the IDDP-2
project was to deepen well
RN-15 to 3000 meters andcement a steel casing firmly
intothesurrounding
formations. From there, thewell was deepened to its final
depth of 4659 m from rig
floor.
Potential utilization will not beknown until the end of 2018
when all research, including
substantial well stimulation andflow testing, is finished. But
the first indications are
positive.
(Left) Core 11 at 4637.80 m depth. Two centimeter thick “felsite” dike in
Drilling a well this deep anddolerite. The red surface at the felsite margin is due to rapidly quenched
hot comes with many difficult
hematite mineralizing fluid. (Right) Close up of core fragments removed
challenges. In the beginning,from the open space on the left. Top: open fracture mineralized with quartz
there
were
difficulties+ biotite. Bottom: “felsite” dike with basaltic inclusions. Center Right:
extracting drill cores. But in the
Irregular contact between “felsite” and basalt. Rocks of this core areend, 27.3 meters of coreprimarily basaltic and doleritic, hypabyssal, intrusive rocks, apparently partsamples were cut in 13
of a sheeted dike complex. (Photo and caption taken from the reportattempts. The last core wasavailable in the source.)from the bottom of the well at
4650 meters from surface.
HS Orka has led the IDDP-2 project in close
Using conventional drilling methods was not an option
collaboration with other partners. In Iceland, these arefor many aspects of the project so new methods had toLandsvirkjun, Orkuveita Reykjavíkur and Iceland’s
be developed to ensure its progress. The well is drilled
National Energy Authority. Statoil, the Norwegian oil
vertically to 2750 meters and drilled directionally below
company, has also been an active participant. The
that. The bottom of the well has a vertical depth of
IDDP-2 has received substantial grants from the EU
about 4500 meters and is situated 738 meters southwest
H2020 (DEEPEGS) as well as other internationalof the well head. Various challenges arose as the drillingscience grants (ICDP and NSF). The drilling contractor
progressed and the drill got stuck a few times. Each
was Jarðboranir (Iceland Drilling Company).
problem was successfully solved, as were all other
Source: http://iddp.is/wpchallenges as they occurred. However, the major
content/uploads/2017/01/IDDP-2-Completionunsolved problem was a complete loss of circulation
websites-IDDP-DEEPEGS.pdf
below 3060 m depth, which could not be cured with lostwww.geothermal-energy.org

April-June 2017

IGA News No. 107

Italy: The Campi Flegrei
Caldera & New Project toCultivate Spirulina Algae
Campi Flegrei Caldera - Campi Flegrei Caldera is thelargest volcanic feature along the Bay of Naples, Italy.
Excerpts follow from a note by Alexandra Branscombe.
Two massive eruptions caused the collapse of theCampi Flegrei Caldera: the Campanian Ignimbrite,
which occurred 39,000 years ago, and the Neapolitan
Yellow Tuff, which occurred 15,000 years ago. Scientists–and residents around the caldera—fear another
eruption will come. Right now, the alert for the Campi
Flegrei caldera has been raised from ‘base’ volcanic
activity to ‘attention’ status. To get an accurate
understanding of the caldera, Giuseppe de Natale et al.
(2016) turned to scientific drilling: the Campi Flegrei
Deep Drilling Project (CFDDP), drilled to a depth of
501 meters in western Naples, the morphological limitof Campi Flegrei caldera.

28
history of the volcano and how Campi Flegrei haschanged over time. The deeper layers, between 250 and
501 meters, do not contain fossils, meaning that the
volcano was well above sea level more than 35,000 years
ago. In the shallower layers, the scientists foundmicrofossils that indicate an ocean environment,
confirming that sometime between 17,000 and 35,000
years ago, the volcano collapsed.
The rock types and ages at the drill site also reveal acurious finding: the amount of collapse attributed to theolder and larger Campanian Ignimbrite eruption issmaller than the collapse that occurred after the
eruption of the Neapolitan Yellow Tuff. Although there
could be many reasons for the smaller collapse after themega eruption, the authors discuss an alternative
hypothesis: that the Campanian Ignimbrite did not erupt
from Campi Flegrei (which was only a peripheral
eruption vent), but rather from fractures to the north ofthe caldera. This hypothesis would explain the low-level
collapse in the caldera because the magma chamber
would have remained intact.
Additional results from the drill site revealthat further caldera collapse won’t extend
into the central city of Naples. However theauthors conclude that there is a complex
mechanism that drove the caldera collapsethat requires further study to better predict
future eruptions in this major metropolitan
area of Italy.
Source: https://eos.org/researchspotlights/deep-drilling-reveals-puzzlinghistory-of-campi-flegrei-caldera

Project to Cultivate Spirulina Algae
Using Geothermal Energy - On midJanuary, Enel Green Power (EGP) and theConsortium for the Development ofGeothermal Areas (CoSviG) signed in
Larderello an Agreement of collaborationfor experimentation on geothermal
resources applied to the cultivation of algae.
The objective is to build a pilot plant next
to the Chiusdino geothermal plant for the
Fig. 1 of The Campi Flegrei Deep Drilling Project (CFDDP): New
production of spirulina algae using
insight on caldera structure, evolution and hazard implications forgeothermal energy. Both partners will put
the Naples area (Southern Italy), by De Natale et al., 2016, journal
up 100,000 euros, The agreement lasts one
G3: Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems.
year and involves the construction of agreenhouse where spirulina algae will be
Drilling gives scientists a precise view into the deep
cultivatedusingboth geothermal heat and carbon-freestructures of the caldera, its geothermal characteristics,
CO,aproductof the geothermal energy production
2and its magma chemistry. All these can reveal clues toprocessandasubstitutefor natural emissions that is
how the caldera formed. The researchers took samples
usefulforfosteringthecultivationof algae.
from different depths of the drill site and measured
argon isotopes periodically so to estimate the age ofvarious layers.
The scientists combined the isotopic ages, fossil
findings, and historical sea level records to assess the
www.geothermal-energy.org

Already known in antiquity, spirulina is a natural microalga originally from Central America and central Africa.
It is currently cultivated in special aquatic farms,
especially in sub-tropical regions. This alga is one of theApril-June 2017

IGA News No. 107
so-called ‘superfoods’: highly rich in protein, it has
antibiotic and antiviral properties and is one of the mostpotent sources of nutrients available to humans.
Alongside Enel Green Power and CoSviG, others
involved in the experiment include the Department ofAgricultural and Food Production and Environment at
the University of Florence, which, through a start-up of
the University Incubator of Sesto Fiorentino, will takecare of inocula development and the training of plant
employees, and CNR (National Council for Research)which will monitor and characterize the cultures.
The Chiusdino pilot plant will be ready by the beginningof spring, when it will begin cultivating the algae: at theend of 12 months, the results of the experiment will beassessed in terms of the economic and environmental
suitability of using geothermal heat and CO2 for its
cultivation.
The goal, if the experiment goes well, is to foster thedevelopment of this type of activity on a larger scale inall of the Tuscan geothermal territories to benefit theenvironment, the health of the citizens and local
employment.
Geothermal energy is able to cover more than 27
percent of Tuscany’s energy needs. It heats over 10,000
homes in the area and provides heat to 30 hectares ofgreenhouses, dairies and other local agriculturalbusinesses. Now it will become an innovative frontier innutrition and pharmaceutical science, thanks to the
spirulina algae project.
Source:https://www.enelgreenpower.com/en/media/news/d2
01702-tuscan-geothermal-to-cultivate-an-aztecsuperfood.html

Slovakia: Tomatoes Producedwith Geothermal
Since 2008, inspired by the Dutch model of protected
agriculture, but under different conditions, a cooperativeof growers from southern Slovakia claims to have taken
more than half of the market and to have expanded into
new growing regions.
The GreenCoop group only uses renewable energy fromgeothermal sources, and its brand ‘Happy Tomato fromRye Island’ is taking market shares from big European
players in Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary.
GreenCoop družstvo president Zsolt Bindics said thecooperative was now producing crops –mostly tomatoes
but some cucumbers– on 30 hectares. “We are here
because we would like to extend the export to othercountries, but our main focus is to grow and sell locallyin our region of the Slovakia, the Czech Republic andHungary.”
He said the average greenhouse was between 4.5-6
hectares, and all members had to have a very strong
www.geothermal-energy.org

29
environmentally-friendly philosophy in practice. He
added the team traveled far and wide to select the best
seeds, and at the moment GreenCoop was producing
around 20 different tomato varieties.
Bindics said, “In southern Slovakia you have a granted
2,000 hours of sunlight but some varieties need more,some need less, and usually in summertime we havevery high temperatures in greenhouses. We have somedisadvantages because in our area the summers arehotter, but the main advantage is the geothermal energy.
In our region, if you drill below than 1km, you will find
hot water and you can heat the greenhouse.”

View of the greenhouses. Photo by GreenCoop.
Director of production Zoltán Kiss said that when thecooperative began with this project in 2008 it was notcommon to do ‘green things’, but now others are trying
their hand at the practice as well. “I can say in our
region we are the main producers and the biggest
producers of tomato.”
Source:http://www.freshfruitportal.com/news/2017/02/21/gr
eencoops-enviro-friendly-tomato-project-takes-offcentral-europe/

Switzerland: Public
Consultation on Energy
Strategy and HydraulicFracturing
Public Consultation on Energy Strategy Could
Benefit Geothermal Projects - In the context of theenergy strategy for 2050, the Federal Council put theregulations on the new Energy Act and the new CO2
law under public consultation. This will last until 8 May
2017. According to the Swiss Geothermal Energy
Association, the most important points for geothermalenergy are:- Different Feed-in Tariffs (FiT) for hydrothermal andpetrothermal projects. Hydrothermal projects (use ofApril-June 2017

IGA News No. 107

30

naturally occurring hot water) currently receive a FiT of
0.227 to 0.4 CHF (practically equal in US$) per kilowatthour depending on the plant size. Now, petrothermal
projects (without natural fluids) would receive 7.5
additional cents to reach 0.302 to 0.475 CHF per
kilowatt-hour, depending on the plant size (see tablebelow). According to the calculations of the Swiss
Federal Office of Energy (SFOE), the cost of electricity
from petrothermal plants per kilowatt hour is 5 to 17
cents higher than for electricity from hydrothermal
plants:Capacity
(MW)
≤5
≤10
≤20
>20

FiT (CHF/kWh)Hydrothermal
Petrothermal
0.400
0.475
0.360
0.435
0.280
0.355
0.227
0.302

- Deep exploration can also be supported by up to 60
percent of eligible costs. The most important of these
eligible costs include access roads and well pads, drilling,
tests and stimulation of exploration wells.
- Geothermal energy guarantee for electricity projects. If
a well is not successful, the Confederation canreimburse up to 60 percent of the eligible costs, among
them: preparation, construction and dismantling of thedrilling site, drilling costs including pipes, cementationand completion for all planned production and injection
wells, and well logs and tests.
- Direct geothermal heat utilization. For geothermal heatprojects, up to 30 million Swiss francs can be spentannually on exploration and development. The Federal
Government can accept up to 60 percent of the eligible
costs, among them: Preparation, construction anddismantling of the drilling site, drilling costs including
pipes, cementation and completion for the planned
exploration and production wells, and well stimulationand tests.
- Expert Panel and Project Support. All applications
from project developers will be assessed by an expert

committee from the Swiss Federal Office of Energy(SFOE). If the project is assessed positively, the expert
committee will recommend a specialist as project
support for the entire project. This expert will report tothe expert committee.
- If a geothermal project realized with federal support
generates ‘excessive profits’, the federal government canreclaim funds.
If the Swiss public approves the energy strategy 2050,
the revised Energy Act, the revised CO2 Law and thecorresponding regulations can enter into force on 1
January 2018.
Source:https://translate.google.com/translate?depth=1&hl=en&ie=UTF8&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.ca&sl=de&
sp=nmt4&tl=en&u=http://geothermie-schweiz.ch/biszu-47-5-rappen-einspeiseverguetung/
The Federal Council Approves HydraulicFracturing for Geothermal - In other news, in early
March the Swiss Federal Council issued a statement
declaring it has approved the use of hydraulic fracturing
under certain conditions, specifically for deep
geothermal drilling. It has made clear that, due toclimate policy reasons, the use of this technique is not
approved in wells drilled seeking for natural gas. The
council approved the report Fracturation hydraulique en
Suisse, which concluded that there is no reason to forbid
this technique and that the current federal regulation isin principle sufficient, although the municipalities(cantons) may decide the adoption of different
regulations within their territories. The report alsomentions the possible environmental and health impactsof hydraulic fracturing, among them: triggering of
microseisms, the possible contamination of shallow
aquifers by chemical additives used in the fluids for
fracturing, and the releasing of some naturalcontaminants present in the underground, like heavy
metals, radioactive minerals or methane.
The following principles must be applicable when using
hydraulic fracturing:o Fluids for fracturing should not contain any
materials hardly degradable or harmful forhuman health.

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
www.geothermal-energy.org

April-June 2017

IGA News No. 107
o
o

o

o
o
o

It is mandatory declare the amount of all thematerials to be used.
All of the fluids for fracturing must be safely
stored, handled and disposed of. The same isapplicable to the fluids obtained in surface after
the operations.
Norms and procedures of high-level of security
must be followed during construction,
exploitation and dismantling of the installations
to minimize emissions to the atmosphere, soils
and water.
It must be applied an integral managements ofhazards and risks along the life-cycle of all
fracturing projects.
The underground characteristics must be better
understood to develop a more satisfactory risk
analysis.
The principle, “who contaminates must pay forit”, shall be applied and the responsibilities
clearly defined.

Source:https://www.admin.ch/gov/fr/accueil/documentation/communiques.msg-id-65882.html (in French)

Turkey: Proposal ofDifferential Incentives and
New Binary Plant in Alasehir
Proposal of Differential Incentives for LowTemperature Resources - In early January, theChairman of JESDER, the Association of Geothermal
Power Plant Investors, Ufuk Şentürk said: “In order toincrease the capacity in geothermal, an additional
incentive application is required for 105, 120, 130 and
140 degrees Celsius, as well as a $0.105/kWh purchaseguarantee for different water temperatures from 90
degrees to 140 degrees Celsius”.
Ufuk Şentürk, stated that the geothermal power
generation potential in Turkey is 5,000 MW and thatdifferent incentive amounts should be applied according
to the water temperature levels in the power plants inorder to reach this capacity.
Şentürk explained that JESDER made a study on thecapacity increase in geothermal energy and submitted
the work to the Ministry of Energy and Natural
Resources. He also added that an additional capacity of
350 MW can be reached in the near future.
Şentürk emphasized that geothermal energy is a very
important resource in terms of sustainability and energy
supply security and that, “in order to increase thecapacity in geothermal, besides the purchase guaranteeof 10.5 dollar cents at different water temperatures from90 degrees to 140 degrees Celsius”, an additional
incentive is required for waters at 105, 120, 130 and 140
degrees Celsius.
www.geothermal-energy.org

31
As the water temperature increases, the necessary
equipment for the electricity generation and thetechnical characteristics of the turbines change, too, hesaid. “This means additional cost for the investor. By
adding an additional fee for every temperature value, we
calculated that electricity generation would be more
economical for investors in high and low temperatures:
5.5 cents for 105 degrees, 2.9 cents for 120 degrees, 1.3
cents for 130 degrees and 0.3 cents for 140 degrees. At
the same time, this situation may be more predictablefor financing in terms of banks. If the calculated values
are supplied to the geothermal investor, the target of
one thousand megawatts in 2023 can be folded fivetimes.”
If we interpreted correctly the JESDER proposal, it isaimed to make more attractive and affordable thedevelopment or low-temperature geothermal resources,
since the proposed incentives would be as presented in
the table:
Temperature (°C)
90 to 105
105 to 120
120 to 130
130 to 140

Incentive (US$ cents/kWh)(10.5 + 5.5) 16.0
(10.5 + 2.9) 13.4
(10.5 + 1.3) 11.8
(10.5 + 0.3) 10.8

Source: http://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/investors-askfor-further-incentives-for-geothermal-development-inturkey/
New Binary Cycle Plant in the Alasehir Field – A 13
MW binary cycle plant started to operate last March in
the Alasehir geothermal power plant, operated by Zorlu
Enerji. The hot source is the outlet of a flash turbine
supplied by Toshiba. The turbo-generator is the mostpowerful equipment ever built in Cryostar’s workshops

Cryostar turbine on site at the Alesehir geothermal
power plant, Turkey (source: Zorlu Enerji).
April-June 2017

IGA News No. 107
and was designed to be integrated into a heat-toelectricity Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) conversion
process, developed by the American company, TAS.
The turbine expands R134A refrigerant fluid as aworking fluid and is part of the TG800 turbine range,
designed to develop up to 19 MW of power. The
TG800 includes an 800 mm titanium wheel. It is a radial
centripetal turbine with variable blading. This
technology makes it possible to optimize the machine’s
output over an extended operating range, which is thebest solution to maximize annual electricity production.
Source: http://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/cryostarsuccessfully-commissions-turbine-at-alasehir-turkey

Oceania
Australia: New Geothermal
Association
In early March, Graeme Beardsmore, Technical
Director of Hot Dry Rocks Pty Ltd and chair of the
IGA’s Committee of Reserves and Resources,
announced the incorporation of the Australian
Geothermal Association (AGA). He stated that, “AGA
will continue the work of the Australian Geothermal
Energy Group (AGEG) and the Australian Geothermal
Energy Association (AGEA), both of which are now
deregistered. Residual funds from AGEA have beentransferred to AGA, as approved by the outgoing
AGEA Executive.” The inaugural Board of AGA
comprises Graeme as President, Adrian Larking(Secretary) and Betina Bendall (Public Officer), with
Ludovic Ricard performing the role of Treasurer.
The objectives of this new association are:
-

-

32

-

affiliating with the International Geothermal
Association;
to conduct or manage support services
including education and training; andgenerally to carry on, do or assist in all or any
matters which the Association may deem fit for
promoting or encouraging the development of,and science and technology relating to,geothermal energy.

AGA will hold an inaugural Annual General Meeting
before the end of 2017, at which all board positions will
be vacated and a new executive committee elected.

New Zealand: The Wairakei
Bioreactor Sets Example for
United States
The Wairakei Power Station is a geothermal power
station located in the North Island of New Zealand.
The station is situated on the Waikato River, so it canutilize the river water to cool the geothermal fluid that is
extracted in order to generate electricity. However, afterusage in the cooling process, pollutants from the plant
are introduced into the water. Releasing the polluted
fluid back into the Waikato River is damaging to thenatural river ecosystem, especially as a threat to local
biodiversity.
In an effort to reverse the detrimental environmental
impact of the plant, the Wairakei bioreactor wasconceived, and its construction was completed in 2012.
The bioreactor is made up of 378 km of undergroundpipes that house bacteria on their internal surface area.
These bacteria are sulfur-oxidizing, meaning they reduce
the amount of the harmful hydrogen sulfide in thecooling water by consuming the pollutant. Hugeamounts of water are pumped into these pipes at a rateof 13,000 liters per second, and the bacteria, which are

to provide a forum for persons and bodies
corporate involved or interested in geothermalenergy;to hold, make available
and provide information
about all forms ofgeothermal energy, its
benefits, risks, usage andpotential;
to maintain the Australiangeothermalenergysector’s links with theAustralian clean energy
sector and international
geothermal energy sector
and
with
other
organizations
representing each of
those sectors, including
the Clean Energy Council
View of the bioreactor facility at the Wairakei Power Station near Taupo. Photoand ARENA, and by/ Jeremy Bright, NZHerald.

www.geothermal-energy.org

April-June 2017

IGA News No. 107
native to the local river environment, are able to remove
up to 80 percent of the pollutant.
A note published in early 2017, highlights that thesuccess of the bioreactor has made it a potential model
for similar technology to be produced in the UnitedStates, since the country also faces water pollutiondifficulties. The issue is prevalent in the highly
agricultural Midwest due to runoff polluted withharmful chemicals and other nutrients from fertilizer.
With parts sometimes known as the Corn Belt, the U.S.
Midwest is also home to an underground network ofpipes known as tile drainage networks. Any excess water
is channeled into these networks, so it can betransported to nearby streams, lakes or rivers. Whilethese networks are useful for preventing farmers’ fields
from becoming waterlogged, they also have a hugely
negative impact on water quality.

33
Researchers at the U.S. Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory (PNNL) have developed a cement that canheal itself when cracks occur. Using self-healing cement
for geothermal wells would save geothermal plants
millions of dollars and would reduce the amount ofdowntime necessary for repairs.
With an average life span of 30-40 years, the cement
around geothermal production wells eventually cracks
over time. Because wells with cracked cement arevulnerable to leakage, reduced strength, and corrosion, it
is important to repair them in a timely fashion.
However, repairs can easily top US$1.5 million dollars;
the cost of new materials, excavation, installation, andhalting power production adds up fast.

The networks are vehicles for bringing runoff that ispolluted with nitrogen from over-fertilization to local
bodies of water. Excessive levels of nitrogen fertilizer
lead to algae blooms. When the algae die and bacteria
decompose them, water becomes deoxygenated asbacteria use the oxygen for fuel. As a result, bodies ofwater become unsustainable for life; these areas are
known as dead zones.
Professor Laura Christianson of the University of
Illinois is currently researching solutions to reduce
nitrogen pollution using the Wairakei bioreactor as amodel. Her work is focused on woodchip bioreactors,
which are trench structures meant to remove pollutant
from water before it enters tile drain networks.
Christianson’s idea would research the process ofdenitrification, wherein bacteria found in soil convert
the nitrate pollutant into nitrogen gas, which isenvironmentally friendly as the gas comprises
approximately three-fourths of the atmosphere. Thusfar, wood chips have been shown to be an effective
construction material for the bioreactor; however,researchers like Christianson are looking into otherpossible solutions.
Overall, the Wairakei Power Plant’s bioreactor has
proven to be a useful model in showing how local
microorganisms could provide a multi-use option forsaving their local environment.
Source: http://www.concordy.com/scitech/2017/01/new-zealands-first-bioreactor-setsexample-for-united-states/

Other
Technology: High Strength
Self-Healing Cement
www.geothermal-energy.org

Image by PNNL.
When using the PNNL-developed self-healing cement
to set the casings in geothermal wells, cracks and breaks
in the well can heal automatically. This technology has
the potential to eliminate excavation, repair, andreplacement costs associated with cracked cement wells.
PNNL chemist Carlos Fernández and his teamdiscovered that by adding the strong, flexible andpowerful ingredient called polymers, they could create
self-healing cement. Naturally found in the human bodyand plant structures, these large, chain-like molecules
work to hold substances together. The team discoveredthat by mixing in 5 to 20 percent of man-made polymers
into typical cement before it is poured and cured, thecement can repair itself when cracks occur. PNNL’s
research team has successfully proven this cement canrepair itself in a few days, and they predict it has thepotential to heal itself in just a matter of hours. Just as
impressive is the cement’s projected ability forcontinuous self-healing, meaning it can repair itself
April-June 2017

IGA News No. 107
many times over and maintain the rheological andmechanical properties necessary for geothermal wells.
Source:http://www.pnnl.gov/science/highlights/highlight.asp?
id=4534

Technology: Rockets to Drill
Geothermal Wells
HyperSciences, a startup based in Spokane, Washington
that uses rockets to drill for geothermal energy, isdesigning new, more cost-effective drilling methods.
The company has raised 70% of a US$1 million funding
round to continue development of its HyperDrill andHyperBreaker tunneling machine prototypes, in addition
to testing its ThermoElectric Generator (TEG)
technology.
HyperSciences CEO Mark Russell has worked forNASA, Boeing and Blue Origin, and is now bringing
space technology to drilling. After using projectiles todrill nearly five kilometers to access geothermal heat,
HyperSciences uses TEG technology to bring thethermal power to the surface. Russell said similar
technology has been used to power spacecraft such as
the Voyager or the Curiosity rover on Mars.
The company has been testing its HyperBreaker andHyperDrill at Russell’s family’s mine in Spokane for two
years and it demonstrated the system to Shell this past
November. The machines shoot rocket-like projectiles
into the earth to dig faster and more efficiently thancurrent systems.
Since launching in 2015, HyperSciences has raised $2.6
million in angel investments and received an undisclosed
amount of funding under a non-equity contract with
Shell GameChanger for its HyperDrill system.

34

Techniques in Crystalline
Rocks
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) awarded acontract to evaluate the scientific and technical aspectsof drilling deep, large-diameter boreholes in crystalline
rock for the safe and effective disposal of waste. Wellsof this type may eventually be used for the disposal ofcertain forms of nuclear waste, but the purpose of thiscontract is to investigate the geological and geochemical
properties of deep granite and evaluate techniques fordrilling large diameter (8-3/4”) holes to a depth of 5000
meters in this environment. The project will be
conducted near the town of Nara Visa, New Mexico.
The project will be developed by a team led by Enercon
Federal Services, Inc., Wastren Advantage, Fugro and
DOSECC Exploration Services.
Most of this year will be spent working with local
communities and government entities to communicate
the purposes and methods of the testing, including: how
the site will be responsibly managed during testing, how
the land will be restored once the research is complete,
as well as permitting the hole and developing the drilling
and testing plan. Previous efforts to test this method in
North and South Dakota lacked community support,
but DOSECC has a strong track record of building trust
withresidents
throughtransparency
andcommunication.
The scientific drilling and data collection itself will not
likely commence until the spring of 2018, once theDOE determines the most promising site where a
successful community partnership exists. When the
drilling portion begins, the scientific drilling team will betasked with drilling a 5000-meter deep borehole 8-3/4”
in diameter. If successful, a second borehole, 17” indiameter, would be drilled to the same depth at thesame site. The data gathered will allow scientists tostudy the type and temperature of the rock as well as thenature and chemistry of the fluids encountered.
Marc Eckels, DOSECC Program Director for thisproject, explains that the data gained from this uniquely
deep geological research has potential for other local
and societal benefits, such as providing new drilling andtesting techniques for geothermal energy applications.
Source: http://dosecc.com/about-us/news/

Source:http://www.geekwire.com/2017/hypersciences-raises690k-use-rocket-technology-geothermal-drilling/

Technology: Advanced Drilling
System to Operate at Extreme
Conditions

Technology: Deep Well
Project to Test Drilling

Underground extreme temperatures, extreme pressures,and crystalline rock formations are usually challenging in
geothermal drilling. To overcome these challenges,
Baker Hughes Incorporated, a global oilfield services

www.geothermal-energy.org

April-June 2017

IGA News No. 107

35

company, with investment from the U.S. Department ofEnergy’s Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO), hasdeveloped and successfully demonstrated an advanced
drilling system designed for these critical conditions.
The technology can drill directionally at extremely hightemperatures (~300°C). The system uses a hightemperature lubricant in the drilling fluid, a full metal
drill bit to break the formation, and a full metal drillingmotor known in the drilling industry as a ‘metal-tometal motor’. In December 2016, Baker Hughes
successfully directionally drilled with this innovative
system in a deep geothermal well. In fact, the metal-tometal motor operated for a continuous 270 hours – thelongest time that a system like it has ever operated.
Because of its reliability in extreme subsurface
conditions, the successful deployment of this drillingsystem could have far-reaching impacts. Not only does
this technology advance the state of geothermal
technologies and open more geothermal resource areas
for development (including the immense Enhanced
Geothermal Systems resource), other subsurface sectors
such as fossil and nuclear energy are ready to embrace
thisrecentdevelopment.
These sectors
canleveragetheworkfunded by thegeothermalenergy sector
for their own
gains.
It was notdisclosed when
thisdrilling
system will becommerciallyavailable –or if
it is already.

A Baker Hughes geothermal
drilling operation in progress.
Photo taken from the GTO
website.
geothermal-energy-industry

Source:https://energy.
gov/eere/articl
es/newdrillingtechnologycould-driveadvancesamerica-s-

Climate Change: Short-lived
Greenhouse Gases Cause
Centuries of Sea-level Risewww.geothermal-energy.org

Even if there comes a day when the world completely
stops emitting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere,
coastal regions and island nations will continue toexperience rising sea levels for centuries afterward,
according to a new study by researchers at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) andSimon Fraser University. In a paper published in early
January in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
the researchers report that warming from short-lived
compounds —greenhouse gases such as methane,chlorofluorocarbons, or hydrofluorocarbons, that linger
in the atmosphere for just a year to a few decades— cancause sea levels to rise for hundreds of years after thepollutants have been cleared from the atmosphere.
Recent studies by many groups have shown that even if
human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide were to stop
entirely, their associated atmospheric warming and sealevel rise would continue for more than 1,000 years.
These effects —essentially irreversible on humantimescales— are due in part to carbon dioxide’s
residence time: The greenhouse gas can stay in theatmosphere for centuries after it’s been emitted fromsmokestacks and tailpipes.
In contrast to carbon dioxide, other greenhouse gases
such as methane and chlorofluorocarbons have much
shorter lifetimes. However, previous studies have notspecified what their long-term effects may be on sealevel rise. To answer this question, the team composedof Susan Solomon, Kirsten Zickfeld and Daniel Gilford,
explored a number of climate scenarios using an Earth
Systems Model of Intermediate Complexity, or EMIC, a
computationally efficient climate model that simulates
ocean and atmospheric circulation to project climatechanges over decades, centuries, and millennia.
With the model, the team calculated both the average
global temperature and sea-level rise, in response toanthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide, methane,chlorofluorocarbons, and hydrofluorocarbons.
The researchers’ estimates for carbon dioxide agreed
with others’ predictions and showed that, even if theworld were to stop emitting carbon dioxide starting in
2050, up to 50 percent of the gas would remain in theatmosphere more than 750 years afterward. Even after
carbon dioxide emissions cease, sea-level rise should
continue to increase, measuring twice the level of 2050
estimates for 100 years, and four times that value foranother 500 years.
In one particular climate modeling scenario, the teamevaluated sea level’s response to various methane
emissions scenarios in which the world would continue
to emit the gas at current rates —until emissions end
entirely in three different years: 2050, 2100, and 2150. In
all three scenarios, methane gas quickly cleared from theatmosphere, and its associated atmospheric warming
April-June 2017

IGA News No. 107

36

decreased at a similar rate. However, methane continued
to contribute to sea-level rise for centuries afterward.
What’s more, they found that the longer the world waits
to reduce methane emissions, the longer seas will stayelevated.

Not since the Reagan administration has Washington
moved so quickly to roll back or nullify so many federal
regulations, one of the clearest signs of an abrupt shiftof power in a government now under one-party control
that has flipped the script of winners and losers.

“Amazingly, a gas with a 10-year lifetime can actuallycause enduring sea-level changes,” Solomon says. “So
you don’t just get to stop emitting and have everything
go back to a preindustrial state. You are going to livewith this for a very long time.”

A three-way alliance has now been formed among
Congress, the Trump administration and industries thatstruggled to reverse what they saw as an out-of-control
rush to regulate by the Obama administration.

In conclusion, the researchers point out that efforts tocurb global warming should not be expected to reverse
high seas quickly and longer-term impacts from sealevel rise should be seriously considered. “The primarypolicy conclusion of this study is that the long-lasting
nature of sea-level rise heightens the importance ofearlier mitigation actions.”
Source: http://news.mit.edu/2017/short-livedgreenhouse-gases-cause-centuries-sea-level-rise-0109

Climate Change: The Fossil
Fuel Industry Revenge hasStartedThis is an excerpt of a The New York Times article publishedin print on February 5, 2017, on Page A1 of the New York
edition with the headline: ‘G.O.P. and Trump Hurry to Slash
Oil and Gas Rules, Ending Industries’ 8-Year Wait’, written by
Eric Lipton.
The document carried the title ‘A Roadmap to Repeal,’ a
concise list of Obama administration environmental
regulations that a Koch brothers-backed group waspressing President Trump and Congress to quickly
reverse after Inauguration Day.
It was a tally of rules that energy industry executives andlobbyists had waged a futile fight against for eight years,
donating millions of dollars to lawmakers who vowed tohelp block them, filing lawsuits to try to overturn themand hiring experts to generate reports that questioned
the need for them.
But in a flurry of activity (…) Congress did what
Charles G. and David H. Koch —who own aconglomerate that sells hundreds of products, including
gasoline, jet fuel and coal— and other industry leaders
had been asking for.
Using a rarely invoked law, the Republican-controlled
Congress nullified a measure intended to curb theventing of gas wells on federal lands, and began theprocess of rolling back other regulations, including one
enacted to limit damage that coal mines cause to streams—each items on the ‘Roadmap to Repeal.’

www.geothermal-energy.org

The Koch Brothers. Photo Credit: Donkey Hotey/Flickr
CC.
This new alignment of power is causing alarm not only
among environmental groups but also other —mostly
liberal— advocates who have spent much of the past
eight years pushing for new rules to cover Wall Streetbanks, broadband providers, teacher preparation
requirements, prepaid credit cards and even companies
that sell high-calorie foods in vending machines.
All of these measures, and many others, now stand achance of being reversed, watered down or blocked.
Lobbyists for the so-called extraction industry —oil,gas, coal and other mining operations— said they wereas surprised as anyone else by the outcome of theNovember election, which gave them new clout inWashington (…) But the energy industry spends about
US$300 million a year lobbying Congress, deploying anarmy of three lobbyists for each member. It also
contributed more than US$160 million during the mostrecent election cycle to federal candidates, with 80
percent of that going to Republicans, according to a tallyby the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonprofit
group. And the industry now wanted congressional
leaders like Mitch McConnell, who is from one of thecountry’s top coal-producing states, to nullify the
Obama administration’s new rules.
Source:https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/04/us/politics/republicans-oil-gas-regulations.html?_r=1

April-June 2017

IGA News No. 107

Climate Change: Top U.S.
Republicans Propose a US$40
Carbon Tax
A group of senior Republicans and a dedicated thinktank (the Climate Leadership Council), are encouraging
the Trump administration to modify its tone on global
warming. The group of veterans includes former
Treasury Secretaries Hank Paulson and George Shultz
along with George HW Bush’s secretary of state James
Baker.
They are proposing a carbon tax that would start at
US$40 a ton of carbon dioxide and gradually increase,signaling U.S. intent to cut emissions to business andrewarding citizens with tax dividends. In one example
cited on the proposal –the Conservative Case for
Carbon Dividends– a family of four could recoup as
much as US$2000 in payments in the first year of rollout. “Carbon dividends would increase the disposable
income of the majority of Americans while
disproportionately helping those struggling to makeends meet,” says the report.
Why US$40? The figure is roughly in line with U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) calculations
on the damage a ton of CO2 can inflict on the planet.
It’s much higher than carbon prices in the EU (just overUS$5) and China’s pilot carbon pricing schemes (US$25) but in contrast to those schemes the revenue would
be redistributed to households. It would raise US$200300 billion a year.
The plan includes a complete repeal of Barack Obama’s
flagship plan to reduce emissions from the power sector
on the basis it would no longer be necessary. Yet the
proposal stresses that the “initial carbon tax rate should
be set to exceed the emissions reductions of current
regulations,” to ensure it wins bipartisan support.
Even though some supporters did not accept humans
are the key driver of warming (for instance, Baker said,“I don’t accept the idea that it’s all man made… but I
do accept that the risks are sufficiently great that weneed to have an insurance policy.”), the proposals arelikely to be fiercely opposed by some of Trump’s
supporters, like the libertarian Competitive EnterpriseInstitute (CEI), which describes any such tax as ‘market
rigging’.
Source:http://www.climatechangenews.com/2017/02/08/topus-republicans-pitch-40-carbon-tax-to-trump/
Do you have some drawings, sketches, or small
paintings geothermal-related? So, why not include
them to illustrate your contributions to the IGA News?
Next time you send an article or short note, just send
your drawing attached as a *jpg or *png file.
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. Susan Hodgson proofread thearticles. Distributed by the IGA Secretariat. Design
layout by François Vuataz.
April-June 2017

IGA News No. 107

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